My final outing for my New Years celebration hikes was to Mount Finlayson in American Camp. Turns out you can loop this trail, dropping down the east side of the mountain and heading towards Jakle's Lagoon, which is what I decided to do.
First things first, the parking lot! This thing is pretty small, considering how many people obviously come here to walk dogs, for their daily jog, or just to take in the views. I took the very last spot, and there were probably 15 cars in it, total. When I left, someone was waiting for my place.
On the trail though, it was very uncrowded. I passed a couple groups, and once that happened, didn't see many groups until getting back closer to the trailhead. The views on the Finlayson side are incredible! In retrospect, it's probably better to go past the lagoon first. That means a steeper climb to the summit of Finlayson, but then you get to enjoy gorgeous, expansive views all the way back to the beginning, rather than ending on a service road, which is what I did.
There are a couple of trees down on the Jakle's Lagoon side that aren't posing problems to able-bodied adults, but might be an issue for smaller kids or folks who have trouble balancing.
Otherwise a great ending to my first day of 2019!
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