Joseph D. Grant County Park

Distance: 8.8 miles round trip,

Elevation Change:    1,800 feet

Level:   

Rating:    3 Stars

June 8, 2002

This was my second hike from the book.  The perfect directions and descriptions from the last hike (64-Bay View), lulled me into a false sense of security.

The drive up to the trailhead was incredible.  It was one of the few times where I actually secured my seatbelt and gave the road my full attention...just to maintain the speed limit.  The twists and turns were great.  I even considered using both hands on the wheel but that would be for sissies.

The pictures don't do the hike justice. There were some fantastic views of the little pond at the trailhead.  It's ironic that I saw more animals on the "Canada de Pala" trail than all other hikes combined.  In one half hour stretch I saw about 10-20 deer, a baby rabbit, 6-8 wild pigs, and around 10 piglets.  I almost forgot the nearly 10,000 cows.  I don't know what it is about the way cows stare at me when I walk past, but I always feel like a dead man walking. They also have no consideration for us hikers as I often performed the cow-pie ballet across many sections.  Almost all of the animals let me get pretty close. I almost had a Lord of the Flies moment with a couple pigs, but the urge faded quickly. 

I started the hike late and had just enough time to hike the trail and get back to the car before I ran out of light.  This was based on the 5 hour, strenuous rating in the description.  Unfortunately, there were no maps in the book or at the trailhead to help me when the guidebooks directions told me to "retrace my steps on the spur of Antler Point, then turn right..." when I really should have turned left.  1 hour later I began to realize that the trail was never going to turn back.  Another hour down the nearest side trail that started out in the right direction compelled me to abandon the trail and bushwack to where I thought the car was.  Good thing I have a fairly good sense of direction (Stop laughing Ken and Les) and I made it back with about 1/2 hour to spare.  The last picture is darker than it actually was.

This was a great hike otherwise and definitely earned its strenuous rating.

Here's the pics (Click on the picture to see full size):

These are low res pictures.  I can send you higher quality pictures if you want them