Elevation gain: 3809'
Significance: Vistas, old mines, and wanting a physical challenge
Today was my last chance to bag a peak for the month. I had wanted to do this hike yesterday, but got carried away with other things around the house. I decided to bag Miller Peak via Miller Canyon, since I did the Crest Trail in January and Lutz Canyon last month. This is a long and difficult trail not for the weak of heart.
I started the hike shortly after 10am. I wanted the heat to warm up the trail so that the dogs weren't too cold, and to let any snow or ice to soften by the time I got there. This was a wise decision on my part, but it did require a late start and late finish. I never felt energized, though, and the pants I wore were too big for me and kept sliding down my waist.
I don't even remember the last time I hiked up Miller Canyon. I took my time getting reacquainted with the trail and the landscape, walking along the stream and the old homestead and enjoying the sounds of the cascading creek. So much of the creekbed here has been destroyed by crashing boulders from the floods of 2011 and 2015 that have now piled up where once small rocks lay. I had hiked this trail with Kevin, Beth and Ellen over the years. Both Sadie and Zeke were pups. Today they were visibly slower and more eager to lay down and rest.
Even before the 2011 fire, this canyon was a steep one, and the trail rated as hard. This rating hasn't changed. I knew what I was getting into, but how much has the canyon changed since my last hike up here in 2012? I wanted to find out.
There is a lot of history in Miller Canyon. Sadly so much got destroyed in the 2011 Monument Fire and this fire and flood damage is visible from all part of this hike, from the trail head all the way up to the peak.
Abandoned mines still dot the trails, but they are closed off or buried by landslides. The wide mining trail that ascended for two miles up the canyon was badly eroded in the flood after the 2011 fire. The larger rocks have been pushed off the trail, but it's now a singletrack trail covered with rocks. Flash floods have cut secondary crevices in side canyons. Burned trees and snags now litter the canyon bed. New growth is slowly taking over, but it will be another 20 years before this canyon has healed and I won't be around to see it.
Sadie and Zeke were by my side the entire time. There weren't any animals for them to get interested in anyway, and when a young fawn sprinted across the trail, I just had to yell out their names for them to heel and return to me. I never had to use the leashes. I had a slow but steady pace and stopped a lot to take photographs. There were no birders in the lower half, and also no birds until I got to the Crest Trail and I could see and hear falcons.
The worst part about the start of this hike is putting up with the barking hound dogs that live at Beatty's Orchard at the end of Miller Canyon Road. They were not pleased with my dogs' presence. Today we also had the scent of skunk in the first mile. The second mile gets very steep, but near the third mile the views open up. This Orchard also took a beating in the fire. The owners never left their home. Their property along Miller Creek was badly uprooted and burned, but the buildings all survived.
While there were cars in the parking lot, I didn't see anyone on the trail until I got to the Bathtub Springs four miles uphill. A homesteader dragged that tub up the canyon by mule. When he left the area, he left the tub behind. It's now become an icon. The bathtub is now cracked and doesn't hold water like it once did, but water still flows from the pipe. I came across five men during this hike.
I was surprised to see little snow left. Our last rain was March 19th and that left snow on the north slopes of the mountains, but apparently that didn't leave enough. The snow around Miller Peak has melted. The only snow left is now on the Crest Trail between Bathtub Springs and Miller Peak. The original snow mound from early January had reached the edge of the trail and traversing this section was treacherous. I or the dogs could easily have fallen. Despite all that snow earlier this year, there were no wildflowers. The ground had been choked by snow for too long. Everything still looked a drab brown, grey and dark green.
The bathtub at the four-mile mark is a nice place to rest, eat, and watch birds. The first hiker was coming down as I was sitting by the tub shortly after 1pm. I stayed seated because of my baggy pants. ""You always meet someone at the tub!" he said. And why not? There is shade, level ground...good enough to camp for the night. I drank my water, ate some tangerines, gave the dogs some chicken jerky strips, and continued the last two miles refreshed. By now sunny skies had changed to light overcast skies.
I stopped at the bathtub on the return hike as well and noticed a painted rock with "Petey" on it, a rock donated by "Sierra Vista Rocks," a group of artists that paint rocks and then place them along hiking trails. Finders are to log on to the Sierra Vista Rocks website on Facebook and let the painters know the rocks were discovered. Finders can either take the rock and hide it somewhere else, or leave it where it was found.
We made it to the peak shortly after 3pm. It took me five hours for the six miles! I sat briefly by a new solar-powered weather vane that was not here last month. By now the sky was overcast, but the winds were calm. I wanted to sit on the peak and just enjoy the views, but I knew I couldn't stay long. I wanted to be back at the car by 6pm. I descended at 3:20pm and got back to the car by 6pm. So I did achieve my goal, but a visiting woman from Utah out looking for land to buy came up me in the parking lot to ask me about this area. She wants to buy a house in Ramsey or Carr Canyon off a dirt road and flew down from Salt Lake City this morning just to look at homes for sale. I'm not sure that either canuon is the safest place to live, especially with our fires and floods, but she is serious about buying something here and I'm sure she will find something.
On my way out of Miller Canyon, NPR reported a 6.5 earthquake outside of Boise, Idaho. Yikes. It is Idaho's strongest quake in 37 years The western states have been rumbling lately: Salt Lake City and El Paso had smaller quakes late in March. Wonder where and when the next one will be.
It was nice to be up the canyon again. It had been too long and I had forgotten some of the sites. It's sad to see all the fire damage everywhere, but despite the damage from the fire and flood, there is still a lot of beauty here. Many of the burned and downed trees from 2011 have fallen down the hillsides and are collecting in the creekbed. The trees are clearing from the hillsides but now crowding the creek. New growth is bright green. In a a few more months new flowers will dot the hillsides.
I'm glad I did Miller Canyon trail again, but I doubt I'll be doing it any time soon like Carr Peak. This steep grade really demoralizes one's ego and tires both body and mind. Both dogs were exhausted when I got home and I made sure they had double portions for their meal. Both slept soundly all night. No whining from Sadie!
https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/community/boise/article241668106.html
