Franklin Trail

I hiked up the Franklin trail with Tony yesterday. I needed to get to the top to leave myself a water cache for a coming hike I want to do that will include hiking along Divide OHV road.

The upper segment of the Franklin Trail that transitions into Forest Service trail is in bad shape. There were numerous washouts of the trail. People have made social trails through the washouts and sometimes there are bushes to hang onto or rocks to lean on, but it is really sketchy. I felt okay going up but started to worry these washouts might be too scary for me coming down. Tony turned back early on but I kept going to the top because this was the only way to leave my cache up there.

Once I got up to the top I checked Gaia and it looked like I could walk back to Romero Saddle on the dirt road up there and it would be close to the same distance as walking back down. So I did that.

The dirt road was pleasant to walk on. I passed a pond with water about half a mile from the Franklin Trail summit. Maybe I should have left the cache at Monte Arrido instead!

The hike back to Romero seemed to take forever. The Island View trail section kicked my butt. So many heartbreak hills nearing Romero. Just as I emerged onto paved East Camino Cielo Road, Tony was just then driving down to meet me. He turned the car around and his tire went flat. He said he had hit something a while back but the pressure was holding. Going over the bump at the end of the pavement released all the remaining air.

He had long run out of water and I had just a few sips left which I was saving for the end. But we needed to change the tire so had to spend some time doing that. Both of us were so thirsty and pretty hungry too. We stopped at Derf's on the way home. It was a beautiful sunset and a really pleasant, warm evening sitting on their deck. Water never tasted so good! We ate our entire meals until there was nothing left, too.

Since there is a pond up there I think my plan for my up-coming hike will be to get water at the pond and then carry that gallon I cached forward in my hand. Even an extra 2 liters from the pond should help me not repeat running out of water and keep me from having to hike down to the spring below Divide Peak. It's still pretty hot in the sun up there.