Ouch am I out of shape. I'm hurting today after this hike. We reached the start of our hike at about 10:30 after showing our pass at the gate. I did not want to be delayed by a bunch of blabbing or having papers forced on us, so maybe I was too brusk with the fee collector? I did not mean to be brusk, I just wanted to hike. Normally they ask all kinds of questions at the booth and then force dog biscuits and literature onto me.
No dog today though so no list of dog rules were forced on us. The road to Staircase is in great condition but they are chip sealing 119 and we had a very long delay getting through the construction. The area is probably best avoided until chip sealing is done.
We had a nice hike and then stopped for lunch and explorations. We were in a familiar area and doing as we normally do, exploring off trail. It is amazing how much neat stuff you can find if you explore off trail. Today we found the foundation of a 20X30 building! We also found a saw blade and lots of mining equipment and old cut logs. This was all at least 75 years old and some of it up to 122 years old.
The first thing we found was a very level spot. I said this is not natural, this looks like a cabin site and then my sharp eyed daughter spotted a VERY old fire ring with rocks that had been set up around it for sitting on.
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| Pack is leaning on a sitting rock, other sitting rock is on the bottom of the photo, fire pit is near the upper right. |
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| Very old fire ring. |
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Then I found a bit of a stone wall. It seemed like maybe it was just a camp site with a fire ring, but it was so level I think there might have been a small building there at some point.
Next my eye spied and old wheel barrel and some old tubs.
We continued to explore and found a saw blade propped up against a tree with some heavy mining equipment.
Then my daughter exclaimed in excitement as she spotted a building foundation. What find! We know that there old cabin sites in the area, and logic told us there must be one here, but we have never heard of this cabin. The entire foundation could be clearly seen, but all the wood was long gone. I think this cabin was torn down by the park service.
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| The entire foundation can be seen |
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| Evidence of old logging |
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| Another cut log |
We had so much fun exploring that we thought we might get caught in the dark, but we made it out well before dark.
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| These three large trees in a row grew on the same nurse log |
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| A known cabin site |
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| A nice waterfall right on this trail |
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| Pot shards. We took nothing. |
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| Hiking out |
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