Fiery Gizzard Trail, from week before last. Did a quickie overnight of the "short version" of the Fiery Gizzard trail ending at Anderson Falls just beyond Raven Point looped with the Dog Hole Trail.
Got off to a very late start-so late that I took the Dog Hole Trail to avoid the climb to Raven's Point on day 1, and descended from there on the Fiery Gizzard Trail on the way out. That sounds like the easy way, but my knee is actually preferring uphill travel to steep downhills, so doing the loop this way was not my intention, or a real advantage except for the time it saved that allowed me to get to my campsite by dark.
The "long version" which I have done as both overnight and 2 night trips is 25+ miles, 12.5 miles one way to Foster Falls with a lot of flat hiking on the surrounding plateau, punctuated by one steep gorge that must be crossed.
The "Dog Hole Loop" as I'll call it, is less than half of that, with Anderson Falls being only 5 miles from the TH. From the perspective of duration vs. intensity, this is still not an easy hike by any means, as the terrain and trail conditions can be very challenging.
The hike begins with a short drop from the parking area that gives an immediate taste of things to come, with a large rock shelter and numerous cascades and small falls along the creekbed.
Soon, Little Fiery Gizzard Creek joins the Big one, and just below the junction is Black Canyon with a nice cascade.
Less than half a mile further is a side trail to Sycamore Falls.
The lighting is almost always horrible on this hike, regardless of what time of day, so I'll throw in a better pic from the past, too.
Better pic:
Right after this, the Dog Hole Trail cuts off to the left, and climbs to the plateau above. Here is the mine site, which is at the base of the cliff that still had icicles hanging from the night before in spite of temps being in the 40s.
1.2 miles up the Dog Hole Trail is another side trail leading to Yellow Pines Cascade.
Another 1.6 miles, and the Dog Hole Trail rejoins the Fiery Gizzard Trail near the Raven Point campsite. Being "retired" as a flashaholic does not mean I can resist the occasional beamshot-this one from the Zebralight H52Fw on level H2.
In the morning, after catching up on my sleep from 6 straight night shifts with 11 hours in the sack, I headed over to Anderson Falls,
..then back to camp for some coffee before packing up. I've been pushing my OR Filament down pullover to lower and lower temps, both over and under my OR Ferrosi hoody. It was getting uncomfortable when I went to bed the night before at 25F, but fine here ~30 worn under the hoody. It's warmer on top, but the hoody protects it when I'm rambling around the bushes collecting firewood, so sometimes it's an acceptable tradeoff.
Immediately after the Fiery Gizzard Trail begins to descend from Raven Point, there is a small natural bridge just below the ridgeline.
From there, the trail continues to descend to the bottom of the gorge. It is very steep, rocky, and often slippery.
My pics along the beautiful creekbed and of the collection of boulders called the Fruit Bowl were horrendous due to the lighting, so they all got deleted.
Just below where the Dog Hole Trail began the day before, someone had built a bunch of cairns for the viewing pleasure of whoever came along(graffiti as far as I'm concerned), which I'd made a mental note to do away with on the way out.
I had to cross on a slippery log further up and go through a bunch of thorns to keep from getting wet, but here they are in the last seconds of their little useless cairn lives. I've only had the pleasure of destroying a large cairn while in progress once, but wish it could happen more often. Makes the trip much more memorable for all concerned…
Cascade and Blue Hole Falls from early in the hike taken on the way out:
On the way home, an 18 wheeler in front of me lost a retread, which smacked my little Corolla in the front bumper :(
The truck driver pulled over to check his tires, and I wouldn't let him leave until I got an accident report. Had to get 3 estimates on my one off day last week(which kept me out of the woods) to satisfy them, but the trucking company informed me today that a check for the amount of the middle estimate was on the way, so I guess it all ends well…
Here is an older pic of Foster Falls near the TH at the far end of the Fiery Gizzard Trail when you hike the whole thing.
