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| Hiking | 12.84 Miles |
1,453 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.84 Miles | 6 Hrs 29 Mns | | 2.11 mph |
| 1,453 ft AEG | 24 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | Another visit up towards the rim and back to the Washington park TH - this time to head out along the Highline eastbound and away from the portion that is shared with the AZT. We arrived to an empty parkinglot, but before we got on our way we decided to head north along the AZT / Colonel Devin Trail to have a look at the Pieper Fish Hatchery and spring. While there were some rusty artifacts (hardly any really), and no obvious structural remains that I could see, the area is lush with greenery - plenty of Aspen on the hillside, thickets of raspberry and the ground was carpeted in periwinkle.
After our quick diversion, we headed back to pick up the Highline trail. The trail is in good condition, though it deviates a lot from the "official" track that is laid out on topo maps. It seems that there have been a number of reroutes, making the grade more gentle, often with the addition of a number of switchbacks. The scenery is beautiful, and the walking is easy, though as much as I don't really adore steep grades, the switchbacks sometimes seemed rather ridiculous.
When we crossed Dude Creek, we opted to have a look a bit upstream - though we didn't get too far, as the thickets of raspberries started encroaching and we didn't want to get our feet wet. The watercourse is quite lovely in this area, flowing gently over bedrock. After poking around a bit, we continued onward, eventually heading up to a ridge - from afar, we thought it may have been fire damaged, but noticed healthy green shrubs/trees dotting the hillside. Once we arrived, we realized that the forest service had brought in machinery to mulch seemingly everything except the oak. The littered remains of the manzanita covered the ground. It was a sad sight to see, and one where I don't comprehend the logic that was applied. We decided to make this spot our turnaround, as the trail started heading back down towards another creek/drainage.
Wildlife: plenty of birds provided a soundtrack for the day, saw numerous butterflies, lizards, grasshoppers, and a very healthy gopher snake. I think I caught sight of the tail of a garter snake heading off into the grasses, but it was moving too quickly. Missed seeing several deer since I was lagged behind, taking photos of flowers, as per usual 
Other people: none, until we returned to the trailhead - a pair returned to their car (the only one there besides ours when we got back) as we were getting ready to head home. |
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Wildflowers Observation Light
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Pieper Hatchery Spring |
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| | | Didn't look for the actual spring to see if it's contained within a box or piped - there is good clear flow in the fish hatchery area. | | _____________________
| 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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