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| Hiking | 13.66 Miles |
4,020 AEG |
| | Hiking | 13.66 Miles | 6 Hrs 33 Mns | | 2.30 mph |
| 4,020 ft AEG | 37 Mns Break | 12 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | It had been a few years since I last did this one, and wasn’t sure if I would find my way through today, but ended up pleasantly surprised.
I got rolling just before 0700 with a temp of around 40 and a very mild breeze. I went shorts and a tank today, but started with a light denim shirt to keep the chill down. As I was vehicle #5 in the lot, and I could see the other 4 parties loitering around the parking area, I assumed I would be the first one into the canyon – turns out I was right.
With nobody to pass I was making good time until the start of the second mile where I came upon the work of some self deputized Round-Up Ranger. I see this often, but this was off the hook – Some one watches a super hero movie, feels the need to somehow save the planet, gets on wikipedia for a 17 syllable education on weed eradication, visits Home Depot, and in no time is out on the trail, spraying anything that he/she considers a non-native species. In this case, a lot of brittle bush and globe mallow fell victim. I took about 40 pics before I decided to get on with my hike, but the situation only worsened until I arrived at the scene of an obvious chemical spill, where it all came to an abrupt halt (see the last 6 or 7 pics). It's like I always say, nothing reverses centuries of human meddling like some more human meddling. I mean it’s only logical, right?
…End Rant…
Getting on with the hike, I expected that it would be a slow go to the pass based on rumors that the canyon had been evaporated by fire, then washed away with last summer’s rains. Well, none of that turned out to be at all accurate. In fact, as far as I can tell, this was my fastest trip up at 3:20. Evidence of fire was present, but it must have gone through fast and cold as things were more singed than burned. As far as erosion or flood damage go, there was zero evidence of that. On the up side, and I cannot say this for any of my previous, dozens of trips, I didn’t encounter a single downed tree that I had to adjust for in any way.
At the pass, as per usual, came the wind. I was way ahead of schedule and paused to decide if I should keep on heading up ridge, or turn back. Turn back won out, as I knew the wind would only worsen along the ridge. I had achieved my goal anyway, so I headed back down.
I figured that the return trip should come in at around 2:45, but that dream was quickly dashed by human encounter after human encounter. In all my trips through the upper 2 miles of the canyon, I saw more people today than I have in any decade prior. All of them had different plans and destinations, so it was interesting to stop and chat with them to get the scoop. Things were very different by the time I reached the pools – The hordes were flooding in and they were pretty much all ill prepared and clueless. Many were headed up with nothing in hand but their half finished cocktail or a warm beer. This made for a slow few miles to finish, but I survived.
Lots of water throughout the canyon, with snow still melting at 6,000 feet and above. The coming spring should be good to this canyon. |
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Old Trail Camp Spring |
Gallon + per minute |
Gallon + per minute |
| | | Excellent flow throughout the canyon, in the usual spots |
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Romero Pools |
Medium flow |
Medium flow |
| | | Lots of water and lots of people to flavor it. | | _____________________
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