Dry Gulch Preserve, Saddle Rock — Friday, Sep. 19, 2025

From the Saddle Rock TH, I did a loop by hiking up Dry Gulch to the end and crossing over to the ridge that leads back to Saddle Rock. 

Halfway up the Dry Gulch trail, a large pine can be seen way ahead, standing out by itself on the horizon. There is an old cistern there, and a trail leads down the gulch and up the other side, connecting to the ridge trail that leads back to Saddle Rock. Instead, I continued on another mile, to the end of the gulch where another trail heads up the hill and meets the ridge trail at a gate in the barb wire fence.

Now headed back toward Saddle Rock, in a hundred yards there is a nice spot with a couple pines in a pocket of rocks. Nice view, and I had my sit here. The trail continues down and reaches a broad, flat bench. It was nice to not be going either up or down for a bit, and a cool breeze was blowing over the ridge, providing some relief on this hot and smokey day.

Looking ahead, the trail made a rise up to a little stand of trees where I was surprised to find a spiral labyrinth made out of river rock. Very unexpected. Someone had to carry all those rocks all the way up here! Naturally, I had to try it out, and wondered if I looked a bit silly from afar - some guy wandering around in circles on top of the ridge. I must not have been in the proper frame of mind when I started my inward journey because nothing mystical or spiritual occurred at the end. Instead, I only found another rock with a flower painted on it.  But just in case I had accidentally soaked up some good karma, I carefully retraced my steps back out. You always want to make the full journey, for if you take a shortcut and step over the spiral, you instantly break the spell and have seven years of bad luck. (OK, I just made that up, but it sounds like it could be a thing.)

Shortly after, I came to a clump of boulders under an old, gnarly pine with a great view of Wenatchee and Saddle Rock. Lots of initials carved into the sandstone. I could see the trail coming up from Jacobson Preserve on the left. By now the trail was wide and well-traveled, and I soon intersected with the official Saddle Rock trail near the top. This has been redone recently and is basically a gravel road. Had the benches to myself and sat for awhile enjoying the view. 

On the way back down the winding gravel road that claims to be a trail, I could spot the Dry Gulch trail across the canyon where I started the hike. I hadn't planned on going this far and had been conserving water, so it was good to get back to the TH. It was only a five mile loop, but all in the sun.

And as usual, my knees were killing me and I needed a beer.