Today is my day off and I started it off with no plans. Usually I like to have a general idea
of what my day offs will consist of so I don’t waste time, but I’ve been so
busy I hadn’t given it too much thought.
So I decided to pack my backpack and hit the road. I had an idea where there might be some
trails but I was more-or-less just driving around looking for a spot that
looked interesting. I ended up
parking at the Doe Mountain Trails head (for those of you who might want to
know where that is take Dry Creek Rd of the 89A, it becomes Boynton Pass Rd
then make a left at a fork to stay on it and make another left at a fork to
continue on Boynton Pass).
When
I walked up it looked very touristy and maintained. (Skip this sentence Mom) Which is not a bad thing, but I
want something that will put my life in danger. You usually have “nice trails” at these kinds of places,
where the trails are very obvious and aren’t very long. That’s great if you’re hiking with
grandma or grandpa (which I actually saw out there today, props to them both,
what an inspiration), but for me that’s not going to cut it. But I decided to go anyway because it
didn’t look that lame and I’ve got nothing else to do (remember, no
plans).
When
I saw this sign it started to dampen my mood. I understand that the fees go to maintain the trails but I
have always resented paying to experience nature. My thoughts are, “really? I have to pay $5 to hike up the
side of a mountain that will take me 20 minutes”. The whole paying to be in nature just really gets under my
skin, it seems wrong to me. So
decide to pay like the upstanding citizen I am (hehehe), when I notice this:
Thank
you Government shutdown, you have officially saved me $5. So it’s not all bad right?
That’s the parking lot.
I of course had to go to the edge.
Feeling
unsatisfied I completed my hike which took me about 20 minutes. Then I notice across the street there
is a dirt trail leading through a small field of grass and shrubs. I decide to go over and take a
look. It turns out to be the start
of a trail (trail 54 up Bear Mountain, to be specific).
Here is what the signs say:
Five
mile hike, elevation gain 2,000 feet, plan on minimum of 5 hour roundtrip,
rugged, exposed, mostly unmarked trail, sounds like an Adventure to me! I knew I had to do this either today or
some time soon. I started the
trail, not entirely sure how far I was going go today but I had to know more
about it. About five minutes into
the trail I pass a couple that I ask if they made it to the top. They answered in the affirmative and
said it took them about three hours round trip. I thought to myself, “I’ll do it in two” (I didn’t).
So
I started Bear Mountain excited at the prospect of having a challenging
hike. Then I began to think to
myself, “I wonder why they call it Bear Mountain? I hope the answer to that isn’t really obvious”. But I had my Ka-Bar (a really big
knife) and the spirit of Adventure so I wasn’t worried. (WARNING: The Spirit of Adventure does
not protect against bears)
I
thought I would be hiking to the top of this:
I thought wrong. The trail takes you left of this rock
formation to another area that over looks the canyon that you just came
from. When I got to what I thought
was the top I thought, “okay, that was nice but it only took me maybe 40
minutes, something must be wrong”.
So I ventured deeper into the mesa and saw this:
“A
higher peak! I must hike it!” This made more sense why the
couple said three hours, so I continued.
Something that you need to realize about this trail if you ever hike it
(hopefully with me), is that there are about three areas where it
plateaus. At the first area I
thought I was at the top, but obviously I was not. The next few you can see the final peak taunting you as you
get closer and closer.
On
my way up I eventually came across a very distinct area of tan smooth rock (I
say tan because most of the rock is red).
Aside from getting to the top, this was my absolute favorite part of the
hike (did you get that Jesse? Favorite part). At some points I got on all fours to climb up this smooth
rock.
When I finally made it to
the top of this part I ran into another couple whom where nice enough to take
my picture in exchange for taking theirs.
Here it is:
There
was just one more stretch until I got to the top. The final stretch was pretty steep and at points the trail
was not as obvious either. If the
trail makers (which were just little stacks of rocks) hadn’t been there it
would have made the hike much more difficult. So I powered through and finally after about two hours I
made it to the peak. The view was
spectacular.
That
couple took my picture again.
I
found some interesting things up there too.
I
ate a snack, had some water and realized my legs felt like jelly. You see, the thing about hiking is that
you have to go down the mountain too.
I decided it was okay for me to pop in my ear buds and listen to some
tunes on the way down. On the way
up I wanted to appreciate nature, but getting down I just wanted to be done (I’m
a little inpatient with certain things).
Hiking down is definitely faster but it is a real workout on your
thighs. I was feeling the burn for
sure. I’m not going to lie,
I also got lost a few times. It’s
interesting how different the trail can look coming from the other
direction. But I finally made it
and was feeling both accomplished and exhausted. In total the hike was a little over three hours.
I think after a day like that I’ll get some pizza and
beer. Until next time fellow
Adventurers!
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