| | -
| 1 label |  |
|
|
-
-
-
-
-
-
| |  |
|
2 |
-
-
| 1 label |  |
|
|
-
-
-
| 1 label |  |
|
|
|
| | |
|
| Hiking | 8.74 Miles |
949 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.74 Miles | 3 Hrs 17 Mns | | 2.66 mph |
| 949 ft AEG | | | | |
|
|
| |
| Linked |
|
none
[ show ]
| no linked trail guides |
| Partners |
|
none
[ show ]
| no partners | | This was a continuation of my hike from the previous day of glorious non peopley forest. I dropped in from my new campsite and linked up to around where I’d left off the prior day. I saw on the map it looked like about 4 miles to a trail junction, so that was my “plan” for somewhere around 8 miles round trip. I believe I was walking along Houston brothers trail for most of the hike.
The drop down was a piece of cake compared to other times I’ve dropped to places from camp, lol. (Likely bc I wasn’t following any of my crazy hiker friends  ) The trail was glorious… it was an actual trail, and that felt nice! I saw one solo hiker and exchanged a friendly hi then saw a couple breaking camp just up a bit further. I’m thinking they were maybe doing cabin loop. Anyway I’m just walking along and there are thigh high ferns on either side of me and it was just really pretty and peaceful. Then I came across a fenced in area that was a conservation area or something - Houston Draw riparian area was what the sign said. It was a pretty large area they had fenced in with cameras, so I waved and winked of course ha!
So all of a sudden my nice flat trail is going uphill. Ummm, well I guess I can do a little of that. Well, let’s just say the trail was not flat for a long time. I came to a road where I had to cross to continue the trail so I did. It went downhill for a bit then boom lots of uphill. I honestly thought about turning around but I’d told myself that I was going to the trail junction I saw on the map so I pressed on. I’m admittedly out of shape but it actually felt good to kick my butt a little bit! I ran into one more solo female backpacker with a beautiful husky and also one other backpacking couple. We stopped for a brief chat and I asked them if they were doing the cabin loop and they said they’d attempted it but weren’t finishing. I noted that the trail had a lot of ups and downs in this area and they agreed it was more of a struggle than anticipated. We said our goodbyes and I continued on.
I hiked all the way to the trail junction goal I’d set for myself. My garmin had said 1200 AEG by that point and I was a little more than 4 miles in. I honestly felt great and wanted to keep going but there wasn’t any loop options that weren’t going to add on way too many miles so I headed back the way I came. I didn’t take a ton of pics because I was just enjoying my surroundings and lost in thought but it was very green, lots of mossy areas, lots of mushrooms and sporadic flowers. On way back it was a lot of downhill or flat areas so I was much faster. I navigated myself back to camp successfully and then took seat in the shade & had a nice lunch break before heading back to the valley.
I was amazed at how few people I saw for Labor Day weekend. Anyone who I passed on the trail today exactly the type of people I want to say hi to on trail! As I made my way back down the forest roads closer to the main trails I was shocked at the amount of people out there. ATV’s, massive campsites with several trailers, etc. It was PACKED…. I’m just shocked that people find that enjoyable instead of simply driving another 10-15 miles into the forest to get quiet bliss. Hey, to each their own and I definitely got exactly what I wanted! |
| _____________________
| Restless between adventures... |
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 