First Day Off: Time to Hike!
This morning was the first day I could sleep in a little later, and not have to fix breakfast or clean anything up. I decided that I would try to hike Observation Mountain, which is the one rising right above the town in many of my pictures.
I put on my REI shorts and my hiking boots, grabbed my big camera and started the 2.5 mile walk to the trailhead. It was nice and cool, and the walk took me past many houses like the one above. I had previously scouted out the trailhead location by bike just to make sure I wouldn't waste time finding it. Again, following my standard procedures, I took a pic of the trailhead map
I had also read up of the trail choices on several websites. I began my hike, buoyed by the crisp morning air and the feel of having trail rather than sidewalks under my feet. I realized that I had not hiked much this year due to several home renovation projects and the government shutdown last winter closing access to my favorite trails. It felt great!
The trail was nice and steep. The sign at the bottom said it should take 35 minutes to reach the top. I established a comfortable pace, and ascended through the woods. There were many switchbacks, as well as unmarked trails heading off in other directions. At each fork I would look to see which trail looked more traveled, or headed more directly uphill, and would choose that branch. Soon I reached a flat area with no trees from which I could look out over Grand Forks. There was a bench so one could sit and look in comfort. That was not my objective, so I moved on. The top still loomed high above
Soon I discovered that many of the alternate trails were in fact shortcuts across switchbacks. Since I have volunteered several times with REI doing trail maintenance, I was rather incensed that hikers were ruining the trail in this way, but I kept going, faithfully sticking to the actual trail. (these shortcuts exacerbate erosion since water can flow straight down, increasing its velocity and carrying off more soil)
A few additional turns brought me to the top, where I could see the cell tower and a large star that is illuminated at night.
The view from the top did not disappoint. You can see almost all of Grand Forks from various vantage points, just not some of those cool houses right under the cliff. I labeled one pic to show River Valley Church where we are located.
After I had spent some time enjoying the view, I decided to head down a different trail, which would bring me down along the river--or so I thought. The first part headed along the ridge until it hit the next big rise. At that point the trail went up to the left, and the access road for the cell towers headed down the hill. I chose the trail.
I followed the trail for about a quarter mile. While trying to follow it, I found some "caves". From the looks of the loose material there, they were probably exploratory mine shafts. The deep one smelled strongly of skunks, so I quietly left the vicinity., Some of the trail reminded me of the rock scramble on top of Mt Madison in New Hampshire, with piles of small sharp rocks.
There were more views of the valley below
Unfortunately the trail fizzled out, and I had to backtrack to the "easy" road down. As per usual, however, the map directions differed from the reality. I followed the double-track road down, expecting to see it curve to the right and descend to the river like the map indicated. After a while I got to a field where there were all kinds of tracks. I was also a lot farther from the top than I expected. I got out my GPS and tried to figure out what happened.
Apparently the red line on the map didn't show that the road went straight, and I was supposed to catch an intermediate trail that I had seen, in order to get back to the river. I had gone about a mile and a half past where I should have turned, and now I was closer to the church than to the trailhead, so I just headed down along one of the trails. At the bottom I found that I was on a road that I was familiar with from riding to the rail trail. I trudged home. It was a very satisfying hike, but I don't understand the poor trail marking.
I put on my REI shorts and my hiking boots, grabbed my big camera and started the 2.5 mile walk to the trailhead. It was nice and cool, and the walk took me past many houses like the one above. I had previously scouted out the trailhead location by bike just to make sure I wouldn't waste time finding it. Again, following my standard procedures, I took a pic of the trailhead map
I had also read up of the trail choices on several websites. I began my hike, buoyed by the crisp morning air and the feel of having trail rather than sidewalks under my feet. I realized that I had not hiked much this year due to several home renovation projects and the government shutdown last winter closing access to my favorite trails. It felt great!
The trail was nice and steep. The sign at the bottom said it should take 35 minutes to reach the top. I established a comfortable pace, and ascended through the woods. There were many switchbacks, as well as unmarked trails heading off in other directions. At each fork I would look to see which trail looked more traveled, or headed more directly uphill, and would choose that branch. Soon I reached a flat area with no trees from which I could look out over Grand Forks. There was a bench so one could sit and look in comfort. That was not my objective, so I moved on. The top still loomed high above
Soon I discovered that many of the alternate trails were in fact shortcuts across switchbacks. Since I have volunteered several times with REI doing trail maintenance, I was rather incensed that hikers were ruining the trail in this way, but I kept going, faithfully sticking to the actual trail. (these shortcuts exacerbate erosion since water can flow straight down, increasing its velocity and carrying off more soil)
A few additional turns brought me to the top, where I could see the cell tower and a large star that is illuminated at night.
The view from the top did not disappoint. You can see almost all of Grand Forks from various vantage points, just not some of those cool houses right under the cliff. I labeled one pic to show River Valley Church where we are located.
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| Ruckle area, where much of the worst flooding occurred |
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| Huge slag piles, left from copper and other refining |
Apparently the red line on the map didn't show that the road went straight, and I was supposed to catch an intermediate trail that I had seen, in order to get back to the river. I had gone about a mile and a half past where I should have turned, and now I was closer to the church than to the trailhead, so I just headed down along one of the trails. At the bottom I found that I was on a road that I was familiar with from riding to the rail trail. I trudged home. It was a very satisfying hike, but I don't understand the poor trail marking.
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