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| Backpack | 28.79 Miles |
4,457 AEG |
| | Backpack | 28.79 Miles | 2 Days | | |
| 4,457 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | Apparently it had been over 12 years since I hiked to the ranch from the north  The views over the first 4 miles are really quite spectacular, though largely the same over the entire stretch. And while it's definitely worth doing, I certainly refreshed my memory of why all my subsequent trips were from the south. Nonetheless, it was nice to set foot on this stretch of trail once again.
Only 2 cars in the lot to start. A couple on the exit warned of us a rabid fox that had been aggressive with some others at the ranch. Neither we, nor anybody else we chatted with had seen it. Hopefully it has since expired.
Fire damage was mostly as expected. It's been long enough that there's a good amount of scrubby growth, but no signs of anything new in a pine family. After a devastatingly dry winter, a few inches of rain has fallen in the past few weeks and sparked just a slight tinge of green across the otherwise barren hillsides.
The ranch wasn't busy, but there were five groups camped over the length of the valley, and we saw half a dozen others hiking by on the trail over the course of the weekend. I was set on an afternoon hike up to Mound Mountain, a summit of which I had not previously been. I did not expect Ryan or Patrick to join me, but Ryan's fomo prevented the better decision and he got to add an unplanned 8 miles and 2kft to his day 
Fireline is a bit of a mess especially east of Whiskey Spring where post-fire flood erosion has really impacted the drainage that the trail follows. Circlestone is circlestone — simultaneously impressive and odd. I was under the impression that the previous manzanita hell route to Mound had been cleared by the Woodbury Fire almost 6 years ago. That is not the case. There's a way through though and it leads to a nice grove of unburned ponderosa on the west slopes. Near the top of the peak there's some thick growth of scrub oak interspersed with locust and other desert crap. Blood was shed.
The Mound summit was unexpectedly great. It's an absolute different planet from Circlestone. We had been fighting the forecasted 30mph winds all day and while they could be tolerated, the subsequent dust in the air definitely impacted the visibility today. And it was still fantastic. I'm very happy to have made the effort to do this one. We enjoyed a summit beverage and headed back down to camp ahead of sunset, thankful to find that Patrick had started the fire already.
The forecast called for a low of 48, and knowing that the Reavis valley is a cold sink I was expecting maybe mid 30s. It stayed warm until after 9 when the wind finally died down. By morning it was 28.  It's not too often that the forecast is off by 20 degrees. Powers Garden is another spot with similar conditions!
After a lazy morning, the hike out was uneventful. We stopped by in search of Owen's spring, but found absolutely nothing. 109 North seems to climb for 7 miles regardless of which direction you are going and yesterday's Mound Mtn add-on was taking a slight toll early on the exit. As the sun warmed we were happy to have another day of strong, cool wind, though once again, it kicked up a lot of dust and obscured views.
The Sunday drive on the 88 was fine until Tortilla Flat at which point it turned into exactly what we figured it would. It was my first time on FCH since they cleared the rockfall and repaired the erosion. At least the initial rush that happened after it opened has seemed to wane.
It was nice to get out and spend a night in the wilderness.  |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
Three. So approximately 1 flower per 10 miles hiked. |
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Owen's Spring |
Dry |
Dry |
| | | Not even the slightest sign of moistitude or dampiditity. | | _____________________
| I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies. |
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