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| Hiking | 7.09 Miles |
280 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.09 Miles | 2 Hrs 42 Mns | | 2.63 mph |
| 280 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Early morning hike at Skyline. After yesterday’s tumble, I wanted to take it easy so I decided to do some off trail gridding around the Turnbuckle - Granite Falls trails. This is another way of saying that I did some ATV track gridding.
Got to the TH a little after 6am. Surprised to see there were already 10 cars in the lot. Went in about .25 miles where the Turnbuckle starts its loop and took the user trail/(road) that took off just to the south of the Turnbuckle. Basically followed this road, and its off-chutes, as they meandered to the west and to the south. There were not nearly as many splinters as I anticipated, and most of those, ended up in the wash.
Notes: Followed the main road that heads south from Granite Falls (first one encountered from that trail) for about 1 mile before coming to a private property sign. Felt like that was a good and memorable turn around spot. Surprised at how the wash developed. The ATV tracks hit the wash on a number of occasions. Initially, the encounters, made the wash feel confining and “sunken” from the rest of the landscape. However, as I encountered the wash further south, it opened up. More like a plain. I followed one ATV track to the east. I kept expecting to come across the wash, only to discover that by that time the wash had flattened into a plain. This track ended up taking me to the entry road and the “flattened” wash. When crossing the wash I had noticed quite a few tire tracks in the sand and it was evident that this was one of the entry points ATVs. The only noteworthy track was an unused one, that headed up one of the smaller hills to the west. Noteworthy, only because it gained some elevation and headed into the hills. It stopped at the top of the hill, well below the surrounding peaks. This track is easily visible from the trails of Skyline. I did not follow any of the tracks in the washes. That would be for another visit. There are also still a number of roads further to the north that interact with the Skyline trails that will also need to be explored…for another day.
Did about .5 miles on Granite Falls and about the same on the Turnbuckle. Opted to give credit to GF, even though I only did a third of the trail. Weather was nice, but warmer than I expected for a 6am hike. Encountered 2 hikers and 1 biker. Minimal wildlife…a couple of chipmunks and quail. |
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