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| Hiking | 3.90 Miles |
2,676 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.90 Miles | | | |
| 2,676 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Was hoping to hike Wrightson, but the abysmal weather forecast led us to do Pusch instead. With the clouds and wind it was perfect weather for a low elevation July hike.
Bee Update: I climbed the lower portion of the canyon on high alert. A friend of mine (who had been attacked by bees on this trail months ago) decided to bushwhack up the bottom of the canyon to avoid them, but I was feeling lazy and stuck to the trail. I believe they're living/nesting/hiving/swarming/whatever it is that bees do under a coffee table sized rock. It's about halfway between the entrance to the canyon and the point where the trail climbs a large rock for about 20 ft before reaching a brief flat segment. I saw bees flying into and out of the space underneath the rock and heard an ominous hum, so I stopped for a moment to think about how to proceed.
The bee-stuffed rock is on the left side of the trail as the trail makes a slight turn to the right (uphill). Luckily, the trail splits briefly at this point. I scooted quickly up the right-hand path and made it past without raising any alarm. It would be incredibly easy for a hiker to bump up against this rock (or simply get too close) while climbing on auto-pilot and then piss off the bees. I lucked out, but it's possible that I just caught them in a favorable mood, and my little maneuver isn't a formula for consistently avoiding them. The right-hand trail still brings you within 10 or so feet of the bees. In any case, I would advise against doing this trail unless you're comfortable turning around and running down a steep trail at a moment's notice.
On the way down, though the thought of taking a picture of the bee rock for purposes of posting here crossed my mind, I decided to bypass the bees via the canyon (sorry guys). The bushwhacking is quite manageable (in fact, there's barely any), but the slope from the trail to the canyon floor is pretty eroded, so this is not something that people should be doing on a regular basis. There's some fun (I'd call it Class 3) scrambling on the striped rocks below the waterfall, and the drainage comes within 20-30 feet of the trail again at the bottom of the canyon.
It's hard to say whether I'll do this one again anytime soon. Starting rockslides and wiping out the trail is not a pleasant option - neither is getting swarmed by bees. And I'm not even sure what the legal status of this trail is; the new pile of rocks by the "trail not maintained by the Forest Service" sign looks like someone is trying to keep hikers off the trail. |
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