DESTINATION Hoot Owl Trail #745 1 Photoset
2022-05-28 | |
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| Hiking | 5.15 Miles |
235 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.15 Miles | 1 Hour 41 Mns | | 3.09 mph |
| 235 ft AEG | 1 Min Break | | | |
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| no partners | | | Fairly easy trail on the west side of Walker Road that can be just over 10 miles out and back or combined with Homestead Trail #305 on the east side of Walker Road in a loop. The recorded route is from the south end of trail at Smith Ravine Trailhead where there is a sign that the Hoot Owl is a "motorized trail". A pair of dirt bikers passed me within a mile of the north end of the trail at Seven-Mile Gulch Trail #9854 which can also be used by motorbikes. They typically start riding after 9 am (more were unloading at the Seven-Mile Gulch Trailhead at 9:40), so if you start your hike at dawn, as I did, you may not hear them. Most of the Hoot Owl Trail is through ponderosa pine, although there is a 1.5 mile section of interior chaparral that starts about a mile from the Smith Ravine Trailhead. Even in the interior chaparral section you can see ponderosa pine closer to Walker Road to the east. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
moth mullein |
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| Hiking | 5.27 Miles |
749 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.27 Miles | 1 Hour 45 Mns | | 3.01 mph |
| 749 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Don't use the Google Maps driving directions that were available on 5/28/22 as there is no parking lot or way to get to the Hoot Owl Trail when Google Maps says you have arrived. About 0.05 miles north of that point is the Seven-Mile Gulch Trailhead. Park there and hike 0.18 miles of the Seven-Mile Gulch Trail #9854 that is included in the recorded route from the trailhead parking lot to the north end of the Hoot Owl Trail.
The Hoot Owl Trail is a fairly easy trail on the west side of Walker Road with 750 feet of accumulated elevation gain (AEG) hiking south to the Smith Ravine Trailhead and 250 feet of AEG back to the Seven-Mile Gulch Trail. A loop can be created by returning on the Homestead Trail #305 on the east side of Walker Road which starts across from the Smith Ravine Trailhead parking lot at the south end of the Hoot Owl Trail. When the Homestead Trail crosses Lynx Lake Store Road you can return to the Seven-Mile Gulch Trailhead by walking north along Walker Road. Alternatively, a little longer loop is to take one of the trails in the Highlands Center for Natural History to its parking lot and walk south along Walker Road to the Seven-Mile Gulch Trailhead.
There is a sign at the south end of the Hoot Owl trail at the Smith Ravine Trailhead that warns the Hoot Owl is a "motorized trail". The Seven-Mile Gulch Trail can also be used by motorbikes and a pair of dirt bikers passed me within a mile of the trailhead on my return trip. They typically start riding after 9 am (more were unloading at the Seven-Mile Gulch Trailhead at 9:40), so if you start your hike at dawn, as I did, you may not hear them.
Most of the Hoot Owl Trail is through ponderosa pine, although there is a 1.5 mile section of interior chaparral that starts about a mile from the Smith Ravine Trailhead. Even in the interior chaparral section you can see ponderosa pine closer to Walker Road to the east (see photos). |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
moth mullein |
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