Campaign Trail

I was all set to go take some Photopoint pictures yesterday. The high was forecast to be just 85, and it would probably be much cooler where I was going. I checked fire maps and weather before I left the house, though, and it looked like the area I was headed for could be covered in smoke. It was also possible that some of the roads I would need to use might be closed. I needed to go someplace else. There were some trails near Roosevelt Lake I had been meaning to hike since last summer. I don't know why I didn't go out there over the winter. Anyway, I decided to go check out the Campaign Trail. As I often do, I got a late start. That turned out to be a good thing, though.

I put sunscreen on before I left the house, but I was in shade most of the time on this trail.

I took a lot of pictures of the shady trail, because I'm not used to shady trails and because I couldn't see much else because of the trees.

On the drive out to the trailhead along FR449, I kept seeing what looked like javelina poop. It was in the middle of the trail, too, every hundred feet or so. Seemed like a lot. Then I started coming across stuff that looked just like that except much larger volume (about 1.5 liters). I wonder if that could have been from bears. I was a little jumpy after seeing that.

Progress was slow up the trail. I kept having to stop to take pictures.

I passed the junction with the Reavis Gap trail. It climbs quite a bit. I'll have to take that trail some time and check out the view from the top.

This is a very green place.

Sometimes the trail climbed out of the trees so you could see the view.

There was nobody else on that trail. I had the place to myself. It used to amaze me when I had large areas of the desert to myself, but now it seems normal. With the wind blowing through the trees, this area reminded me of the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend. It was very peaceful and relaxing.

This is where I turned back.

This is a video I made walking along the trail, so you can see what it looks like.

The sun seemed to be getting low so I checked the time and how long it had taken me to get where I was. I needed to head back to the truck to get there before sunset. I didn't take as many pictures on the way back, though, so I got there about half an hour before sunset. Still, it was good that I turned back when I did. By the time I got to the truck my feet and ankles were getting pretty achy. Click below to see all of the pictures.

2012_05_26