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| Hiking | 8.80 Miles |
2,716 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.80 Miles | | | |
| 2,716 ft AEG | | 37 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | This time of year with shorter days, I made the mistake of not making to the trailhead until 10am a mistake that lead to not completing the trail as planned.
When I read the description of this trail and many of the other triplogs I was hoping for a nice trail that lead to a remote area  . Yes, it was remote but the trail deteriorated the farther I went until I had to guess if I was on the trail or not  . At one point I was way too far up slope and had to bushwhack my way back down to the stream. There were cairn from time to time but some did not lead to anything that looked like a trail. Many areas were overgrown or impassable.
For the first 3 1/4 miles the trail is very passable, though I would strongly recommend long pants and long sleeves. The scrub oak and a few other thorn encrusted plants kept me on the lookout. The windmill has been blown down for a few years not and the metal trough is dry (but the creek is close by). It was nice to see the grave-site was intact and the fence even had a coat of paint. There is a nice campsite a short distance up the trail from there (it was taken by someone), but my goal was Gowan Camp.
Once I passed the Mazatal Wilderness sign I had about another 1/2 mile of decent trail (it was washed out in two places). Then the trail started to follow the creek (I guess) there are some cairn, but everything was so over grown that my pace slowed to what felt like a crawl.
Because of the late start and the condition of the trail when I came across a small flat area at 3:45pm I called a stop. I had only made it 4 1/2 miles in 5 hours and 45 minutes! And I still would have had 3 1/2 miles to go and part of that would have been in the dark.
OK, so I made the best of it with a good meal and some hot chocolate. I decided to just cowboy camp  as I had checked the weather report and it was forecasted to be clear skies for the next two days. The night sky was great, all the stars and a few wisps of clouds drifting by.
The morning greeted me with a light rain  . I yelled at the clouds what the forecast was, it just kept raining, so I packed up and headed back. Finding the trail out was a little easier and I made it back to the trailhead in 4 1/2 hours. |
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Route Editor
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