Thursday, February 17, 2011

Hiking Art Smith to the Hopalong Cassidy Trail


Click on the following link for: High Definition Version

Last Thursday we hiked the Art Smith Trail part of the way. This week we decided to hike it again only this time cross over to the Hopalong Cassidy Trail. In some areas the trails were narrow and clung to the mountain side. There were many switchbacks and roller-coaster trails.

When we came to Cat Creek, the trail dropped steeply 337 feet to the canyon floor and then a dramatic rise of 560 feet on the opposite side. We had not anticipated the hike being as long as it was. The 8.6 miles took us beyond our normal 3 hour hikes. When we reached the Palm Desert Cross, we were relieved to see the trail drop down to where we had parked our second car.

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Total Distance: 8.61 Miles
Elevation: 2,451 Feet
Duration: 4.5 Hours
Difficulty: Strenuous


Click on the following link for: High Definition Version

The above video is a simulation of our hike. Captured on an iPhone using Sprint GPS and displayed in a Google Earth Tour.

After this hike, I had blisters on all my toes from using them as brakes going downhill. It would be a good idea to use hiking poles on this hike, that's for sure!

Stock Music: The Mountain We Conquer

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