Trails

Here are direct links to the trails I have described in this blog:

• Upper Galena Trail: 7.14 km, easy hike or bike, mostly downhill. Cable car crossing.
• Molly Hughes Trail: 2.47 km, easy hike along lakeshore. Good shoulder-season hike.
• K&S Railway to Payne Bluff: 7.41 km, moderately easy hike, moderately technical bike ride. 
• Carpenter Creekside Loop: 5.60 km, moderately easy hike, a couple of technical spots on the bike.
• Galena Alamo Loop: 14.6 km, moderate hike, moderately challenging bike ride in spots.
• Upper Galena-Alamo Loop: 4.97 km, moderate hike, mildly challenging bike ride
• Retallack Old Cedars Trail: 1.05 km, easy hike.
• Telegraph Trail: 8.55 km, easy out-and-back hike, run or bike.

This area is full of trails. Some are half-forgotten, some are well-known and attract tourists from far away. Some are crazy daredevil trails built recently by community members, others are relatively tame decommissioned roadways or railways from a century ago. I love exploring the natural world and the human history of our area on foot or on a bike. Some of what I love I share here.

If you wish to use the information I share as a sort of informal trail guide, feel free. I ask two things: that  you respect the environment, and that you take responsibility for your own actions. On the first count: leave no trace, respect the plant and animal life, be courteous to current and future trail users.

On the second: understand that I am only sharing my own experiences, not providing a comprehensive, risk-vetted, up-to-date body of information that will take into account every possibility. To whit:

We have wild animals here. Coyotes, cougars, black bears, moose, deer, elk, occasional grizzlies. Make sure you are aware of the risks of encountering them. Ask around; find out what the locals are doing. Consider carrying bear spray. Make noise. Travel in a group. Or assume the risks of not doing so.

We have wild weather here, which can be exacerbated by changes in altitude. A lovely late summer hike can easily morph into a sub-alpine blizzard. Thunderstorms can sneak across the Valhallas when you're not looking and unleash themselves upon you in minutes. Be prepared for abrupt changes.

Trail conditions change from season to season and year to year. What I describe as a sedate hike I did in the spring of 2012 may be cut off by a huge washout a few months later. Scrubby bushes can grow into impassable thickets in a summer. Many of these trails are little-travelled and it may be months or years before I run the trail again, or hear an update from someone who has.

It's all subjective. What I call a gradual climb may leave you in a puddle at the side of the trail in 20 minutes. What I call varied and interesting may leave you yawning.

In this little corner of the planet we have high speed internet, great espresso and convenience stores, but we are also remote and underserviced. If you get a flat tire on an access road you can't call for a tow truck. If you twist your ankle on a trail you can't use a cellphone to call for help. Population density through most of our area is 1.3 per square kilometre. This is wilderness.

In the words of Caballo Blanco please swear herewith: "If I get hurt, lost or die, it's my own damn fault."