Monday 9-12 Long Hiking Day on Palisades Creek Trail

 

Camping at Palisades Creek Campground

We woke up to temperatures in the 40s. Very nice.

I got out of bed around 7:20. We had oatmeal for breakfast. I hadn't had oatmeal in a long time. 

After breakfast we went on a five hour hike, according the the trail maps it was about 8.5 miles but my stepper thought it was closer to 10.5. We started at 8:00 and were back at 1:00. The trailhead is about .25 miles down a dusty road from the campground. There is a nice sign about the the trails in the area, they all start here. At the end of the campground there is a big parking lot for horse trailers. Yes, the trail is for hikers and horses. We crossed over Palisades Creek via a bridge. At the end of the bridge there was a sign that said "No E-bikes, No Pedal Assisted". It was a narrow trail but very nice. According to web it is one of the top trails in area. The trail goes up the mountainside gradually, you gain about 600 feet in elevation getting to Palisades Lower Lake. About a half mile in we met five guys coming back from hiking up to the lower lake. We all said hi to each other. One of them was wearing boat shoes, I don't know how he hiked the trail wearing them. As we hiked we heard the creek and at places saw it. We saw a lot of beautiful mountain scenery with a lot of gorgeous pine trees. The trail wasn't difficult but there were places with loose rocks that were challenging, but we didn't have to climb over or around boulders. Occasionally we stopped to enjoy the scenery. When we hiked by the rock slide area we would look for pika. The last one near the lake we saw one. The tough part I think was the last half mile to the lake because of the loose rocks. There was a beautiful primitive campground by the lower lake where people camp overnight. It had a lavatory, Larry checked it out and said he wouldn't use it unless he was desperate. It didn't have a door and it didn't look good. The lake was beautiful, if you weren't looking for it you could miss it. After taking pictures we went to the campground and rested at the table before starting our return. The hike back didn't take as long because it was mainly down hill. As we were hiking down we met a few people, one girl hiking by herself, two girls hiking up to the top and a couple and their dog. We stopped and let them go past. The dog was very friendly and said hi to us. We crossed the creek five times using bridges that went across the ravine. About a half mile from the end of the hike we met a family of four. By the time we got home we were exhausted but we had a great hike.

Palisades Creek from the trail

Lower Palisades Lake

 

Crossing the first bridge back

 

View of the mountain and the creek

 

Campground at the lower lake

We spent the rest of the day relaxing with a good book. We both finished our books. I ended up doing 28,000 steps. 

My Garmin had been acting up lately saying that I did more miles than I did steps and it turned off a couple of times. Today when we hiked it said we hiked 14 miles and did 28,000 steps. I know from doing my steps all these years if I do 26,000 it's about 11 miles. Larry replaced the batteries and cleaned the contacts. They hadn't been replaced in 14 months. Hopefully this will solve my problem. I really love my Garmin and they don't make this model any more.