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Hiking | 14.42 Miles |
3,067 AEG |
| Hiking | 14.42 Miles | | | |
3,067 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | Decided to finally check this one off the list. Long long day! Got to the trailhead around 9:30 to find quite the busy parking lots! So many cars. Somehow managed to snag a spot right at the trailhead (a sunrise hiker must’ve just left).
Right off the bat surprised and excited to see water flowing. Nice and green trail all along Dutchman. Once we dropped down Whiskey Spring Canyon again, nice flowing water with pretty substantial pools flowing. Water was ice cold.
At some point the catclaw started and it was pretty gnarly. Once along Red Tanks the trail was pretty overgrown with lots of catclaw ready to get you. On the way out to the cave we followed the trail but on the way back took the creek part of the way.
Route up to the cave is scrambley and loose. By that point I was pretty warm because it felt hot for January and I couldn’t wait to get inside the shade of the cave.
We had lunch in the cave (which was way larger than I had expected, woohoo)! And then headed down. It’s way easier coming down from the cave for route finding than it is going up.
Somewhere along La Barge Creek boulder hopping/fighting the catclaw along Red Tanks or lower Whiskey Spring my trekking poles fell off my bag…didn’t realize it until way later so if you’re out in the area and see some Black Diamond Z trekking poles for at 110 cm for a short person such as myself, let me know!
On the route back on Dutchman of course I tripped and took a tumble so I’ve got a nice bruised knee. Damn rocks.
Ended up having to put headlamps on about .5 miles from the parking lot. Beautiful sunset and saw some base jumpers jumping from three sisters. Looked pretty epic from our vantage point.
All in all, great cave and great time of year for this route with all the flowing water. Long pants are a must with all the catclaw, and if you see my trekking poles let me know! |
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