The map I was using was slightly under twenty years old (and the best I could find online). I should have cross-checked it against the trail map at the trailhead. If I had, I would have seen that the objective for my day’s hike was no longer on the trail system. I would also have noticed that at least one of the trail’s many loops into hollows had been replaced by a shortcut. Knowing that would have saved me a mile or more of bushwhacking.
The above picture is fairly typical of the trail conditions, though in several places it was completely overgrown by encroaching vegetation. I need to come back in the winter when it will be possible to see the views across the hollows. from what I could make out in the gaps in the leaf cover, it was quite impressive.
A fair way along this section of the trail I was to encounter the only people I met in my two-and-a-half-day trip. It was a group of five people on horseback. I was more than happy for them to overtake me and clear the trail of spiders webs for me.
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