I am struggling to figure out a reason to post this hike. It was, by far, my least favorite hike ever. I never thought I'd say something like that, but I can only say it was a beautiful day and I enjoyed the unseasonably warm, mid-October weather. I suppose I should have known better, as going off trail can bring all kinds of surprises. I read up on this and felt fine with it, but I should have read into it.
To start the hike, I found a gate that I didn't expect, which only added less than a half mile to it. Apparently, it is gated after Oct. 15th, this was the 16th. Well, that's no biggie, as far as I'm concerned. Then I stayed on the trail a bit too long, as I realized I was walking up Mill Creek...grrr, now I had to walk back uphill to a place that looked like a good spot to head up. As I did this, I kept hitting a trail and thought, wow, maybe there is a trail after all. Nope, it petered out after awhile, Oh well! Now I was walking up the ridge line and was getting some beautiful views of Mill Creek Canyon, but I was so close to the sheer cliff face I started experiencing some vertigo. It was scary to me. It was so steep I kept visualizing myself slipping and falling down into the canyon with my last thought being, "so this is how I go." I tried to walk further away from the ledge, but this turned out to be a bad idea, as the brush was thigh high and nearly impossible to get through. I kept going, trying to calm my fear, but also wondering how I was going to get back down. When I finally reached a place that was high enough there was little brush, I felt a shortly lived relief. Now comes the hard part! There was nothing but deadfall from here on up. Climbing over tree after tree after tree is exhausting! There aren't too many times when I want to quit before I hit a summit, but this thought crept into my head several times. I pushed it away. And then I didn't. I was rather close to the summit, but as I looked up towards it, all I saw were dead trees. And I finally said to myself, "I'm done with this hike."
The sun was starting to go down and I had already been hiking an hour over what I thought it would take me. I had seen the gated road across the way and thought it looked like it was close enough to get to and I could avoid the terror of falling off the mountain by heading over there. Of course, I had all those trees to climb over to get there, but I figured gashed up legs were better than a bashed in head. I swear, I thought I was being careful, but branches appeared out of nowhere and kept grabbing at my legs and shoelaces. I couldn't wait to get to that road! I had this image of a man, dying of thirst, and seeing an oasis in the distance. That's exactly how I was feeling! When I finally made it to the road, I had the most satisfying sense of relief. I didn't care that I had a few miles left to this day, I had a clear walking path the whole rest of the way!
I was rewarded by coming across some deer, and then a bald eagle. Unfortunately, I didn't realize the eagle was perched up in a standing, but dead, tree only about 100 feet from me until it was too late. He flew off, down a little way, to where a picture of him wasn't great. Still took the pic, though! When I finally got almost to my Jeep, by some houses, I heard a grunting of some sort in the brush. Yikes! I couldn't see anything, but had my bear spray out, and my gun at the ready. I started yelling, to scare whatever it was away. I didn't even care if someone were outside their house, thinking I was a crazy woman. Suddenly some dogs started barking, and I figured I scared whatever it was over to them. As I heard some crashing through the brush up towards me, I felt an all encompassing panic. Out of the brush came two dogs. Yay! Just dogs! I was so happy to see them. A collie just stood there and looked at me. A little guy, much like a pug, but without the pushed in face, finally stopped barking and escorted me the rest of the way to the Jeep. I felt such a great sense of security with him there! I've been looking for a hiking partner in the canine family without success so far. I can't wait to find one!
So I will end this post by saying I absolutely don't recommend this hike. Just learn from my mistakes. I can see how this would be great for those uphill skier types, but hiking it is unsatisfying. Still got some good pictures, though!
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| The gate I hadn't expected |
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| Looking into Mill Creek Canyon |
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| Trying to show the ledge I was hiking next to |
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| Looking up into Mill Creek Canyon. |
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| Looking up from where the only easy part of this hike was |
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| Just look at all the deadfall |
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| The road! |
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Looks like I got into a fight
with a mountain lion! |
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| Just a few picures looking back up from the road |
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| The Bald Eagle |
Not sure you can tell, but I was quite close to Sheafman Point when I decided I was done. I stopped at an elevation of 7116. Sheafman Point is at 7830. My entire hike turned out to be 9.8 miles with an elevation gain of 2891. A good work out, I suppose, as I was in bed by 8:00 pm.
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