I parked at the Hardesty Trailhead on Hwy 58 and hit the trail right at dawn when the temperature was in the low 30s. After a brief side trip to admire (if that's the right word) the old stumps now visible on the floor of the drawn-down Lookout Point Reservoir, I set off down the Goodman Creek Trail. For the most part this was just a long and not too tough climb, with a few steep spots and a few descents. The bridge over Goodman Creek itself is out (well, sort of: the bridge is a planed-down log that it looks like flooding has rolled) but there were enough dry rocks for a careful crossing to be mostly dry-footed. By this time things had warmed up to the 40s and I'd shed a few layers.
I had a few minutes of poking around to find the lower Eagles Rest trailhead where the trail crosses FR 5833. All of the maps I had, including the FSTopo, show this trailhead uphill to the left from where the Goodman Creek Trail comes out. It's not; it's a bit to the right and up a short side road. Well, onX gets the trailhead right but then doesn't show the trail starting there. Go figure. Anyhow, I finally sorted myself out and continued uphill. There are a few swampy areas on this stretch where the trail is on boardwalks. These have a few boards missing and some very slick spots, but can still be cautiously navigated. After one of these the trail goes past the Ash Swale Shelter, which (a sign posted inside explains) was originally built as an overnight stop for pack trains supplying lookouts in the area, and rebuilt in 1999. It's help up well in the intervening quarter century and would make a decent sheltered overnight campsite. Somewhere in this stretch the sun burned off enough cloud to start brightening things up.
- Ash Swale shelter
The trail crosses FR 511 at the upper Eagles Rest trailhead; here it was a pretty straight shot right across the road to continue. From there it's a half-mile or so of switchbacks to the top. By the time I got there it was a marvelously sunny day, with the valleys full of cloud and some decent views. For some reason there are benchmarks from both 1934 and 1953 on the top, a few feet apart. Though the morning had warmed up, there was still a bit of ice in sheltered spots in the rocks. Probably inevitably there was also some broken glass.
- View from Eagles Rest
I only met one couple on the way up (and they started at the upper trailhead), but a couple dozen people and a handful of dogs on the way back down. This made me happy that I'd started early. No mountain bike traffic on the trail this time, though a few recent tire tracks.
