With a forecast high of triple digits on the first day of the Hike a Thon, I headed for higher elevations for my first hike. As Mount Spokane beaconed, I parked just inside the park entrance by the pit toilet by the trailheads for trail 110, 121 and 121, reasoning that I would rather hike down than up at the end of the day.
I started up trail 110 which was single track initially, then followed an abandoned road before dropping back to single track when it crossed the Kit Carson Loop. I climbed about 5 miles to the saddle junction, accounting for almost all of my nearly 2000 feet of elevation gain. I took a snack break there, then headed up Trail 130 which runs along the Kit Carson Loop at that point. Near the CCC cabin, I turned onto single track and hiked toward the Bald Knob picnic area and campground. After a brief pit stop and water refill there, I continued on Trail 130 to 132, turning left to follow it downhill to the snowmobile parking area which needs a summer name. Trail 132 was overgrown in places. I crossed the parking area to pick up Trail 120 by the pit toilet and headed downhill. I followed 120 down an old logging road to Trail 121. While the last bit was only a mile, I had to bypass 4 downed trees in that mile. Two were easy to step over. Two others had fallen together, and hikers had started creating a very steep bypass over the root ball. Even if they were limbed, I am not certain I could climb over those two.
Over all, I had a great day hiking in much cooler weather than what I found when I returned home.
Comments