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| Hiking | 9.87 Miles |
1,756 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.87 Miles | 6 Hrs 43 Mns | | 1.58 mph |
| 1,756 ft AEG | 28 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | An early morning meetup for the long drive out to Reef Tank. The drive took quite a while - the last 7 miles after turning off Klondyke Road was slow going, with sections of the road heavily eroded and others quite rocky, with an extremely steep descent to the Reef Tank area. Additionally, the road can get quite narrow, with plants encroaching from either side - your paint will definitely incur some pinstriping with the current and likely future conditions.
Apparently, we don't learn from our mistakes and didn't think to check the wind forecast beforehand - on the drive out, we could feel (and hear) the wind blowing fairly strongly - though we became more optimistic when we passed several flags that were fluttering lightly rather than whipping wildly in the wind. Unfortunately, as we drove higher, it was clear that the winds were indeed high based on how the vegetation was blowing around...and it was quickly confirmed when we finally arrived near the tank where we parked. Temps were chilly, in the low 40s and with the winds probably ranging from 10-25mph, it felt like temps were down in the 30s. 
After gathering our things, we decided to set off on the trail to see how long we could tolerate the conditions. There were definitely times when the wind was blowing so strongly that it was difficult to breathe. The cold temps made pushing through brush along the way a bit more painful somehow. The trail has sections that are easily followed, but others where it is completely non-existent. Additionally, there seems to be significant cow activity in the area, resulting in a variety of cowpaths that may lead one astray. We both had tracks downloaded for reference and built a few small rock cairns along the way to help us on our way back and for a hopeful return trip...some clippers might help to clear yourself a bit of margin amidst the grabbier plants.
Between the route finding and all the stopping for photos, our pace was quite slow outbound, and not a whole lot better on the return to the truck. Thankfully, the winds seemed to let up when we got to the rocky wonderland area of the hike. We continued down canyon for as long as we thought we had time for, keeping in mind that we wanted to be able to do the worst of the drive back towards Klondyke Road with daylight. This was my first time in this wilderness region, and I definitely want to make my way back again to explore further. While all the amazing geology is beautiful, I can only imagine how much more wonderous things were before the burn. It was sad to see all the burned tree remains.
The area definitely doesn't seem to see much visitation - we saw some somewhat fresh tracks on the road heading towards reef tank, but they eventually disappeared. As anticipated, we had the whole area to ourselves. Thanks J, for making the long drive (and providing the blood sacrifice to the plants so they left me less damaged  )!
Wildlife: a couple squadron of javelina sighted on our drive in, along with some bunnies (both on the drive and one while hiking). Also saw a plump squirrel scampering amidst the rocky wonderland. Definitely watch for cows on the drive - there was a large group of them right on Klondyke Road when we were headed home. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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Holdout Creek |
Light flow |
Light flow |
| | | A guess at flow rate - Able to keep feet dry in locations when we were in/out of the drainage in the upper sections. Some flow observed in various drainages on our way to the main holdout creek drainage. |
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Reef Tank |
1-25% full |
1-25% full |
| | | Tank running low. | | _____________________
Happier when hiking....I may not move fast (and I'm often distracted by wildflowers), but I'll get there eventually  |
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