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| Hiking | 12.62 Miles |
3,932 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.62 Miles | 8 Hrs | | 1.58 mph |
| 3,932 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | Love doing new trails! Not sure if I ever would have gotten a chance to experience this one if Chris hadn’t invited me. I would have described the road back to the TH a little bit differently than Chris.  Nice TH, there was a brook babbling off to the side. However, there was only enough parking for 3-4 cars.
We got on trail around 8am. First .5 miles was a trail called Link Trail. Basically a road with one stream crossing and some minor elevation gain that got us to a gate and the beginning of the Gardner Canyon Trail. The Gardner Canyon Trail started off as a continuation of the Link Trail. A road with a couple of stream crossings and some mild elevation gain. The roads were nice because it allowed for side by side walking and easy conversation. At around 1 mile we pass through an open fence and the trail transitions from a dual track to a single track. The trail climbs gradually for about .3 miles before turning south and starting the more serious ascent toward Wrightson Peak. For .7 miles the trail incline varies from mild to moderate offering occasional patches of shade with quite a bit of exposure to the morning sun. At 2.96 miles the trail reaches a saddle with views to the north and south and a juncture to the Walker Basin Trail. After the brief respite, the trail continues to climb to about 3.67 where we reach another brief flat spot. Looking up Baldy is in view and looking close. I comment to Wally “looks like the mountain has another 1000 feet for us”. And then Chris comes up and rains on the parade and says (without being asked) “yeah, we have another 2000 feet to go.” Buzzkill
Started the next climb at 3.93. At 4.35 we passed through a nice section of young pine trees. Hopefully, a shady spot “to be” for future generations. The trail continues to climb to about 4.83 when it connects to the Super Trail. The Gardner ended here and we continued north on the Super Trail. You may have noticed a common theme…well, it continues…..from here the trail continued to climb, wrapping itself around the upper base of Wrightson Peak. Actually started to encounter some remnants of snow. At 5.23 we passed a dry Baldy Spring. At 5.48 we reached another saddle and joined a couple of other trails that started the final ascent to the peak. The last 1.5 miles had not been that bad (3.93 to 5.48). The inclines were moderate and you had some spectacular scenery to keep you company. That was about to change. The last push was rocky and had some very aggressive switchbacks. It was a little bit of a struggle with the incline and altitude. Finally reached the top around 6.52. (My Garmin has a tendency to creep when I’m standing still. So I tried to make some calculated adjustments with the mileage so that the description and the miles were somewhat accurate).
Great feeling in reaching the top. Amazed at the number of people I encountered in the last segment and then the number of people we saw while enjoying the views from the top. Counted over 30 people in that time frame (and 3 dogs!). Of those 30 people, I think only 2-3 came from the Gardner/Super Trail direction. I think everyone else came up from the west side. Usually (for me), repeating the same route seems to go faster the second time. You’d expect that to be the case, especially going down hill. Not the case this time. Seemed to take a lot longer than expected to reach noted landmarks. Funny, even though I hiked “with” Chris and Wally we really weren’t together as much as I would have thought. We all have different comfort speeds and so we ended up being spread across several switchbacks for most of the hike. That being said, we still had time for some good conversations and it was great to finally meet Wally. Really want to thank Chris for including me on this one.
Temps were great. Anywhere from 60-80, depending on time and location. (Not as chilly up top as you might think). A lot of sun exposure. Surprisingly, minimal wildlife. A couple of squirrels and that was it. |
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