2021-05-06 42 -78

Location

At the Northern edge of Golden Hill State Forest

Participants

Pedalpusher
Simon the dog
Myka the dog

Expedition

I fell a bit behind writing up some of my expeditions and after going through my pictures, I realized I completely forgot about this Expedition and didn't even have it on my Expedition Table. It's an important one too, because it's for a Centicule I hadn't been to yet! Being on a Thursday, I probably went back and forth on this one for a bit since it would be a drive to get to, but the new Centicule would have been a big factor. Plus, being a State Forest, the dogs would be free to run around. I also noticed there was a Geocache close by, but slightly out of range for a Hash Collision event.

Heading out after work, I recall possibly missing a turn on the way out, but knew it immediately and was able to get back on track pretty quickly. Getting to the forest road intersection I saw on the map with the parking area, I was shocked to see the parking lot completely full. I noticed the gate on the road toward the hash was open, and after considering driving down, I ended up just parking on the side of the road next to the parking lot. I preferred the hike and I'm glad I did. Probably wouldn't have walked as long if I drove in and parked by the hash.

Noticing a few people in the parking lot, they all looked like Mountain Bikers, likely heading home after an evening ride so I didn't give them much mind. Walking a short way down the road, I found the bike trail and thought I would be able to follow it to eventually get to the hash. There was one turnoff that I was looking for and if that was missed, I would be walking way out of my way which I didn't want to do until I got to the hash and calculated how much daylight I had left. I had a very pleasant hike through the forest until suddenly a dog ran up to us from behind.

Looking around, I didn't see anyone, but clearly someone was catching up to us. The dogs all checked each other out and then he took off back the way he came. Shortly after, a group of Mtn Bikers came up and one of them grabbed the dog and put it back on the leash apologizing for the interruption. They made their way past me but because it got a bit hilly, they were going slow for a minute so I held back. Right after they passed, I found a trail coming in which I was pretty sure led to the forest road. The riders stopped shortly after this intersection as well, likely discussing their route. Following them for a bit, I felt the trail was now heading away from the road and in the wrong direction so I back-tracked to that other trail and found the road.

Playing it safe, I walked the rest of the way down the road and found the other parking area I saw on the map with another trail heading off into the woods and definitely toward the hash. Walking down this trail, I found another trail intersection which was the path I was looking for originally, but now I needed to find that Hash! Getting close, I turned on my GPS and found an old logging trail when I got about as close as I could on the main trail. Making my way down the hill, I avoided the brambles as best I could and found an open area where I could do the GPS dance. Successfully recording my proof and getting a couple pictures of the area, we headed the rest of the way down to the wide open path under the electric wires going by. The woods on the other side of the path were posted, but not the side I came from. Getting to the top of the hill where the forest road went by, I went around a gate and found this path was Posted. Huh, oops. Whatever, as the woods I came out on didn't have any signs.

Heading back down the road, I decided to head back to the trail and take the other trail I originally missed back to see where I should have went. Turns out I just needed to go slightly further than where I turned around. Oh well. To make things different, I decided to again take that access trail back to the road at the mid-way point and walk the road the rest of the way. Toward the end where I had parked, I went the other way down the trail to search for the Geocache which I successfully found before heading for home. I would have gone for this first, but as I was heading down this road, another hiker was walking toward me and cut down the trail toward the cache.

This was a really cool area and interesting forest to hike through. With plenty of trails, I'll definitely put this on my list of 'secret places' to hike despite the full parking lot. I really didn't encounter very many people out on the hike.

Photos

On the hiking trail heading to the hash.
State Forest sign near the parking area by the Hash.
Made it!
Accuracy.
View South from the hash (into the State Forest).
View North toward the wires and the edge of the State Forest.
Trying to get the dogs to sit at the hash, Simon decided to be weird and rubbed his face in the leaves. Myka isn't really sure what is going on at this point.
That's a much nicer picture!
Standard Stupid Grin.
A view toward where we came from as we walked under the wires.
Simon looks like the happiest dog on the way back.
The dogs posing on some rocks next to the path.