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| Hiking | 17.90 Miles |
5,770 AEG |
| | Hiking | 17.90 Miles | | | |
| 5,770 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Nearly too tired to type!
These daily hits are supposed to be in the 10-12 mile, 4,000' AEG range... yet since each day is a different hike, and they include GPS track documenting... I'm finding myself drawn over and around to catch more routes. I also find myself wandering around over ridges and canyons I've never been in... very rough off trail sections.
The miles today have left me foot sore! But, it was a great day out. The shorter hike I'd planned was altered because of the low lying clouds; visibility was limited to 20-50 yards as I started to drop off of Winter Peak. I was shooting for a 12 mile day, descending directly across the Basin to the Garden Wall for an easy amble back to the truck. It was so socked in I was not certain which drainage to head down... instead I reversed into Horse Canyon and explored a potential new route along the Beeman Ledges. That was nice!
I was hoping to find a route that would avoid ascending?descending The Wall on Beeman Ridge. After the easier old horse trail route up the Ridge, having to scramble up The Wall is just not inviting. I was also looking for a route that moved away from city views. Horse Canyon seemed to be doing both... but the Ledges were not descending fast enough... I realized I needed to drop all the way to the canyon bottom...?
The lower section of Beeman Canyon is basically impassable, at least by anything but a person enjoying the Class II bouldering of the Jumble... no horse or mule passages. Yet from my high point vantage I could see a very clear horse trail working its way up the middle canyon and on past the Fork and up into Beeman Canyon North. Beeman Ridge had the old horse trail up to the Wall... and that path did continue on towards the Sentinel Rocks. I'd been told by an old hiking partner that they'd been taken on that path around to a waterfall formation...
... the only waterfall in Beeman Canyon was at the top of the Jumble. Could that path access the middle section above the falls?
The sight of that upper trail strongly suggested that the trail had to makes its way below the base of the canyon cliffs yet above the canyon bottom, connecting to the middle canyon. I worked my way to the end of the Ledges then began an overly steep descent to the bottom of the middle canyon. I found the old trail.
I've hiked the canyon for years, walking the easy flat bottom of the middle after scaling the dryfall. It never occurred to me that a path could possibly be snaking along at the base of the rocks towering on the south side of the canyon. It was faint... no horse use for decades, but t was easy walking through some truly great scenery. It would around to the Sentinels then up onto the ridge proper, right at the base of the Wall.
I still need to find a better ridge ascent, but this new trail section provides a great exit route for a post Jumble adventure, or a great in/out hike to enjoy the hike to the Dryfall.
All the up/down/around of those side canyons paid off. I shortened my exit by detouring down the Spur Trail off Beeman Ridge.
Time for a shorter, easier day! I'd like to hold to the 4,000' AEG average... but with less dead slow off trail exploring. August is supposed to be about re-doing routes to score GPS tracks. Home by noon to work on computer. 4pm finishes and long miles kill the online energy. |
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| Ageless Mind... Timeless Body... No Way! Use It and Lose It. Just the way it is... |
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