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| Hiking | 9.20 Miles |
2,450 AEG |
| | Hiking | 9.20 Miles | | | |
| 2,450 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | This is one of those things where I finally give in to a nagging desire. I couldn't take wondering if anything was back there that I have been missing all this time whenever I would look at the Rincons rec map. The trip turned out to be a series of unusual folly, as well. I pull my camera out to capture the awesome sunrise breaking over the Winchesters only to find that I forgot the battery pack. I may or may not post the iPhone pics. It took almost an hour to find the *correct* route down into the canyon itself, whereupon I was nearly shot by a hunter that looked like he had been up all night and was now wired on Fourloko or something. The hunters galore down there was odd, in and of itself. I hit Redington at 0430 and was down into 4425 by ~0515. I didn't expect to see another living soul but was instead surprised to see headlights off in the distance ahead of me and another set coming in behind me. Unnerving when driving off-road in the pitch black early hours, to say the least. Except for the fiend down in the canyon, they were all friendly guys, though. 4425 was in marginally better shape than 95, which goes down to Italian.
The canyon itself is gorgeous. The views of the surrounding landscape are nonexistent, but it doesn't matter because the canyon is full of geologic and foliage wonder. Despite all that, it was hard going. There was frequently no obvious or desirable route which lead to a lot of smashing through and scrambling up. Added to which fact you are boldly going where no SAR group has even contemplated and you make sure you get the best footing you can under the circumstances. There were some false turns thrown in there and the occasional promising game trail that looked like it was part of the old Espiritu trail but frequently went the wrong way, instead. Where it really got exciting was closer to the Park boundary. The views got a lot better and there were some fun things to visit in terms of springs and old ranch relics. The number of trees bearing leaves turning autumn shades also increased exponentially. It was nice to see what might have been the "Allen Ranch" trail intact, but only time will tell if that thing is actually still there. The final folly befell me when I got home and found a perfect GPS route all the way to Steel Trough with a solid line to and from the possible Allen junction. I have no idea what went wrong and doubt very seriously that I lost GPS reception. Oh well. If, someday, anyone ever feels like going in there - PM me and I'll send you what I have for reference. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Moderate
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