I woke after about 6 hours and took to reading Tortilla Flat at 3AM before getting a few more hours of sleep. That seems to be how too long nights work. I didn't get moving until almost 9AM. Steinbeck helpfully points out that a watch is useless: 7AM is a fine time to be sitting out on the porch in the summer when the sun is already warming it but not in the winter when it isn't even light yet.
Some of the most beautiful bits of fall color on the creek were just below the camp site, especially in the morning light. Some nice, big trees above the camp.
I didn't bother to put on my socks and tried not to think much about the water as I hit the crossing and stepped into it. It didn't feel quite so shockingly cold, but when I stepped out, I could feel the function in my feet was reduced by the chill. Then there were the downed trees to navigate before the last crossing.
When documenting a log across the trail, it is always good to put something like a hiking stick in for scale. Now, who has an 8 foot crosscut saw? This is a far easier way to pass a log. That was a long way to underbuck on this admittedly somewhat smaller log.
I sat down to wring out as much water as I could before pulling on my socks for the rest of the climb, then noticed what I'm assuming is an old sign post has some odd details. There's a groove cut all the way down one side, a bigger groove down the other, and nails hammered into the top. Fence post? The blazed tree next to it offered no help. It doesn't have a blaze for that direction, either, but there is a trail marked on the old 15 minute quads. I got moving upward. Snatching a little bit of view while climbing the ridge. Everyone has their own way of making trail signs. The bears are enthusiastic on this madrone. A gentle flat to provide some rest before coming some more.
I was dreading that I had let the sun get up so far and have so much time to warm the badly burned areas, but it was distinctly cooler as I climbed, even compared to the same time of the day the day before.
Over the knob and about to dip and climb again. This knob has a funky bit of green rock that looks like an obsidian at first, but is quite crumbly. There's a look at Peak 8 and/or Doctor Rock again, but from too low to see the details I was trying to capture.
So when I moved back into the more forested area, it was just a return to a little more difficult trail and not so much welcome shade. The difficult spots aren't long anyway. There's a place where it scrambles down (but not too steeply) and around a heavily overgrown area with a few logs that I'm sure was once the trail. Otherwise there's almost always enough tread to find trail and, for now, ribbons remain to help.
I moved some branches and found a wintergreen still blooming underneath.
There's a second bump a lot closer to the trail that, according to the old USGS maps, could be just as high as the large, flat peak. It's been smoothed out of existence on the FS quad, but I decided to tag it, just to be sure. It's a rocky point that is easy to walk up and offered some specific views.
Rock Creek Butte is the bit of particularly badly burned trees the road passes through just before getting to the trailhead. North-ish across the rocky little peak.
Then I got moving again. There's a big dip of about 700 feet, all along the ridge line, before climbing again to the top that is not much higher than the peaks along the ridge.
Other wintergreens are far past flowering. (This is actually from a different big group of things that get called wintergreen.) Still failing to find that view of the western peaks. Northwest again. Other specimens of the same sort of wintergreen are also far beyond flowering.
I was chugging along slowly on that last climb back to almost 5000 feet, but quite happy for the cooler day. Muscles were feeling it, but not too badly.
Conifers (mostly) and madrones and a lot of oaks may be evergreen, but the low stuff participates in the fall colors. Leaving the wilderness.
I was a little late if I was trying to get back "to camp" at the car by 6PM, but not too late. I should have got a good sunset, but with no clouds to take up any colors, it was a bit of a fizzle.
Patapsco Valley State Park interactive map link I was charged with deciding on a hike that kids could do, except I have no experience in this or in evaluating what a particular kid can do. Plus, I would be without any parental supervision. Alltrails offered up Cascade Falls as a possible suitable suggestion, except that it would be done on the weekend and is a very popular location. I liked a climb on Garrett's Pass and a drop on the Cascade Falls Trail, which is 4 miles and only 300 feet or so from bottom to top. (It goes from ~20m to ~100m.) That's not so much, right? And I even had the means for up to 2 kids to be self sufficient, able to carry water, snacks, camera, and a light sweater on their own. Self sufficiency for the win, right? The hike would be in the Patapsco Valley State Park, like most my hikes would likely be. This park has a mix of free lots and pay lots. The pay lots have different prices for in state or out of state, weekends/holidays or weekdays. T...
Since I last wrote about digital maps, the S1 Mobile app has been shut down and the Forest Service released a new map app that looks pretty good. It might be time for a new post on maps. (Check the "equipment" tag for older editions.) USFS app in offline mode showing a section of the Pacific Crest Trail north of Marble Mountain Wilderness including intersecting roads, streams, and contours. As before, this will focus on legal, free ways to have maps stored on your handheld computer (AKA "phone") so you can have them anywhere and any time. While these are free, it does help insure that independent developers keep going next year if you send some money toward them. My criteria for a map app: Works offline. If you only have a map when online, you don't have a map. It is as simple as that. This is non-negotiable. Maps should include contours. I'm looking to hike with these maps after all. Shows location. User configurable storage opt...
Inyo National Forest Locate the trailhead. DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | DAY 5 | DAY 6 | DAY 7 | DAY 8 Today is a very easy day. The morning is to be looking for monuments around Casa Vieja Meadows and wandering three miles or so down the trail. The afternoon is to be sitting in the hot springs and exploring old cabins from when it was a commercial concern. The morning sun on the meadow is stunning, and after some battling with the camera in need of a new battery, I can capture a slightly lesser moment of the light. Then, with breakfast put away, I turn my attention to climbing the small peak just north of my campsite. Manzanita makes a feeble attempt to block my way sometimes and I am quickly into a cold wind, but soon find myself on Doc Peak, as it is labeled in the OpenStreetMap. It is another labeled with a benchmark on the 1905 Olancha 30' map and on the more recent 1987 Casa...
Picture Canyon Natural and Cultural Preserve Click for map. Picture Canyon is a little bit of open space developed jointly by the City of Flagstaff and Arizona State Parks. It boasts cultural artifacts and plenty of birding. The Tom Moody Trail makes a loop through the area to take in some of these. It sits at the edge of a couple bits of industry and my nose can't help but tell me that one of those is sewage treatment. Um, I mean "waste water". That won't dominate the whole area, but it is noticed in the wetter spots. A place to start with some parking. Signs include an area map. Ground zero for the stink up ahead, but certainly not the source. That is throughout the city. Trail heads toward the smell past an "outdoor classroom" that is benches and a semicircle of educational signs, then the loop splits. I head left away from the smell and into the trees, but also away from the cultural artifacts. It's an old road through gentle hil...
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