Upper Arroyo Seco--second attempt
I survived.
I'm not fully certain about one of my hiking buddies though. I'm afraid he was in quite a bit of pain by the end of the first half of the trek, and definitely not doing as well as he could have been on the way back. Hopefully he won't be hobbling around too badly today. Me--no pain, no muscle pulls, no sore feet, no problems at all. I'd really like to head out and do a short easy hike right now, but I will most likely settle for a few miles around the neighborhood.
The first mile of the hike seemed very easy this time through. The water was a little higher in a couple of places, and we had to change where we crossed because of it, but there was nothing remotely strenuous. Of course, unlike most of the day time picnicers who were also walking this first portion, we had been on the trail before and we were wearing the correct shoes. I saw quite a few people fall in the water because their shoes had no traction.
Since we hit the trailhead late again (1:30pm), though not as late as last weekend, we decided to head straight out to Oakwilde campground rather than detour to the bottom of the falls. It gets too dark to be on the trail somewhere between 5:30 and 6pm, and we didn't want to get stuck on a difficult trail in the dark. As it was, even though we were making good time--this is a 5 hour trail and we were keeping to that time estimate with little difficulty--we ended up stopping about a half mile short of our goal. We were losing light at this point and knew that if we completed the trek we would still be out on the ridge when the sun set. So we took a few minutes to eat and drink and spray on some deet in defense against the knats and headed back. We ended up doing approximately a 9 mile loop and getting back to the car just as it became dark.
So was the rest of the trail difficult? I didn't think it was all that bad, at least not on the way out. Actually, I was trying to figure out why it was classified as difficult. There is a slightly steep climb up from the falls junction to the ridge, but along the ridge most of the trail is fairly easy with a few patches of loose rock and some places where the trail has eroded away a bit, after the ridge you descend into the valley for quite a while--approximately 1400 feet or more--and walk along another creek bed to a second fall. It looked like the second fall was not running right now, unfortunately. But the stream and the smaller falls we saw along the way were nice. Aside from the knats, it is a very peaceful valley. It was about an hour from the falls junction to the point where we decided to turn around. The trail along all this point is single file.
The climb back out of the valley was probably the most difficult part. It's very steep and did get us huffing and puffing a bit. It seemed endless. Meanwhile, my hiking partner had begun to stop every few minutes to compose a photo. I quickly figured out that he needed to stop more often than I did to catch his breath, and at the end of the climb he admitted that he had mostly been making excuses to rest. Still we made it out of the valley, across the ridge and back to the falls junction in an hour. The same amount of time it took us to get down into the valley in the first place.
All in all, it was a great trip. Beautiful and fun. I'm looking forward to doing it again and hopefully starting early enough to complete the trek this time.
Here we go again
The truth is written upon my chest
Look familiar
The rest of the trail
Off to Oakwilde
Sometimes you have to wait for everyone else to catch up
Stop to admire the scenery
And then move on
There are a few more photos, but not many. I just haven't uploaded them to my photo page yet.
I'm not fully certain about one of my hiking buddies though. I'm afraid he was in quite a bit of pain by the end of the first half of the trek, and definitely not doing as well as he could have been on the way back. Hopefully he won't be hobbling around too badly today. Me--no pain, no muscle pulls, no sore feet, no problems at all. I'd really like to head out and do a short easy hike right now, but I will most likely settle for a few miles around the neighborhood.
The first mile of the hike seemed very easy this time through. The water was a little higher in a couple of places, and we had to change where we crossed because of it, but there was nothing remotely strenuous. Of course, unlike most of the day time picnicers who were also walking this first portion, we had been on the trail before and we were wearing the correct shoes. I saw quite a few people fall in the water because their shoes had no traction.
Since we hit the trailhead late again (1:30pm), though not as late as last weekend, we decided to head straight out to Oakwilde campground rather than detour to the bottom of the falls. It gets too dark to be on the trail somewhere between 5:30 and 6pm, and we didn't want to get stuck on a difficult trail in the dark. As it was, even though we were making good time--this is a 5 hour trail and we were keeping to that time estimate with little difficulty--we ended up stopping about a half mile short of our goal. We were losing light at this point and knew that if we completed the trek we would still be out on the ridge when the sun set. So we took a few minutes to eat and drink and spray on some deet in defense against the knats and headed back. We ended up doing approximately a 9 mile loop and getting back to the car just as it became dark.
So was the rest of the trail difficult? I didn't think it was all that bad, at least not on the way out. Actually, I was trying to figure out why it was classified as difficult. There is a slightly steep climb up from the falls junction to the ridge, but along the ridge most of the trail is fairly easy with a few patches of loose rock and some places where the trail has eroded away a bit, after the ridge you descend into the valley for quite a while--approximately 1400 feet or more--and walk along another creek bed to a second fall. It looked like the second fall was not running right now, unfortunately. But the stream and the smaller falls we saw along the way were nice. Aside from the knats, it is a very peaceful valley. It was about an hour from the falls junction to the point where we decided to turn around. The trail along all this point is single file.
The climb back out of the valley was probably the most difficult part. It's very steep and did get us huffing and puffing a bit. It seemed endless. Meanwhile, my hiking partner had begun to stop every few minutes to compose a photo. I quickly figured out that he needed to stop more often than I did to catch his breath, and at the end of the climb he admitted that he had mostly been making excuses to rest. Still we made it out of the valley, across the ridge and back to the falls junction in an hour. The same amount of time it took us to get down into the valley in the first place.
All in all, it was a great trip. Beautiful and fun. I'm looking forward to doing it again and hopefully starting early enough to complete the trek this time.
There are a few more photos, but not many. I just haven't uploaded them to my photo page yet.
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