Picket Post Trail

So Super Bowl Sunday was a cool and rainy day and its now Monday, Feb 4 and we are getting more of the same.  Another good day to hunker down and get caught up on my blog.  

On Jan 21 we headed out to the do the Picket Post Trail or at least a portion of it.  The full trail is a 9 mile loop.  We went out just over 2 miles and turned around and headed back. Total 4.4 miles with a 285 ft elevation gain.  For the most part it is pretty level following a creek bed around Picket Post mountain.  The trail itself is fairly wide and consists of sand with some stepping stones laid out in the shallow creek placed just right to walk on when crossing the creek.   I actually did this trail a second time on Jan 30 with our Wednesday group although we went an additional mile out before turning around.  That morning the more adventurous members of our group were heading up to do Flatiron.  Flatiron is only 6.2 miles but has a 2936 ft elevation gain with much of that being towards the end when scrambling over large boulders replaces traversing a tail.  I was just a bit hesitant in stressing out my ankle and knees and thought discretion was the better part of valour.   

Stopped on the trail for a little water break.
As you can see the biggest problem the trail presents
is fine sand working its way into my boots. 

In addition to a few other hiking groups and the odd cow hiding in the scrub just off the trail there were lots of riders on horseback. 

Next up is Peralta Trail up to Fremont Saddle.  That was a workout.