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| Red Cap in Reflection (Photo: Kay Blackwell 2013) |
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| Visit to the One of the Larger Tanks |
Friday, Tony led an interesting scramble for the club. He sent these photos and provided a GPS track. The first photo is from the writer's archives. Tony also wrote a few words which are quoted below.
Nine intrepid club members set out on a short but strenuous hike in the Calico Hills
this morning. The
first stop was Red Cap. We ascended a more traditional route up the west side
approach.
After a snack break at Red Cap, we took a brief detour over
to one of the larger tanks. Then the
fun began. The group proceeded down along side Mass Production Wall, then headed up the main Calico Tank Trail to Rooster Rock. We then
proceeded behind Rooster Rock to begin a long descent down into a canyon (name
unknown).
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| Difficult Slide Scramble |
With
lots of interesting scrambling, beautiful panoramas, numerous “which way
do we go from here’s”, everyone contributed a few jabs and attempts
at levity. Along the way, several of the more advanced hikers suggested attempts at deviating from the
coordinators lead. At one point, 3 of the hikers committed to a slightly more
challenging path.
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| Descent Fun |
But for
the most part, the track the coordinator used was the optimal path. One hiker
asked, “Are we near the bottom yet?” “No, not yet. We have
a ways to go.” Then we
hit a little bottleneck, or as the coordinator called it, an 8 ft slide. One of
our team contemplated a possible “better” route. Umm, . . . .who could that be? We continued
sharply down a narrow spine, with sections of some exposure.
Alas, we reached bottom and the group posed in front of a gorgeous red
sandstone natural monument. We then proceeded up the hill and joined the
Calico Hills trail back to the Sandstone Quarry Parking lot.
3 miles,
2 and ½ hours. Total elevation with the descent approx. 1,000 ft. ~ Tony F.
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| Nearing the Bottom |
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| Shade at Mushroom Rock |
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