Mount defiance loop hike

[Rsynak]

I clocked this at 17 miles. Not 12.

Did the CCW route. Up defiance and down starvation. Unfortunately there’s a trail closure on the descent down starvation.

A mile or two from the end the trail is closed and you’re forced onto a detour that includes a climb and adds miles to the loop. I counted an additional five miles + altitude when we were blasted from the descent.

Had I known, since I had a dog with me, I’d have gone up defiance and then back down defiance. (Know that if you do this there’s no water. All the water is on the starvation creek trail.)

Great hike. Hard AF. Even harder when just at the end I realized we we’re going to be dragging on further.

Oh, and the beta on the poison oak and poison ivy is spot on. On the detour it’s completely unavoidable; you will be brushing against it. And the yellow jackets at the top of defiance are brutal. And the crazy grades hammered one of my toe nails offf

Sitting around waiting to see how bad the itch is going to be on me and the dog.

That said. Great hike. Haven’t done it in decades. Not going to do it again for many years. If ever.

[bobcat]

The detour adds just under a mile total to the traditional loop, which includes the now closed descent via the old cutoff trail. Seventeen miles is way overestimated (even though it may feel like that) - you'll need to check your source, I guess!

Yes, the poison oak hanging over that last traverse on the Starvation Ridge Trail is legend and, being in permanent sunshine, gloriously proliferates.

It looks like the cutoff closure is going to be permanent although they had initially explored some options for reroutes. We'll have to permanently alter the FG entries to reflect that.

[Rsynak]

The detour adds just under a mile total to the traditional loop, which includes the now closed descent via the old cutoff trail. Seventeen miles is way overestimated (even though it may feel like that) - you'll need to check your source, I guess!

Yes, the poison oak hanging over that last traverse on the Starvation Ridge Trail is legend and, being in permanent sunshine, gloriously proliferates.

It looks like the cutoff closure is going to be permanent although they had initially explored some options for reroutes. We'll have to permanently alter the FG entries to reflect that.

Thanks, Bobcat. I fully demur. I'll buy that my watch grossly overestimated the length.

I do think the trail closure added more than a mile. Maybe not five. Felt like ten.

Thanks for all you do.

[Chip Down]

That's strange, I don't recall any poison oak on that trail.

But seriously, even in summer I've never seen any, although I do recognize that part of the gorge at that elevation it can be vicious, e.g. just east of Starvation it's dense.