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| Hiking | 3.09 Miles |
826 AEG |
| | Hiking | 3.09 Miles | 2 Hrs 7 Mns | | 1.67 mph |
| 826 ft AEG | 16 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | With a weekend planned on the plateau, I was looking for some adventures, and this narrow ridge jutting a couple of miles into the canyon caught my attention on a topo map. I'd never heard of it before, and I'd never heard of anybody else doing it before, so I did some cursory research and came up with just a couple of leads. One was a photo from the Dragon's Head in Google, posted by a name I recognized. So I sent a text to a friend who knows the photographer to ask if it was something an amateur stooge like me could get to. Sure enough, it seemed to be within my wheelhouse as described: "It's a hard HIKE, easy climb."
So I set out Saturday morning along the miserably maintained W-1 road to Crystal Ridge. After beginning in the wrong direction, I got my bearings and was making reasonably good time through the thick growth of the forest. As I began the first real drop off the rim toward the beginning of the ridge, the humidity started to get to me, and I was overwhelmed by bugs. For some reason I had left my head net back at camp, and this was a terrible decision on my part. I swatted with a handkerchief in a constant motion, often having to fully cover my face to inhale a bug-free breath. This is annoying and super unfun.
I pressed on, trying to climb each small hill and stay on the top of the ridge, but wildlife tracks that always seemed to look more attractive along the side of the ridge ultimately would peter out and leave me in a mess of prickly crap, way below where I thought I wanted to be. I was sweating profusely, and the day was only just beginning to warm up.
I started to think that getting to the Dragon's Head wasn't going to happen today, but perhaps just topping out at the Dragon itself would be rewarding enough? As I progressed farther, cliffed out, went back up and around, and finally reached a good view of what lay ahead, I just made the call to put this one off for another time. The heat, the bugs, and my underestimation of the time it would take to rambo through the growth and find the best route made the decision relatively easy. I enjoy this kind of thing: the discovery, the blood loss, the lack of other visitors are all appealing to me. But I'd rather do this one when it's 30 degrees cooler. It still looks very intriguing, and I hope to return another time.
(Entering this in the HAZ competition for longest triplog for a 3 mile hike ever. Sorry!) |
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| I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies. |
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Route Editor
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