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| Hiking | 20.00 Miles |
3,999 AEG |
| | Hiking | 20.00 Miles | | | |
| 3,999 ft AEG | | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Friends wanted to watch football. Rather than watch Tom Brady win again I opted for Herman Mountain. I’ve wanted to summit Herman, and as a new experience I’ve never been atop before! I did a solo summit hike with a few side trips. Apparently I’m not as fast as I once was. It’s getting harder and harder to do things like this in one day. To be honest, much of this trip was passing through scorched earth in order to get to the places I wanted to see.
It was 39F when I started. Sadly, Barkley or Miners basins are tough for me to look at these days. One exception is that the fire makes it easier to see old trails. In this case the old Miners trail going up to Miners Saddle. Back in the day, Miners trail was the only route from QCU up to the saddle. (It was the route Adolph Ruth took among countless others.) This was before forest service rerouted Dutchman’s and replaced the old track in the 1960s with the current 104 route (east side). You can still see it faintly winding up the west side of the draw. I might just start using that old trail to keep if from disappearing completely.
Whiskey Springs was rush hour traffic! I passed about a dozen overnighters packing out in the morning. Then I didn't see a soul for the rest of the day. Whiskey Springs is where the destination began to come into view. Herman Mountain appears straight ahead. I searched all over and had a hard time finding summit completions. I noticed that @wallyfrack was there in 2014 and 2015. I didn’t follow his path, but that was really helpful. Thanks Wally!
From Red Tanks I picked a route that I thought an old miner would take to go up to the mesa. With no trail and in the middle of nowhere I spotted a horseshoe signaling that I was on the right track. Then I found cast off cans and bottles encouraging me to continue. Then I found hidden prospect sites getting more exciting. Finally I found the Miners den! That was really thrilling. I played around that area way too long, which would later cause me to come back in the dark. No regrets.
Herman Mountain is cliff ringed meaning there is no easy way up. It is also bigger on top than is seems. It is cut by Trap Canyon to the north and La Barge to the south. Red Tanks trail winds around two sides and Hoolie Bacon borders the east. The plateau is littered with quartz, crystals and conglomerate sparkling in the sun. Atop I played and interesting game of operation. My sunglasses fell deep into a thicket of catclaw. The operation was a success. There were two summit cairns, so I chose the one with the old wooden survey stake. Both appear about the highest elevation. I found no summit log so I left a small bottle for anyone else to sign. Hopefully I picked the correct summit. They are not far apart. The choice was 50/50 (better than the odds on today’s big game). 
I thought it would be fun to slide down into Trap canyon and take an alternate route out. It didn’t look bad on topo, but that proved to be a poor decision. I was really slowed down with more canyoneering than hiking. I also had to push past impassible plant growth barriers. The fires never make it down into Trap there. The plus was the emergence of pleasant streams and pools and waterfalls. I’ve been missing the sound of water during my hikes. Trap was really nice on the way out and I need to make a pass all the way through one day.
More boulder hopping and then back to La Barge for a recharge. By then I was on autopilot back to my car at Peralta. The trip clocked just under 20 miles, but RS crashed twice so I figure I get my 20 for sake of argument. The sunset was spectacular. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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