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| Hiking | 7.62 Miles |
2,515 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.62 Miles | 4 Hrs | | 2.18 mph |
| 2,515 ft AEG | 30 Mns Break | 3 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | Had the day off today, so of course I went hiking. I was feeling confident today, so I decided to try something harder than my usual hikes. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do this hike, but I wanted to challenge myself. I was also excited to play around with my early Christmas gift, a Panasonic ZS30.
Got to the TH about 10am and was surprised to see 7 or 8 cars in the small parking lot. The air quality was terrible today...horrendously hazy, and very sunny. Probably not the best day to test out my new camera. The first mile and a half was a piece of cake. Looking back at about the 1.5 mile point, I realized I had gained some elevation, but it wasn't noticeable at all. Then the switchbacks started, and they were pretty steep. The grassy valley at the 2 mile marker was very nice, and a good breather too. More steep climbing after that, which doesn't really stop til you get to the top.
I had read that the spur trail to the summit was a little hard to find, but thankfully there were a couple guys taking a break right at the spot. One of them asked me if I was going up to the radio towers and showed me where the trail starts. Good thing, because it doesn't look like the start of a trail at all. The guy left a cairn there after I thanked him and started my way up. I thought I might be pretty fatigued at this point, but I was still feeling good.
The summit trail is pretty easy to follow for the first half mile or so if you pay attention. The last 1/4 mile, however, the trail is virtually non-existent. It gets very steep, as you're basically just scrambling up the rocks. I was already dreading coming back down this part. Finally made it to the top and soaked in the views, and some radiation. The views weren't the best due to the extreme amount of haze, but the haze also gave me a weird "in the clouds" kind of feeling. I could see almost nothing except the tops of the peaks of the other surrounding mountains. Signed the summit register and headed back down.
Heading down the steep sections actually wasn't too bad. I just took it slow and made sure I had good footing. My knee seems to be healed now as I haven't had any pain while going back down on my last few hikes. Only saw 1 other hiker going back down, until I ran into a group of 10-12 people on a horseback tour near the beginning of the trail. Was hoping to see some wildlife today that I could test my camera on, but nothing except birds and lizards. Very happy with how my photos came out though for the most part.
This was my first 2000+ AEG hike, and I crossed the 2000 mark by a good margin. Very happy with how I held up today. I was a little tired when I got to the top, but not exhausted. Great hike, and I can't wait to challenge myself with some even harder hikes soon. Flatiron has been a goal of mine for a while now, and I think I might be ready for it.  |
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Route Editor
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that’ll put some hair on your chest.
) on this otherwise uneventful double black diamond trail.
out of my ankle in the process. There was a light sprinkle during most of my descent, and a few minutes of cold, heavy rain around the switchbacks. Great morning for a hike!
