Mountain Beautiful Loop

I didn't have my camera but Brady was looking for some exercise so we parked at the Cravens House and headed up the Cravens Trail for our regular Wednesday night hike. It was a beautiful day and it wasn't long until a huge rock uphill of the trail caught our attention, so we veered off up through the trees to climb it. Once on the summit it didn't make sense to lose all that altitude, so we continued straight up the hill to the Bluff Trail above.

Brady claimed that he had never hiked the Mountain Beautiful Trail, so off we went--right into a barricade across the start of the trail near the old Point Hotel. It seemed obvious that the trail was closed, but as an official VIP (Volunteer in the Park) who maintained this very trail 15 years ago, I figured it was my obligation to investigate...so on we hiked. The trail follows the eastern bluff below Point Park, then begins a descent to cross underneath the Incline (it would be a very intimate experience if one of the Incline cars happens to pass overhead while you are under there). Then the trail switchbacks and climbs back up to the base of the bluffs for almost another mile.

Then it happened: we came upon the reason for the trail closure. At a particularly large gully (mile 0.89 according to my trusty trail guide) we found a stacked pile of bags of cement, lumber, jackhammers, and air hoses running up the bluff. Evidently workers were clearing away all the loose rock and preparing to build what I hope is not a concrete monstrosity of a bridge. The trail was built to high standards by the CCC in the 1930s and deserves to be kept in that kind of high-quality but natural condition. That said, I was pleased to see that this trail, neglected for so long, was getting some attention at last.

Past this point I was puzzled because the trail seemed oddly disturbed and trampled. What was going on? We started to hit muddy patches, and the reason became obvious--hoofprints, postholing the trail! The contractors are using mules to ferry in the concrete and other supplies. I'll bet there hasn't been a mule on the trail since Harriet Whiteside stopped using one to pump the water up from Leonora Spring back in the 1800's. A clever strategy indeed, although someone may later have to repair the damage to the rest of the trail done by repairing that one gully. (I later learned that the purpose of the work was sewer work, not trail work, which makes more sense.)

Just before reaching the end of the trail, past Leonora and Ragon springs, I attempted to find the now quite elusive Alum spring between Scenic Highway and the bluff above. My trail guide describes a "faint trail" leading to the spring from the upper switchback but all traces of that trail were gone today. The guide says it is 100 yards to the spring but it may be further; it was getting dark so I turned back without reaching the spring.

Brady and I walked down the Hardy trail (the wide and graveled remains of the Broad Gauge railroad bed) for a mile back to the Cravens House, pleasantly tired from our small adventure.