Hay Valley & Washout Trail ~ Trail Challenge

Hay Valley & Washout Trails, Sections 41 & 44. 1.86 miles & 1.30 miles respectively. Not extremely difficult, but nice long uphill and downhill grades.

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Welcome back to Hay Valley Trail. 
Bill and I headed out from the trail head from Campsite U.

We are trying to get Charlie on all of the trails with us. It might be a BIG feat for such a little dog, but he is a surprising little hiker. 
He does wonderfully in cooler weather, don't we all?

This is trail section 44 which is a gradual but steep uphill climb . According to the maps, it appears that the climbs are up and down of about 200 feet.

Without the leaves and undergrowth obscuring the terrain, we could see that we were going around rock formations. 

If we weren't on a time schedule, I'd have gone exploring once we made the switch back at the top. But both of us have responsibilities.

We found the stone foundation just as Aurora and I did last week. This week there was a surprise waiting at the base of the foundation.

Ginger plants in blossom!

When we got to the intersection #10, I explained to Bill how the Bailout Trail went south and ended back up on Highway 131 just north of Bridge 9. Following the Hay Valley Trail would take us south towards Rockton.

Washout Trail would take us back to where we parked our vehicles. We'd have more gradual uphill sections and down hill sections that would take us across a small stream.
The Trout Lilies were just appearing in the valley.

 

In some spots, these spotted leaves were spotted all over along with so many Blood Root blossoms and Hepatica.

Below is one spot along the Washout Trail, Section 44 that had an amazing amount of Maypoles or Mayflowers sprouting up!

Our total hiking distance was about 3.5 miles.

Section 42 from Campsite U on to Billings Creek Trail head is a 1.87 mile walk alongside Hay Valley Road to County Road F. We will save that for a day we feel like walking on roads.

That area will still be scenic. There is the river to cross at Bridge 6 and some pretty little ponds alongside the road.

Next to where we parked the Virginia Bluebells were all along the roadside coming up alongside the Cow Parsnip which has white flowers in the spring. Wild Parsnip has yellow blossoms. It is a good habit to leave all wild parsnips alone while they are blossoming. 

The Trail Challenge actually has 3 road sections which I am okay with as ... back in the old days we had to ride the roads to get to different sections of the 'Government Ground' as it was called before it became the Kickapoo Valley Reserve.

The Hay Valley Adventure

Charlie and I took off to a trail I hadn't been on since 1996. Hay Valley Trail. It can be a very long trail, but if one watches for another trail called the Washout Trail and takes that, a loop can be made back to the parking area.

I also knew that skeeters were going to be an issue. 

Here we are at the trail head with a little pep talk from me to my Trail Leader. I've been wearing this net and have gotten so used to it that I forgot I had it on. I tried drinking from my water bottle with it on! That was hilarious. It may look stupid, but it is a life saver when the bugs are out!

I took my pocket camera and brought my Infrared camera with with 2 funky colored and cheap filters along. I chose the bright yellow and the blue.

I've seen others experiment with filters like these and yes, they are cheap and generally not very useful.

But, I really enjoyed experimenting.

This was the start of the trail with the Yellow filter on.

I took this same shot with my little pocket camera and it really did not pick up the nuances of the sunlight and path. It was green with dark areas and overly bright areas. This is one of the places that Infrared does shine through.

Off the trail I was able to spot a lot of small orange mushrooms. In fact if the bugs were NOT so bad I would have really had a lot of fun searching. But I didn't know how long the trail would take us to do, so I grabbed some shots with the little pocket camera and kept moving.

We found the foundation that was on the side of the trail. I do know the history behind the foundation. An old gent told me that this was part of the farm his parents had been removed from.

He'd buried his toys in a box not far from there and had always hoped to go back and retrieve them. This had been part of their Ice house where they kept things cold before electricity and refrigeration.

Foundation shots with Charlie - inspecting photographed in Infrared with the Yellow Filter on. 

Just when I thought Charlie and I had missed Trail marker 10, we found it.

IF you are on foot, YOU do not want to take the wrong trail in this section, well, not if you are planning a loop. The Hay Valley Trail or Bailout Trail will take a hiker far from the trail head at Camp U. 
Bringing a physical paper map IS recommended, do not depend on your cell phone for directions. Many areas have no coverage. 

I thought of someone who sees faces in trees when I saw this old oak. He looks confused about the trail signs too.

The tree on the left is dead, however if one looks down the valley past this tree, one can see the Kickapoo River. 

At this point the trail has made so many switchbacks and turns, a person can be completely disoriented. One needs to keep in mind that the trail stays on the west side of the river and in its twisted up and down way, it runs basically north and south.

This is on the Washout Trail where Charlie and I had a small break for eats and water. I also put the blue filter on for the rest of the hike. 

The Washout Trail is a hiker only trail. Aptly named as there are places that do wash out and water runs off down the middle of the trail. It is scenic and enters a majestic maple forest which stopped me in my tracks. 

There was no way that I could even attempt to catch the incredible greens and dappled sunlight.

I tried and failed with the pocket camera. However. I can really see hiking to here when the maples turn and bath myself in the golden Autumn light and leaves!

I knew from the map that the trail would connect back up to the Hay Valley Trail in the valley and I'd cross the new bridge back to campsite U.

When I approached the valley floor there was a trail split.

One went left and uphill, the other went down and around a huge open field and into the woods.

I swatted skeeters and opened the map. No such split was noted on the map. There was no markers and both trails looked used. I walked around the field trail for a few minutes and decided this one probably could be it, but it felt wrong. I could hear vehicles on Hay Valley road where I had parked.

I took a reading with the map and the compass and decided to take the other trail. Halfway through that trail I came across trees that had blown down and had not been cut up. At that point I realized I was not on the proper path but probably on a trail used by the reserve workers when they did work on other areas of the ridge above me. 
I muttered a word or two to Charlie who was now dragging his butt. I picked him up and went on. 

I ended up on the edge of a marsh that connected to the Washout Trial. My choice of going up and then down to the marsh worked out better. Less water to walk through and it was shadier.

We made it back to the car and then walked to bridge 6 and admired the quiet Kickapoo River. Just last week it had been raging over the road where I stood.

One last shot with the blue filter and the IR camera and we headed back for snacks in the back of the 'Ru.

We came, we adventured, we survived. And the skeeters never carried us off.

I will do this one again in the fall and in the winter. 

I doubt this trail is often used by hikers. Not because it is really difficult, but that it is a bit off the beaten track.

That makes it a Great Trail in my book.