May Valley Trail, Phils Trail - Thrush Gap Loop, Summit Trail, Old Griz, Bullitt Fireplace Trail, West Peak & Perimeter Loop Trail — Monday, Dec. 7, 2020

A small group of us hiked a big loop in the Squak Mountain area that made a great day hike of about 5 hours including a lunch stop at Debbie's View. We started from the May Valley Trailhead and went up the main May Valley Loop Trail to the second trail intersection where we cut over to Phil's Creek Trail. As we made our way up Phil's Creek, we had the company of a porcupine that was slowly making its way up the trail, nibbling green groundcover and paying us no attention whatsoever! Some in our group had never seen a live porcupine before, so this was quite a treat. When we reached the Summit Trail, we headed on up to the summit. Then we started down the Old Griz Trail, taking a very small trail to the left almost immediately. This took us over to the Bullitt Fireplace Trail where we took a left. At the next (4-way) junction, we took the West Peak Trail and Perimeter Loop Trail and headed south to Debbie's View. Not to be missed, as this is the only real view in this whole area and is a perfect lunch spot. We returned to the trailhead via the Perimeter Loop Trail, the Bullitt Gorge Trail and then the May Valley Loop Trail we started out on. This loop route ranged from recently-graveled road to somewhat primitive trails.... up and down and all around through varied forest environments. Despite lots of cars in the parking lot, we encountered fewer than a dozen other folks.