A quick jaunt to start breaking in boots for the season. Sadly I had no SD card so no pika pictures. Straightforward hike, a few minutes of mist, two minutes of drizzle. I saw no one until the descent and was surprised to find the parking lot full; perhaps there was some Thanksgiving guilt.

3.7mi, 520m ascent

Parked at Red Town and did this 12 mile, 2500 ft gain loop run.  Really lucky to have these well-maintained, accessible, snow-free trails so close.  Beautiful fall foliage, waterfalls, and vibrant greens.

There was some puddling and running water on the trail as we went up to wilderness peak.  Other than that I was pleasantly surprised at how dry the trails were.  Not too muddy either- our trail runners didn’t get waterlogged or anything.  Dry feet at the end!

One downed tree area on Wilderness Creek trail, easy to go over.  ]

Used GPS watch and Gaia to navigate- can be a little tricky with all the possible trail options.  We aren’t super familiar with the area.  Easy parking and not crowded on a weekend.  

My favorite section of the day was the Gumbo wilderness cliffs.  Super cool hillside to run down!  

My toddler dubbed this “color color hike” due to the autumn brilliance. We went clockwise (came down via Gombu) and it was perfect. The stream and marshy bits were a lot of fun and I was glad to get them while my kiddo was still fresh. The Whittaker leg felt a bit longer than 2 miles, and my phone says I walked a total of 5 miles instead of 4, but who knows.

A couple of downed trees from yesterday’s crazy windstorm but we had no problems navigating them.

This was my fourth time on this loop this year so for variety we used the Squak Mtn connector trail which is about 1/2 mile north on Rt. 900 from the usual trailhead. The pullout by the trailhead comes up fast and fits about 5 or 6 cars. You are very close to the busy road there so we were extra careful with the dog. 

I had not been on the connector trail before. It's 0.7 miles up it to the turnoff onto the Gombu Wilderness Cliffs trail. The first half or 2/3 of the 0.7 mile is on a fairly steep old leaf covered forest road with a gravel base. Then it crosses a little bridge and becomes single track trail. It seems to me that this side of the stream valley is drier and sunnier than the normal route. It was pleasant and forested. Once we got to the Wilderness Cliffs trail we turned right and did the loop from there. Fall colors were nice. Saw some of the new trail being built between the "summit" and Shy Bear Pass. Looks like it will be nice and perhaps bypass the rockiest section. Saw about 8 or 10 other people on this surprisingly sunny November Monday.

BEWARE: upon arrival to trailhead there was a sheriff investigating broken windows and theft of 5 cars. There was another trail report on the 10/22 that listed another incident of break-ins suggesting that hikers park on the road and not at the trailhead parking lot.

Hike itself was pretty, especially with the fall foliage and mushrooms.