The Heat Is On

The heat was definitely on this past Saturday. I'm not one to bitch about the weather but dayum, what a scorcher! Still, no comparison to yesterday's gusty tragedy. Condolences out to that family.

Unlike the past hikes this one was like the polar opposite. Different mountain. Different trail system. Different vibe. To sum it up, the other trail is cool, wet, muddy, slippery, and basically a nature walk up to the lookout. From there on it gets rough.

In contrast, this puppy is hot, dry, rocky, and hilly. It's pretty much a two timer. First one is to see what lies ahead. Second is to finish off the trail.

This was our first outting up there. We hit the trail by 10:00am with the morning sun already beaming in our general direction. Luckily, the trailhead and a good ways in was filled with trees to help shade and cool us.

The trail winds up and down with many climbing areas. There are numerous enclosed drops where you're fairly safe from an extended fall. But up ahead lies many exposed hills where safety and caution is important.

About halfway through starts some of the more difficult climbs. Some are rocky, some are just hilly. The difficulty though is really in their frequent succession since they leave little time to stretch or rest in between.

A passing group mentioned something that we found amusing. One of them complained the [hiking] guide showed the trail as beginning to intermediate. If not for the fact we knew EXACTLY what she meant I'd have LMAO!

It's no joke. The trail is much more difficult than it appears. This is especially true on hot, dry days. My recommendation is to prepare well with at least two sources of water, lots of rest before the hike, and of course, a good meal.

Anyway, there's quite a hill toward the latter part of the hike. It's a long and dry with the sun blasting you. The ground is semi-brittle for the first 50' or so then it's topped off with dirt for about 20'. I've never been good at geometry but maybe it's at a 45 degree angle? Dunno but it was nice.

We found the easiest way up was to run it. If not, there is a side trail about halfway through on the right. It leads up to the top as well.

The top btw is only a resting point before continuing an endless series of climbs. It appears to go on for a while leading up to a very steep ridge where a tower sits. We went on a bit more but with the growing heat we agreed to pay a return visit on a much cooler and restocked day. Lotta sun so the pix are kinda bright: