Hunter Canyon Trail loop hike

GPS record for the 21 May 2011 hike to Clark Spring. Track colors relate to speed of travel (green: 0-1 mph, yellow: 1-2 mph, orange: 2-3 mph, red: 3 mph +). Total odometer distance was 7.76 miles, which is usually longer than the track distance, because the GPS only collects track waypoints every minute while the odometer is updating continuously. Note total elevation gain and loss shown on the profile was almost 2000 ft

Distance: 7.6 miles
Elevation: 5200-6200' Gain/Loss: 2000'.
5.5 hours

There were eight of us: Big Steve, Rod (the leader), Eric S, John S, and new members Para and her beagle Snoopy, Beth and Roger.

This was my first hike with the group since early March. I wasn't sure if I would feel up to this hike because of a slight nausea these last two days, but after the lunch break at Clark Springs I felt better. Rod led this hike, and after a quick meeting at the Mall parking lot, we drove to the Hunter Canyon trailhead. I could have just met everyone there, but me coming to this hike was a last-minute decision. Weather was almost perfect, with an early morning cool breeze.

I hadn't hiked the entire Hunter Canyon trail for quite a while, so I had forgotten about the saddle, the uphill climb and the potential for snakes in this area. The entire hike was a mellow rollercoaster of ups and downs, through a dry desert studded with mesquites, oaks, agaves and yuccas. There was much sun exposure as we climbed out of Hunter and into Miller Canyon. I stopped to take a lot of photos, but I also chatted a lot with Para and Roger and later Beth, who hails from Indy. It was a good pace, not to slow or fast.

The lush green from many taller trees set back well to the dead grey and brown foliage of the younger and smaller emory oaks. The trees aren't dead but the end tips and leaves are. This dead foliage is still good kindling for a fire. We desperately need some rain!

Even though I've been on the various trails this hike consisted of, this was the first time I hiked this particular course. I liked it. It provides scenery, vistas, shade, overlooks and an opportunity to find minerals and chrystals along the way. I even showed the group where I hunt for quartz chrystals. Eric, I discovered, is as much of a rock hound and naturalist as I am, and stop to enjoy the same things.

We met a few birders in the Hunter Canyon area. One couple even asked me where the spotted owl was. Owl? It turned out the owl hides in a tree past the Y in the trail further up the grade, a grade I was not willing to go back up to check out!

We rested and had lunch at Clark Springs, where we all had shade and chatted. Both dogs looked exhausted. Beth told us about her IUPUI days in the 1970s (she did not look older than me!) and that got us Hoosiers all excited about IU-Bloomington. Roger, it turns out, is originally from Minnesota where one birder was watching for birds carrying a 500mm lens around his neck. But once back on the trail and away from Miller we saw no other people, just trash left behind my border crossers off the trail.

It was considerably warmer by now, past noon, and I was drinking more water. So was Sadie.

The return hike was the same way we came, with just a small diversion off an illegal trail we soon realized wasn't too safe to go down on due to the slides and heavy brush. I was wearing shorts and didn't want to be cut up, nor see anyone else cut up or injured. That wouldn't have been a good intro to some of the new hikers today.

We kept ourselves entertained talking about today's Rapture that was held from noon-3pm around the world. Nothing major happened today that would indicate the end of the world: no violent earthquakes, floods or other catastrophic disasters although I read later than the Icelandic volcano Grimsvotn erupted, but not at the strength as last summer where ash was so bad that air travel had to be postponed for a few weeks.

We got back to our cars around 1:30pm. Eric, Beth and Para quickly left but I showed Steve, Rod and John the other creek I take my dogs to. This was my home turf, I explained, and target shooters were shooting up my forests. They agreed with the abuse the trees were getting after I showed them some of the felled oaks from too many bullet holes. Steve had never been here in Hunter Canyon. To me this place is a remote, hidden gem.