Another shot at crossing Willow Creek

I really wanted to get to the other side of Willow Creek and see what that mysterious, dark, rectangular shape I saw up the other side was, so I was back out there on Monday. I took a route that started a fair distance from my destination, so it was a long walk.

I think it's a pretty area (except for the power lines).

It was slow and tedious most of the way. Lots of plants in the way, and very large rocks. For every 10 feet forward, I probably walked 15 feet from side to side. That's one of the drawbacks of hiking off-trail. I was enjoying the scenery, though, so I didn't mind.

In some places, walking was easy.

It didn't take too long to reach the side channel I wanted to check out. It was so pretty in Willow Creek, though, I decided to keep following the creek for a while. I soon got to a spot that looked very familiar. I had been there before, within the past few months. I could have saved a lot of walking if I had remembered that, but then I wouldn't have seen all the things that I did on this hike.

I've been here before.

I got to some more boring scenery before I had gone much further and decided to go back and check out the side channel. I only went a few feet up it before it became more climbing (with hands) than walking. Too risky for a solitary hiker. We may never know if I had seen a cave entrance up there or not.

Notice the green grass everywhere.

It seemed to take a long time to get back to the truck. I was trying to hurry and wasn't being as careful about going around plants. I pushed my way through a few bushes that turned out to be catclaw. Had to take a shower when I got home to wash the blood off. Maybe I should start wearing long sleeve denim shirts. Click below to see all of the pictures.

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