Lost Maples 5/13/17

Posted on June 4, 2017 by Ian

Saturday, May 13, 2017

Lost Maples State Natural Area

warm, sunny, mid 80s

Ian solo

5.1 miles

This was actually going to be an overnight, but I finished the hike much faster than anticipated and didn’t want to sit in the woods by myself for 7 hours until the sun set, so I bailed and drove home. The hike was still very pretty and well worth the 6 hour round trip drive.

I had a full pack, including the Marmot Limelight 3 person tent and Enlightened Equipment double quilt, despite being a solo trip. I had no choice, as I haven’t bought my solo shelter or quilt yet. All that said, my pack weight, including food and water was just under 25 pounds, so not too shabby.

I intended to hike the remainder of the trail that we hadn’t finished on our first overnight back in 2015. This meant doing a counter-clockwise loop on the west side of the park. There was a steep climb that got me to some good views. Unfortunately, they don’t believe in switchbacks in this park, so it’s basically just a straight up climb for a quarter mile on scree. I was winded, but the breeze up top was nice and I took a short break.

Some flowers still hanging on before the summer heat

After a short walk through Mystic Canyon (which I will say is neither mystic, nor a real canyon), I got to the junction where I was to do another steep climb. There were three hikers at the junction who had just come from where I was headed. They told me horror stories of not only steep trail, but spiders everywhere as big as your hand. I was already thinking of skipping this section and their warnings made it an easy decision. Instead I headed to my intended campsite and passed some nice springs on the way.

When I arrived at Camping Area C it was just barely 2pm. There were several groups camped already and I wasn’t sure if they were still waiting to pack up from the night before or if they had gotten out earlier than me and set up. Either way, I didn’t feel like hanging around by myself all afternoon, especially when I was just about a mile from the trail head. So I continued on and headed back to the car.