Mileage: 4.8 miles
Elevation Gain: 2,210 ft
Difficulty: Hard
Type: Out and Back
The previous night I stayed at the Devil's Tombstone Campground. It has running water and an outhouse, but no other amenities if you're looking for a shower. It gets the job done for a place to crash for the night with your tent.
I hadn't decided on a hike to do the next day. It had rained quite a bit during the night and the morning was still quite foggy with mist. Not having a map or cell phone reception I drove along on the road to the first trail head I came upon. This turned out to be Hunter Mountain via the Becker Hollow trail. There was one person in the lot so I inquired the distance for the hike. "It's 2.3 miles to the summit," he said. Sounds good to me! Nice and short. "But it is steep he warned." Ah, can't be that bad I thought. It turns out it is about 2,000 feet in elevation gain over 2 miles. It took me about 2 hours to get up to the top and an hour to come down. Whew!
The trail starts out flat for a bit. It is very deceiving. It will then start to gradually climb and as it gets closer to the top it becomes steeper and steeper. It is an unrelenting climb, and seems to be never ending.
The weather wasn't too bad at the start of the hike. Looking out along side the trail you can see the mountain across the way as you're climbing up to match it's height. The mountain (not sure which one it is that is in view) looked so tall from where I stood that I couldn't imagine reaching it's height and looking out across and being level with it eye to eye. As I ascended more and more, it became as if I was walking into a rain cloud. I could no longer see across the way and it rained on and off through the openings of the trees. It made for a slower climb, once the rocks became more slick with rain towards the top.
The summit of this mountain has a tower that will offer great views on clear days. There is also a ranger station with a fireplace and bunk beds. I was the first to summit the mountain for the day and sign into the log book. At the top were 4 other people who had camped out the previous night. One of them graciously offered me some water without me asking. He somehow knew I had been low, as I had been rationing it towards the top. Unfortunately, because the mountain seemed to be in a cloud at the moment, I did not see the views from the tower, but my goal for the day had just been to summit. The views begin to look the same after awhile and I was lucky enough to see many the previous day. Sometimes the goal of a hike is the summit view and sometimes the goal is the journey and sometimes it is both. It is enjoyable either way.
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| Summit |
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| Foggy Tower Scene |
Once you turn onto this summit, a resounding peace automatically consumes the soul. Before reaching the tower, you are greeted with a forest of conifers that is a delight to walk through. It becomes a different world, after the difficult climb up. It is these moments of a hike that you remember why you do it, why you hike. You forget the difficult parts in that moment and savor the outcome.
Not every hike should be hiked in the most perfect of weathers. Sometimes it's good to experience a cloud or two. There is beauty in every angle.
When I reached the start of the trail again and got back to my car, the weather was crystal clear. It is funny how things change so quickly and how the weather on a mountain can be so drastically different.
I would like to add in some reviews on my camp out as well seeing as it was the first rain night test! I will save this for my next post as it is almost bedtime.
Link: http://www.summitpost.org/becker-hollow/202570
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