Distance: 2 miles
Photos: [www.mohiking.com]

Started off at Pickle Springs Nature Area.

It was a perfect day, in the 70's, sky deep blue, not a cloud in the
sky. As I approached the area on a deserted gravel road I had that
sinking feeling of what "what would happen if I passed a loan male
hiker way out here in BFE". I never let this thought bother me very
much because the few times that I have hiked trails by myself, and
the MANY times that I have hiked Shaw Nature Reserve I have virtually
never passed a single male hiker. There are usually couples and
families.

So imagine my surprise when I get to the parking lot and there are no
less than 15 cars there. I got the last spot! It turned out this
trail was heavily populated with couples and families as it must be
known locally to be a cool place to bring your kids.

This is a really cool trail. The Author of 60 Hikes in 60 Miles
wasn't kidding when he said you get the biggest bang for your buck on
this trail. It's loaded with the most nifty geological features
within the smallest space (2 miles). This would be a great trail to
take your kids on, and lots of photo ops.

(I took photos and will post them when I figure out how to work my new
camera and post them to some kind of site).

I only had one small glitch on this trail. Dome rock is a smooth
expanse of rock bluff with a nice view off the cliff. It beacons you
to walk around on it a bit and explore. After a while, I started to
wonder where the trail picked up again. You see the trail takes you
right up onto the expanse of rock and then there is no more trial to
see.

I located the path that I arrived on, looked around, no trail. On the
very edge of the cliff there was a sign that said "Rock climbing
strictly prohibited' with a small arrow pointing seemingly off the
edge of the bluff to the right. I looked around again for the trail.
I looked back at the sign that said 'Rock climbing strictly
prohibited" with the small arrow pointing off the edge of the bluff.

I couldn't figure out if it meant the trail went that way, or if it
meant surly you will plunge to your death if you go that way.

I am kind of afraid of hights so I very slowly came as close to the
edge as I dared, which wasn't very far, to look around a rock wall to
the right. I could only see the edge of the bluff.

A couple came along who said they also had never been on that trail
before. I pointed out the sign and said I thought maybe the trail
went that way, but I wasn't sure. I said I would let them go first
and if I heard a scream I would not go that way.

Well it turned out the trail did go that way. I had been to chicken
inch far enough toward that area to see the trail. The nice couple
led me to safety.

For my second hike I did the 1 mile Pickle Spring trail at hawn (some
of my caps don't work). It was a nice trail. In just a few spots it
was challenging as I had to do just a bit of rock climing to get up
and down some very high rocks.

At one point I was crouching down on a rock so I would be able to put
my foot about 3 1/2 feet down to the next level and at the very moment
when balance was most important, my dog yanked me forward. I fell to
my knee, could not get my balance and actually fell forward on my face
with my cheekbone and eyeglasses hitting the dirt. I will be
sporting a bit of a black eye tomorrow. My leg, knee and shoulder got
scraped up pretty bad to. I did not cry, it really didn't hurt that
much but my new glasses got bent.

I plan to go back to this place this week with a real camera, it's going to be fun taking and posting pix of this trail!





Edited 2 times. Last edit at 10/20/05 05:06PM by Nick Kasoff.