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| Hiking | 13.70 Miles |
3,700 AEG |
| | Hiking | 13.70 Miles | 6 Hrs 46 Mns | | 2.30 mph |
| 3,700 ft AEG | 48 Mns Break | 5 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Monday morning, start at sunrise. Gold Ridge trail super easy to follow, and trail is well maintained. first 0.75 miles casual stroll and then for the next 2.5 mile quite steep climb. This eases off for the rest of the Gold Ridge let to the road at about 6 miles into the hike. Then follow the road for another 0.8 miles to the sign nailed to a tree indicating where the south-fork hike starts.
South Fork trail is faint and there is a bit of treefall to navigate around. but with GPS trail as a guide you can generally follow the trail. This progressively gets better as you go along. About a mile or two down the trail we ran into the first person of the day. Didn't catch his name, he was cutting a tree that was on the trail. Apparently he came up to do some trail maintenance and "Get some exercise!" More power to him! really appreciate guys like him and other who contribute to this website, makes life so much easer for the rest of us slackers!
As stated earlier, the trail is pretty easy to follow after about 1-2 miles although not in nearly as good of condition as the Gold Ridge is. Character of the South Fork is quite different from the Gold Ridge. Gold Ridge is a straight shot, while South fork has a bit of navigation around obstacles and multiple stream crossing (nothing difficult) as this trail generally is following the streambed.
About at mile 9 I was dragging and exhausted. We came across a nice little watering hole (there are quite a few) and I proposed to the wife we take a break. The water was cold, so I decided to jump in. It was Coooold  , but I found it really braced me up and I felt much better and ready to take on the rest of the hike.  The wife dipped her legs in the pool also, and she said it made her feel much better. Didn't realize this could help so much. I'll need to keep that in mind for future hikes if near cool water.
After the cool break, we continued on the hike that gets progressively easier to follow and the slope also progressively gets less aggressive. Finally arrived at the car at 12:45.
An exhausting hike, but really did enjoy it. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
