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| Canyoneering | 7.00 Miles |
1,700 AEG |
| | Canyoneering | 7.00 Miles | | | |
| 1,700 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Interesting Day. Only one hiker signed on (Darrel), which was a bit odd. I have not hiked this area for the last few years; it would be new hiking for most of our group. Darrel had never hiked any of the Basin routes; all new for him. Socked in, 40 degrees, yet felt warm. If we were not walking in light mist we would have been down to tshirts.
Decided to cross over into Lost Trail South after showing the Indian Wells... used the old deadend road, then followed a low ridge around and into the canyon proper... interesting rock! As always, the canyon was great. Lots of bedrock walking. We passed a number of north side spurs. I was looking to hike up and around, connecting with Lost Trail or Mineral Springs Trail for a shorter days loop. Finally, turned up and in... and after starting to climb, it did not feel familiar. Turns out we were in a cut I'd never routed... and it was good! Steep yet medium level effort occupied us for our ascent to the top of the Ridge. Great views of the upper canyons from the ridge high point. There was a small cut, bedrock bottomed, heading off and down towards a large north spur. We decided to check out for an exit option, fully expecting such a small defile to run out with overgrowth. Around each twist, the bedrock continued... and got ever better. In the end, it ran all the way down and out... possibly the easiest walkway I'd ever encountered. I wondered how I'd never noticed it from the bottom...? Once down it became obvious... it flowed into the lower spur as a low shelf... it did not look like the mouth of a cut. Who knew!?
We were at the site of some old diggings across on the north side of the large spur... option was to descend back into Lost Trail South... or... ascend to Lost Trail. Checking out the old mines and assorted exceptional loose rocks, we wound up and around and were soon on the trail. By that time I'd decided to stage a RockHound Hike for this loop... rock was good. Little did we know; the best was yet to come!
Looping around and down, at the prominent rock outcropping on the descending ledges, we entered Crinoid Heaven! I scored 50# of crinoid samples and could easily have lapped up 100's of pounds... quality fossils everywhere! I could not recall what name I might have given this point years ago... it is now Crinoid Point. Additionally, our new spur cut out of Lost Trail south: Darrel's Ledges. The Ridge High Point: Darrel's Point. Our descending bedrock cut is Darrel's Stroll. The overall loop: Darrel's Wrap!
Darrel is very happy to have signed on for this day's interesting exploratory! |
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| Ageless Mind... Timeless Body... No Way! Use It and Lose It. Just the way it is... |
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Route Editor
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