We had intended to hike the Seven Bridges Trail with Lisa, Nathan and Emma Barker, but the Labor Day parking situation was not great in the trailhead lot at Gold Camp Road, so we had to park lower down the mountain. We took a trail close to where we parked, thinking it might get us up to the lot without walking on the narrow, winding road, but it did not. So, we just carried on and hiked out for a couple of miles in a new part of the Canyon that we hadn't seen before. Once again, Zac missed out on the Seven Bridges! With as many times as we've done it, he hasn't ever been able to go with us for one reason or the other, and he was so excited thinking this would be his chance. But no! It wasn't to be. Next time, Z! Although the hike wasn't what we had planned, it was pretty and the company was great, which made the day lovely.
The next day, Luke, his buddy Cooper, Tommy, his pal Conner and I set out to find the Devil's Head Lookout Tower trail. In our years here, I hadn't ever heard of it, and then, just this summer, in the course of a couple of days I had two unconnected friends talk about it, first Mary Lynn Falkenstein and then Adri Murdock. It sounded so neat, and right up our alley, so it was put at the top of my "up next" list. It was waaaaaaaaayyyyyy out in the middle of nowhere. I thought I might be lost for awhile getting out there, but if Kelty Meadows taught me nothing else, it was that sometimes you just have to keep going and you'll end up where you're supposed to be. And it was so worth it! What a neat hike!
The boys were good company and the weather couldn't have been more perfect--just on the edge of cool and slightly fallish. Plus, it's amazing what easy hikers my little two are when they have friends to impress! Tommy and Conner led the way, playing a game they invented where they were battling a made up bad guy and got hits based on how close they guessed the number between 1 and 10 that I was thinking of. It was really creative and kept them so entertained! Luke and Cooper were about 20 yards behind us the entire time. Sometimes we'd get around a corner on a switchback and I couldn't see them, but I never worried because I could always hear them chattering away...they talked non-stop!
We climbed up the mountain for a little under a mile-and-a-half to the base of the rocks below the tower, of course stopping at all the huge rock piles to climb around. There is a little ranger cabin there at the top of the hike, and then there are 143 rickety stairs up to the fire lookout tower, perched atop the Devil's Head rocks. It may have given me a titch of the jelly legs going up those stairs. The boys and I had a good discussion about safety before going up: no, "Look at me! I'm falling!" jokes while I was in charge! In the tower, we found Billy Ellis, the 86-year-old ranger who still staffs the tower, watching for fires across the thousands of acres visible from the tower and educating the visitors about the century-long history of the tower. He was so kind and showed the boys the old fire locator that has been used at the tower to determine exact location based on smoke height and the angle of measured distance. The only disappointment was that the skies are so full of haze from the Western States wildfires, that the view was not as incredible as I know it can be.
We had a great time, and I can't wait to go back to explore the area more!
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