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| Hiking | 23.10 Miles |
2,946 AEG |
| | Hiking | 23.10 Miles | 7 Hrs 10 Mns | | 3.22 mph |
| 2,946 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Belated post. Got on the trail a little bit later than I wanted. Started the loop from the Mule Deer trail a little after 6am. Did this loop in a clockwise fashion. Took Mule Deer to South trail and then connected to Goat Camp. Initially the trails were very busy. Figuratively “ran” (jogged would be more accurate) into a high school cross country team…going the other way. Felt like a fish heading upstream. Luckily, their loop was different from my loop and I only encountered the 40 of them  the one time. I transitioned to hiking mode once I started the climb on Goat Camp. Lovely trail with some great elevation, but far too steep for me to jog. A lot of the vertical trails that I have been on the last few months have shown some damage from erosion. But this trail seemed to have “weathered the storm”  well. Braked briefly at the top, before beginning a slow jog along the Goat Camp and down the Mesquite to the Willow junction. The upper section of Goat Camp was a bit overgrown, offering a fairly narrow track. Bit leery of snakes. But no problems. Eight months ago I bailed at the Willow junction because of cramping calves. I was tired today, but I was determined to complete the loop. Willow is a sweet trail. Mild elevation gain and fairly smooth making it ideal for jogging. Unfortunately, I was already fairly pooped  so I ended up pulling my hat down and trudging along. At the Ford junction I knew I had one more major climb before it was all down hill. Honestly, this trail almost got me. I’ve only suffered heat exhaustion once (Christiansen of all trails). This was my second experience. I ended up having to break 3 times on the downhill/flat section. Sections that I’ve run “in my sleep” seemed almost unbearably long. Learned an important lesson: never take you your abilities and the trail for granted. Still, I was able finish the hike with a trace of scalding water from my bottle. Glad to be able to check this one off the list. |
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