Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Fiery Gizzard hike


We love stairs
Originally uploaded by TheTurducken
This weekend I led an end-to-end hike to Fiery Gizzard. We started at Grundy State Forest and finished at Foster Falls, about 14 miles total. It's a strenuous hike, particularly the first half. The second half is level until the end, when you climb back down into the gorge and right back out.

The water was running high, so there were several wet stream crossings, and the waterfalls were spectacular. As always, the boulder field added to the difficulty of the footing. This is not an easy hike. Most visitors don't hike end to end but turn around at Raven Point and go back on the Dog Hole trail.

This photo was taken at Anderson Falls. This part of the hike is on private land, and the landowners have very recently put in a staircase that goes down to the base of the falls. The stairs aren't fancy, although they do have lights. The slope is very steep and I would not have clambered down it without the stairs - all 169 of them. (Feel the burn!) This photo was taken of us at the base of the falls.

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