DESTINATION Long Cienega Trail #305 1 Photoset
2020-07-19 | |
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| Hiking | 5.65 Miles |
776 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.65 Miles | | | |
| 776 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | I decided to finally check out the Long Cienega Trail on my last day in the Blue Range with the pups. The forest service list the trail as impassable and it was a trail not suitable for stock prior to the Wallow Fire, so I was not expecting to find much. I had also seen the bottom section of the trail where it meets Grant Creek and it did not look great, but my interest in the trail was still a little strong after walking by and identifying the meadow where it starts a few months ago with Katie.
The KP Rim Trail definitely got a face lift recently, but there was still a little deadfall and the locust is coming back fast. The same for the Steeple Trail. The old trail maps do not accurately reflect the intersections of KP, Steeple and Long Cienega anymore. I do not know when things were rerouted here. But KP Rim Trail intersects with Steeple about four-tenths of a mile before where the old trail is marked and what the forest service references in older descriptions for some of those trails. This might explain why I struggled so much finding the intersection with Steeple when I did my first backpack through here in 2014.
I then looked down and could clearly see the meadow I needed to get to, but no trail to get there. I said to myself I will go exactly .25 miles to meadow look for Steeple Trail #73, if I don't find, I turn right around. As luck would have it, after about 100 feet off trail I ran into my long lost connector trail. The trail now ran in a complete opposite direction of the trail featured on my G.P.S
I now realize that the trail I hit after going cross country was Long Cienega and then I took that right up to Steeple Trail, never realizing my mistake until yesterday. I knew something was up when Katie and I initially struggled to find the intersection using an older route as well, but now with a freshly cleared Steeple Trail, there is no doubt the intersection has moved.
We only did a short portion of Long Cienega, but I was pleasantly surprised. The meadow area alone is worth the detour. It was a bit of a log hurdle to get to the cienega, but there the trail was most clear and there were occasional blazes on the trees. The dogs loved the big open area and there were several signs of this area being heavily frequented by a lot of wildlife. Some large trees lining the cienega survived and the ferns were plentiful, making for a pleasant little stretch of trail. There is no sign at the junction for Long Cienega, but there is a large rock cairn and a faint trail is noticeable. A clear path leads through a grove of aspen and then some deadfall needs to be negotiated
We returned the way we came to some rumbling clouds in the distance, but sunny skies above us. I will give Long Cienega two stars until I can further explore it. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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