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| Hiking | 25.80 Miles |
5,170 AEG |
| | Hiking | 25.80 Miles | 13 Hrs 51 Mns | | 2.27 mph |
| 5,170 ft AEG | 2 Hrs 30 Mns Break | 14 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | I threw together a loop in a few minutes from a map of several tracks Bruce sent over. Heading in I was excited having had great times on these trail in the past.
We headed down and all seemed good albeit a tad humid. Passed two groups of 40 teenage girls from a church camp. Bruce wanted to find the "Tiny Cave" and then was upset on the lack of volume.
I guess a few minutes planning a big hike is not a good idea. I assumed we were heading up Donahue as I didn't know anything else ascended the rim. Welcome to the BSA East Rim Trail. Mama mia it's practically a slide!
Headed over Milk Ranch and down West Webber. Yeah it was getting a little toasty and the humidity was kicking in big time. We weren't making great time. Lunch was looking to be pretty late. I assured Bruce it was worth the wait to get to the back of East Webber.
After making it through the frying pan on Geronimo, East Webber was mighty refreshing. Looked like a big storm was going to blow over too.
It had been 5 years since my last visit. It seemed like there was a lot more vegetation in the creek than I remembered. Then it hit. Holy cow this was not the place to be in shorts. Some tall lethal weapon (plant) that resembles raspberry bushes has taken over. The trail disappeared with a half mile to go. I recall maybe 50 yards of bushwhacking and mentioned to Bruce that it was friendly shrub...lol
It was all terrible and all before things really turned worse. We threw in the towel and gave up trying to reach the jeweled "end" lodged in my memory. It started raining. Crawling over slippery jagged trees was border line dangerous.
Went from frying earlier to freezing and starving. We lunched at about 3:45 in light rain. After a half mile Bruce realized he forgot his GPS. Being the kind guy I am I offered wait and eat his chips while he hiked back.
Feeling a tad better with some food down came the next joy. Just what every 20+ mile 5k hiker wants... ten pound feet clumping through the mud.
Based on previous knowledge I decided the Turkey trail would be a bad idea muddy. The new plan was West Webber back up. We missed the turn and ended up on Milk Ranch Trail. No biggie and I was feeling pretty darn good at that point.
Up top again we followed the road then made a left onto some leg Bruce threw together. Guess I didn't pay much attention to that either in planning. 8pm, headlamps on and I'm looking at this wall of pure hell, heading down... My stomach was beginning to turn. I figured it'd be best to take roads back. That took a while to figure out but it all ended well.
I'm glad this one is over. It is sad that East Webber is so horrific now. We noticed several signs of flooding in the area. The super sized vegetation may be from all the moisture. I'll return, this just wasn't a great trip. A little hiking in the rain is cool, five hours is a drag. That raspberry stuff really hurts. Simple pants and a machete solve that issue. |
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Wildflowers Observation Light
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