Sat, Mar 7 2009 - Penstock Loop - Slow Pace (View Original Event Details)
|  |
Sometimes the days that don't go quite as planned are the best kind. We started off from the Info Center, crossing the road and hooking onto the Canyon Trail which leads to Penstock Loop. Nice little trail through the trees; nothing really remarkable. We started out counter-clockwise around Penstock Loop, and soon took the unofficial viewpoint detour to the right to go see the ice formations on the penstock. One GPS-wielding hiker (a prominent volunteer who shall remain nameless *cough*Ed*cough*) believed that if we continued along the unofficial trail that we would hook back onto Penstock Loop Trail. That turned out to be not the case, though, and we looped around the penstock, down the hill to the power station and ended up coming out onto the Smith Dorrion just north of Pocaterra. A group concensus had us head south to "bushwhack" our way back to the info center instead of heading north to hook back onto Penstock Loop Trail. A stop for a snack in the Pocaterra Hut was a lovely surprise, and then bushwhacking from there back to the info center which was actually more of an exercise in snow-whacking and pavement-whacking.
Thanks to the great group for their fun spirit - it was a fantastic day... and always remember and don't ever forget... whatever happens in carpool stays in carpool. Especially if it involves suffering hot chocolate in the orgy car.
-- Rhonda