Was a nice cool 55 degrees when I started. I had not planned to hike the whole way up to the top of Nick Eaton Ridge. After weeks of staying home and not a lot of activity over the winter, I know for an old man, I was not in normal May hiking condition.
I didn’t decide which trail I would take until I got to the Nick Eaton trailhead along the Herman Creek trail. The first mile was pretty brushy. Heart and lungs were tested making my way up the first steep section.
Lots of flowers were blooming in the open meadows.
At the Eaton ridge cutoff trail, I considered heading to the Gordon Creek trail, but decided to push on. I have not been to the top of this trail, so I did not realize there were 3 sections that level off with a ridge in front of you. Makes it seem like, ok only one more steep section to go and then another appears. My body was doing ok, so I decided to continue. At the Deadwood cutoff trail, I again considered heading to Gordon Creek trail. I was into the flow and had a good rhythm, so continued up. I can tell the upper sections of this trail do not get many boots on it. Lots of brush and sometimes hard to find. In the last section to the top, I was happy to see trail marker ribbons on the trees. I didn’t ever lose the trail, but had to stop several times to look closely.
At the top the views were not great because of clouds and what remains of the forest. There is lots of burnt bark on the forest floor at the top.
The big rock sentinels helped to shelter from a cool breeze.
I fueled up and started back down. Was wearing new hiking shoes and all of downhill contributed to toes getting pounded. Luckily no major blisters though.
I returned on the same route.
I felt pretty good about my conditioning after this. 4:45 hours up, break, and down.
This is definitely not a viewpoint hike but is a great conditioning hike. Maybe this made up for my many missed stairmaster workouts!
