Since the trail went in last summer I've driven by it several times and each time I've been tempted to stop and see where it goes. It's within 100 meters of the east entrance to the CCC so maybe it was an extension to the CCC or a new entry to the westward trail.
At Christmas Carl got gaiters and a backpack. For his birthday he got a camelbak, but hasn't had a chance to try any of this out so we decided to take Clara and Tokul for a walk. It wasn't raining too hard so we decided a lowland hike would be ok.
The trail is in great shape even toward the end of the wet season. It's clear they spent a ton of money and effort to build a first-class trail. They picked a great route through second growth forest without too much elevation gain or loss. The trail is built on gravel walkways in the wetter areas and there are numerous bridges across small streams.
Although it's usually under a heavy canopy there are a couple of small views of the ridge along the east side of the Middle Fork valley featuring Garfield Mountain and Stegasourus Butte in particular.
The trail is pretty short, no more than three miles from end to end. The east end of the trail drops on to an abandoned road which leads to an old quarry. We could see a red truck there, but continued anyway so we could see where it exited on the main road.
Ping!
Great. Hicks shooting. We called out and they acknowledged our presence.
Ping!
HEY! HELLO!
Yeah, we see you.
Ping!
Ok, so we'll just turn around and go back.
As we retreated back the way we had come the shots continued to ricochet around the rocks as they had their fun. The trail back was just as great as the way out, though it seemed awfully quick. Someday I'd like someone to explain that phenomenon to me.
