Losing The Up-To-Up-To-Side-To-Side Ropes: Red Creek Trail...

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Red Creek Trail...

For our second hike, Trevor and I decided on a well worn track along a small stream called Red Creek. The trail follows the creek upstream to its source on top of Missionary Ridge. Although places were fairly steep, the hike itself wasn’t difficult. In fact, the most challenging part of this hike was following the trial. The 2002 fire burned this section of Missionary Ridge pretty badly, and the new tree growth has completely swallowed the path in places.

As we neared the top of Missionary Ridge, the trail completely disappeared. Using my GPS and the map in the hiking book, Trevor and I tried to relocate the trail on the far side of a section of new growth. This included walking in a dry river bed for awhile, which made me very nervous as the thunder - so distant for most of the hike - had become louder and much more ominous (Note: From the start, Trevor and I had to contend with the sounds of distant thunder. It was sunny and the prevailing wind seemed to be blowing the pop-up summer storms away from us, so we decided to keep going). My primary concern was the treat of flash flooding – something Trevor dismissed as paranoia on my part. However, not two minutes after leaving the river bed, a wall of red water come barreling down the ravine where we had just been standing. I was still reeling at the sight of the flash flood, when the skies above us opened up and all hell broke loose.

Not since my camp counselor days as a teenager in the Pecos wilderness of New Mexico, have I been caught in an electrical storm on top of a mountain. Just incase you were wondering, it is not a lot of fun. Moving quickly, Trevor and I sought out the relative safety of the tree line. Once there, we hunkered down with the dogs and waited for the storm to end. Lightening flashed all around us, and the thunder was deafening. Then, as if the driving rain wasn’t enough, it started to hail. It was a great time, let me tell you.

The storm only lasted about twenty minutes, so it wasn’t long before Trevor and I were on the move again. We didn’t go far, however, before we realized that we were on the wrong side of the aforementioned flash flood ravine. Unfortunately, the raging water was too high for us to consider crossing to the other side, so we decided to cut our losses and head back down to the car.

Now for the pictures: