John Guilford's Hikes
Upper Railroad Creek, Holden on 1999-05-30
Date: 1999-05-30
Location: Upper Railroad Creek, Holden
People: (including myself): Pam
My Alt. Real Alt. Miles
Holden: 2:30 3220 3226 0
NFS Campground: 2:50 3280 3300 0.8
Holden Lk Trail 3:05 3460 3444 1.4
Foot Log Ford: 3:40 3540 3620? 2.7
Turn Around: 3:50 3540
NFS Campground: 4:45 3300 3300 4.6
Holden: 5:00 3240 3226 5.4
This was to be a hike up to Hart Lake (approx. 5 miles, 3982'), but due to
schedule, we only had 2-1/2 hours and not enough time to get that far. The
sky conditions were variable, from sun through clouds to solid overcast.
It was warm enough that we both wore shorts, though there was a time during
the first half of the hike that Pam had wished that she'd brought long
sleeve shirt - her short sleeve shirt was a bit too cool (when we were on
snow) but her jacket was too warm.
The trail follows the Upper Railroad creek from Holden, slowly gaining
elevation. Just outside of Holden we hit patchy snow. After a bit of
this, we decided to put on the gaiters we brought. The trail ended up
being about 1/2 snow and 1/2 dirt. The dirt trail was surprisingly non
muddy. I'd expected more mud with all the melting going on, but there was
only a couple places where puddles formed with mud. The snow was pretty
well consolidated and for the most part relatively easy to walk on the top
of, though occasionally we'd punch through.
About half way out, my left gaiter started irritating my shin. I think
this is the first time I've worn gaiters with shorts. Usually there is the
pant between the two. It must have been the way the gaiter folded when I
flexed my ankle that caused the rubbing of the gaiter against my shin to be
irritating. I ended up folding the top part of the gaiter down around my
ankle.
The trail showed the wear and tear of the winter with numerous logs and
branches across the trail, which had to be climbed over or under. It will
take some work with a bow saw to clear up the trail.
About 2 to 2-1/2 miles out, we passed through a grove of white birch that
thrilled Pam (who really likes that kind of tree).
We got to just beyond "Foot Log Ford" which I believe is where the trail
crossed Holden Creek. There, while taking some time exposures of cascading
creek, I discovered that my OM-2 wasn't loaded as I had thought. Bummer!
Just past the two foot bridges crossing Holden Creek, we lost the trail
under the snow. We spent a minute or two trying to figure out where it
went, but nothing was real obvious. We were at our turn around time
anyways (in order to be back to the village by dinner) so we turned around
and headed back.
On the way back we saw (old) scat from a couple different critters along
the trail (including bear? {which, btw, didn't have any little bells in it}
and rabbit?) and we wondered how we missed noticing them on the way out.
There were no bugs to speak of and we got back to Holden right on
schedule.
Please send comments or corrections to
john_guilford@keysight.com
Last updated on: Mon Jun 8 16:50:16 PDT 2015
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