Moriah Challenge: Big Hollow/Coot Hill

On Friday, I had tried to get to the trailhead for this hike and had given up. It was my fault for being lazy about gathering intel: I knew one turned on Lang Road and went "a ways" down to park, or went "a ways" further and parked at the actual trailhead. I hadn't bothered to figure what those distances actually were, and the trail isn't on the National Geographic maps. Plus, I had no cell signal.

I turned onto the gravel road and went past the houses. The last few had signs like "don't park here, park down the road." The gravel road was hilly but fine, until I got to a short, steep section with some washboard. Not knowing if it would get worse, I turned my fragile little rental car around.

On Sunday morning, I went back with better info. The trailhead was two miles down, folks said, and the road wasn't that bad.

Nevertheless, I stopped at the same hill again. It was about .7 from the trailhead, and there was a parking area just before the hill. (That is, it didn't say it was a parking area, but it also didn't say it wasn't or to keep out.) With the hike being a mile one-way, an additional .7 wouldn't be an issue.

Of course, that one hill turned out to be the only questionable part of the road! Oh well - I reached the cemetery, the real start of the hike, just the same.



The rest of the trail is an old dirt road no longer passable by cars. There is a modest hill, then the trail ends at a magnificent view.



I did this hike in something of a hurry, and I didn't stay at the viewpoint too long. Bugs had been bombarding me the entire way, and I was tired of things bouncing off my head.

So this was the completion of the Moriah Challenge. None of the four hikes are very hard. Belfry offers the best views, being a fire tower, and a very short hike. Cheney and Big Hollow also have good views. Crowfoot Pond is the longest, so one could do them all in one day if one was even modestly determined to do so.