I parked at Crystal Creek Circle, where the loop at the end has some reasonable space to park without being in anyone's way. I only saw a few folks inclined to venture out on a rainy day. One woman mentioned this as "a rainshadow hike," which...I don't know. I was pretty thoroughly soaked by the end of it. But I was fine with that.
The lower parts of the trail were in find condition, but higher up the rain was soaking in and things were pretty slippery on steeper sections like the bit to Central Peak. The bomb cyclone damage was really something to see. It meant there were a lot of cut cross sections of old trunks that were fun to look at and photograph.
I went straight up to Central Peak, and took Old Griz and the East Side trail back, for a total of 5.5 miles and 1800 ft elevation gain.
Comments
I'm a regular on the East Ridge trail. The people who did the cleanup work approaching the old Southeast Peak trail did an amazing job! As the trail approaches the East Side trail junction, did you notice the huge blowdown across the trail? Someone took the time to count the rings - 144 of them. That tree was a sapling in 1882!
Posted by:
Jeno on Feb 08, 2026 06:30 AM
Honestly, the blowdowns were too many to pick out a single one, but I admired the cross sections of loads of them. I think I might know the one you're talking about, though. There were some huge old trees brought down. Thanks for saying that the Southeast Peak trail got cleaned up. I wanted to head that way, but with the uncertainty of what sort of wet soggy mess I might have to clamber through, I skipped it.
Posted by:
Criada on Feb 08, 2026 08:27 PM