Although the trailhead kiosk has a description that references a historic name for this trail being "The Trail to Hell" I totally disagree. It is quite a delightful trail with a moderate elevation profile over many miles with plenty of fresh water sources in springtime. We did a 15 mile backpack (out and back) with a group of boys 12-16 on April 21-22. We hiked in about 8 miles and then turned around and came back to a sheltered camping spot near a road at the 6.75 mark from the eastern trailhead, thus having a shorter hike out on Sunday. Amazingly the southern exposure of this trail allowed for a totally snow free hike to our turn around location within sight of Thirteenmile Peak.
The trail is littered with signs of horses and cattle that use the land for summer grazing I believe. We saw very little wildlife on the trail and only passed one other day hiker who was headed in, while we were heading out Sunday morning. As for obstacles there are a handful of portions of trail that have springs of water running down them, mostly from seeps and springs in the hillside. These should all dry up in the coming weeks. There are a few sizable trees down across the trail that will require sawing. All were passable for us with backpacks, but would be difficult for horsemen.
A good number of us found ticks crawling on us and I believe one of the youth find a tick that had embedded itself already. As for flowers, there are plenty of buttercups out along the trail and some other small flowers. The water is up in the creeks but very passable with logs and rocks to hop on as you cross. Some of the springtime only waterfalls in the first mile are pouring gallons of water a the moment. I think we could have gone a few more miles before we encountered any real snowfields in the trail.
Comments