Two robins, two squirrels, a chipmunk and a possible skink; that’s the total
wildlife numbers from the outing. This was round two at Rainbow Mountain for myself
and a friend who has long deemed my strolls in the park “Hikes of Doom”. Yes, James
went for a hike; I have proof! Photos! That aside, we saw more wildlife up here than I
usually see. It helps that rain was forecasted and the place was completely deserted. We
hiked the reverse of what I generally do: Take the Rainbow Mountain Loop down to the
Spring Trail, Spring Trail up to the intersection of the Wild Trail, and then the Wild Trail
back to the Rainbow Mountain Loop. You end up with a hike that’s approximately the
same distance as taking just the Loop trail itself, 1.5-2 miles, which we did last week on a
rare day where I didn’t take photos, let alone bring a camera.
There were a number of new wildflowers blooming, including one red with a star
yellow center, one of my favorites of this area. We passed Balance Rock, and chose to
walk the middle trail of three that parallel each other. The middle trail offers a better
view of the unique rock features of the Mountain, though you miss the rock overhangs
and pseudo caves on the lower trail that’s been misused and abused by idiots with paint
cans. The trail turns from mostly dirt to an adventure in rock hopping and injury
inducing falls if you’re not careful. The trail then turns left, going downhill, a little steep
at times.
However, if your knees ail you, it is better to go down this section than up it. It
might be recommended, though, to not take the Spring Trail back up if that’s the problem
and stay straight and deal with the occasional inclines of the Loop trail on the other side
of the intersection with the Spring Trail. We opted this week, though, for shorter distance
since light was fading and headed up the Spring Trail, passing the double “waterfall” that
was barely trickling, fed by multiple springs that are having a hard time running due to
some lack of rain. I’d forgotten just how steep the Spring Trail was going up, and
multiple stops were needed on both accounts, though I did find some photo attractive
purple wildflowers to photograph while waiting on my leg muscle to quit aching, though
it never did. Reaching the top of the Spring Trail, we found the main spring completely
dried up.
Needing a little break from the incline, we opted to travel down the Wild Trail,
which features two caves, one sizable and something I’d like to explore, but you’d need a
bit of rope to get down into the first section, about a 10ft drop with little handholds.
More of those pretty star wildflowers were found here, right before the really short, but
really uphill last leg of the Wild Trail back to the ridge and the Loop Trail. Heading out,
I led us over the top tier of the three trails, which, while lacking in interesting rock
features, offers great views (mostly in winter) southward.
All the photos:
http://www.weathermansam....1410rainbowmtn/index.html
May 14th, 2010 Rainbow Mtn Preserve Hike Report
May 14th, 2010 Rainbow Mtn Preserve Hike Report
