Cascade Head

[Smith]

The lower trails are still muddy, but the upper paths are dry. We saw several little garter snake on the trail, somehow both cute and terrifying. Haha! We had a great hike!

However, we did see a couple groups of people hop the fence into an area that is supposed to be off limits. We also saw lots of dogs, you know, to go with all the "No Dog" signs that are posted. Now, I love going off trail and I hope one day to have pet all the dogs in the world, but I wish we could all be a little more respectful of the rules. The Nature Conservancy owns and maintains these trails and are doing work to protect the land. We should try to be respectful of the work they are doing and letting us use the trails. Okay, I'll get off my soap box now.

Info on the Nature Conservancy work at Cascade Head: https://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/r ... e-head.xml

I have a few more photos on my blog: https://boredomtheadventure.wordpress.com/

https://youtu.be/Fw1tYeVB-28

[mattisnotfrench]

Isn't that a fantastic hike? It's become one of my go-to hikes during early spring, in spite of the mud.

[miah66]

I recently did that hike and was kind of appalled at how many people were breaking almost every rule you can break on an outing. Bypassing closures, fences, trampling off trail, cutting switchbacks, listening to loud music, smoking, etc. Sad.

[CampinCarl]

I recently did that hike and was kind of appalled at how many people were breaking almost every rule you can break on an outing. Bypassing closures, fences, trampling off trail, cutting switchbacks, listening to loud music, smoking, etc. Sad.

Agreed, we went there on a Saturday last August, it was mobbed. People were wandering around off trail despite the fact that there was a Nature Conservancy volunteer at the top of the meadow. Ticks me off

[markesc]

This is why I don't even bother going on weekends. I'd rather watch Judge Judy re-runs than watch yet another episode of millennials/people who recently moved here/checklist lifestyle types destroy what was once a great place to live.

[mjirving]

Nice job, I did that hike over spring break. I wanted to summit the lower peak too but came upon that fence that segregated the wildlife preserve area so I turned around. I could clearly see that many others had not. The trick is to go early. I didn't see a soul on my hike until I was almost back to my car. The mud though...craziness! (On the lower trails only.) I saw about 50 elk in the preserve area. It was pretty cool.

Mike (aka GoalTech)

[MariposaMan]

Cascade Head is truly a beautiful area. I might be joining a volunteer work party later this summer.

Don't get me started on the whole ignoring signs/rules situation. Sure, it can be tempting to hop a fence or wander off trail to investigate whatever seems worthy of investigation. I theorize that there's sort of an "exceptionalist" mentality at play, or at least in part, for some people whenever they're confronted with the words "No," "Do Not," "Not permitted," etc. Such individuals fail or refuse to understand that, more often than not, rules/regs have been instituted for good reason. This is especially true on Nature Conservancy property!

On a relatively recent hot springs visit, I noted the "No smoking in the pools" signage posted in not one, not two, but in THREE highly visible locations. Can you guess what I witnessed (and inhaled) when I arrived at the pools?

OK, rant over.