After paying for parking, and getting a trail map at the visitor center, I started off about 7:30 a.m. I picked up the West Bluff trail head in the main park area. From here it was straight up for about 480 feet. The remainder of the West bluff was up and down for a while along the west side of the lake. Views were really beautiful, and the trail was entirely paved (or natural rock). A steep decline put me on the south edge of the lake. There was a good bit of walking next to a road until I reached the southern park area. That took me to Grotto's Trail. This was a nice area, walking along the base of the southern face of East Bluff for a while. The entire time you would hear traffic from the same road I walked along earlier. Then it was across some railroad tracks, and a steep incline up.
 |
| On West Bluff looking southeast. |
The hike up the southern face was very hard. It was mitigated with some stairs made from the quartzite rocks, but still a very steep incline. I passed some other hikers, and sport climbers along the way. A portion of this climb is in the video:
Once at the top of the east bluff, I took a break and prepared for the hike east on the Ice Age trail. Unfortunately, the map provided in the visitor center incorrectly had me go east right above the incline. This started taking me along what appeared to be a trail, but eventually turned into nothing more than a gulley carved out by rainfall runoff. I ended up doubling back, and up around 150ft back to the top of East Bluff. More wandering around, and I eventually found the Ice Age Trail by way of the East Bluff Woods Trail. This entire area is littered with signage, but there are a number of unmarked intersections which leave you searching for which trail you want to be on. This area is also full of other hikers and tourists there for the views of the lake.
 |
| Atop the southern face of East Bluff looking east-southeast. |
Once back on the Ice Age Trail, I headed east, and back down the mountain to Roznos Meadows. This was a nice leisurely stroll with a welcomed flat surface. A few small inclines, and nice views of the southern face of East Bluff puts you at a trail head along highway 113. It was at this point where I realized that I would not have time to make it to Parfrey's Glen (the original eastern-most destination), so I took 113 North to another Ice Age trail head. This was, in a word, grueling. It was over a mile up from 860 to over 1300 feet. In addition, walking along the highway was hot with little by way of a comfortable place to rest. I finally hit the trail head, and headed back into the woodland.
 |
| Looking at the south face of East Bluff from Roznos Meadows. |
My first stop was just inside the wooded area where I stopped at a huge log for some lunch and a rest. The break and refueling did a lot to re-energize. I recall distinctly the apple which was not only sweet, but very cool. Notwithstanding some ups and downs in elevation, this was generally a long downhill portion of the hike, taking me down to the campgrounds back in the park's main area. It also took me to another poorly marked part of the trail. I ended up working my way through the entire campground, missing where the trail headed back to the parking lot where I parked.
All in all, I would probably like to try the trail again, but with less of a time constraint (I had to be back at the hotel by 3:30 p.m.) I would be able to skip the highway 113 portion, and hit Parfrey's Glen. The views were beautiful, and once you picked up the trail east from the south face, there were no people at all.
 |
| The 15.3 mile loop. Darker color is higher elevation, gree (in Roznos Meadows) is the lowest elevation. |
 |
| The elevation profile. The first incline was up West Bluff. The second is Grotto's Trail, then up the south face. The find steep incline is up highway 113. |
Details
Min. Altitude: 797 ft.Max Altitude: 1528 ft.
Cumulative ascension: 3024 ft.
Distance: 15.3 miles
Duration: 6 h 50 min.
Temp: mid 70s - upper 80s F.
No comments:
Post a Comment