Today I drove up to the North & South Fork Silver Creek Trailheads and campground to go for a hike and camp. The first thing I noticed when I arrived was a sign that said there was a recent cougar "encounter" in the area. Encounter, not sighting. I don't get scared about most wild animals, but I do get scared about cougars. I kept my pepper spray handy the whole time I was there. I also brought my Pulaski along so that I could sharpen the adz-end before Sunday's trailwork; I carried it with me when I hiked to the outhouse. I'm sure I was overreacting, but we all have phobias, right?
I got a late start (again!) and then made a few stops enroute, so when I arrived at the trailhead it was already 2pm and I was starving (here lately, I'm always starving). I made myself lunch and looked at my maps and guidebooks and finally settled on the South Fork Silver Creek trail to Gunsight Pass. It's seven miles each way, so I knew that I'd have to fly in order to make it to the pass and back before dark.
The trail really surprised me. Things are typically pretty dry in this area, but this trail has reliable water sources the entire way to the pass. The first two stream crossings were almost enough to make me take my shoes off and wade across, but I made it by hopping on rocks instead. I wished that I had gotten an earlier start so that I could have soaked in the streams when I was done hiking...my legs were killing me by the time I got back.
I was also wishing I had gotten an earlier start when I arrived at Gunsight Pass and saw the size of the huckleberries up there. They were amazing! I also spooked a bull moose in the last 1/4 mile of the hike to the pass--he ran off so quickly that I didn't have time to get the camera out.
The views along this trail are not great until one is really far up the trail, so I decided that my favorite feature of the trail (aside from the huckleberries) were the giant larch trees. This would be worth another hike up in October to see the changing colors. Next time I'm going to get an earlier start so that I can include the scramble up Linton and Sherlock.
My stats for today: hike up = 3 hours; hike back = 2.5 hours (including snacking time); TH @ 3,230' & Gunsight Pass at 5,600'; trailside snacks = huckleberry & thimbleberry.
Read my WTA trip report here.
Today's mileage = 14 miles
August total mileage = 217.15 miles
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment