Page 28: Out to Stafford Creek

On the County Line Trail.

Postscript

And to think – I thought it was all over with, that I would just hike my 6 to 7 miles on Saturday morning and meet C&G. Little did I know!

That County line Trail is a bitch! I did fine until just after Fourth Creek, then I lost the trail in the middle of a horse camp.

I looked at the map and said, 'Aha! It contours around that ridge!'

However, that ridge surely looked foreboding to me. I searched for the trail above the horse camp but couldn't find it. Finally, after nearly breaking my fool neck on the rocky, steep slope, I found a trail leading from the basin down to Ingalls Creek. Well, this was obviously not what I wanted, yet it was a trail.

But, I thought, I'll go back to that stupid horse camp and maybe I'll see something I missed before. To make a wretched story short, two hours after first hitting the horse camp, I found a little cairn and finally my trail. It switchbacked steeply over the opposite end of the ridge that I had been playing around on for over an hour.  I would have been way off-route if I had insisted on going the other way.

After finally getting over the crest of this ridge, I saw the trail switchback even more steeply down on the other side. But I was in heaven because the trail was visible. But not for long – I lost it again at the intersection with the Hardscrabble Creek trail.  By this time, I was getting frustrated and feeling the clock ticking.  I was supposed to meet C&G at a particular time and I was running late.

– Keep reading.