Monday, July 20.
This was a difficult hike for us. The first 2 miles and the the last section were easy enough, but the middle 2 or 3 miles were steep and rugged, with a little ledge walking and much scrambling over loose rock. Combined, Donna and I are 120 years old, and that is just probably too
old for this type of hike. The country was beautiful, but our bodies just took
too much of a beating. We will be more careful in the future about selecting our hikes, and we won't hesitate to turn around if the trail becomes difficult.
Normally, we walk at a pace of about 3.5 miles per hour. On hikes, we normally average at least 2 miles an hour. Today, we struggled to do 1 mph.
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| Our hike |
We began the hike at 7:30. Temperature was in the high 60s and the day was clear, so it was a perfect day for a hike. We parked at the North Prong Primitive Camping Area Trailhead (see
map) and planned to
hike the Canyon Loop Trail in a counter-clockwise direction. The trail began
deceptively. It was broad, clear, and had very mild ups and downs. It continued
this way past the North Prong Primitive Camping area, which is about a mile in
from the trailhead. About half a mile beyond the campground, the Lower Canyon
Trail intersected our trail from the east. At this point, our trail turned
westward.
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| Trailhead for North Prong Primitive Camping Area |
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| Donna near the beginning of the trail, where the canyon is wide and the trail is level and clear |
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| Interesting formations sculpted by nature's forces |
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| Canyon walls begin to close in, and more brush and trees appear |
As we moved westward, the canyon walls began to close in on
us. This should have been the first clue that we were in trouble, but we were
too ignorant to realize what this meant. Next, the broad, clear trail began to
give way to a small trail, much the size of a game trail. Then the trail began
occasionally following dry stream beds. Finally, we began our climb up the
canyon walls. By this time, we were committed.
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| Our broad trail becomes little more than a game trail |
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| Sometimes the trail simply follows a dry stream bed |
The object of our hike was Fern Cave, located in the
northwestern corner of the park. Fern Cave is a rock overhang covered in ferns that grow at the source of a spring. I was glad we stayed with the hike long enough
to see it. Had we been smart, we would have turned around and gone back the way
we came. Problem is, we aren’t very smart.
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| The roof of Fern Cave |
So, we continued the loop trail so that we would come out at
the South Prong Primitive Camping Area Trailhead. From Fern Cave, we continued
our ascent. One of the problems hiking this way is that the signs are placed
for people coming to Fern Cave on the Upper Canyon Trail, not from our
direction. Not far above Fern Cave, we took our first wrong turn. I scouted out
2 or 3 possible trails before finding the true trail.
We continued our ascent around a canyon and finally came out
on top. Our walk along the top was probably not more than half a mile, but it was a welcome break from the climb up the steep cliffs we had just completed. Then we
began our descent and the most difficult part of the trail, at least for us.
Once again, on several occasions, especially about the middle of the descent,
we had trouble finding the trail at times. Much of the trail is over rocks that
do not show a path, so it is necessary to look for signs. I missed one such
sign, causing us to have to backtrack a considerable distance. All of this
extra effort took its toll on us, zapping much energy from our aging legs.
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| View from the top |
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| Rocky trail. Notice the trail marker center left |
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| Rattlesnake with his lunch. I got a bit closer to this rascal than I wanted when I walk beside this rock. He gave me a severe warning, and my old legs came to life. |
After reaching the canyon floor, we still had a
considerable hike, as we had to first go to the South Prong Primitive Camping
Area Trailhead, then walk almost a mile along the road back to our vehicle at the
North Prong Primitive Camping Area Trailhead. It was almost 1:30 when we
arrived back at our truck, so we were on the trail for 6 hours. All told, we
only hiked 6.2 miles if I read the map correctly. But so much of the hike was
on steep ascents and descents where footing was poor, and we added a little
extra mileage from all the backtracking we did.
