To Hell [Hole] and Back Again, Twice

To Hell [Hole] and Back Again, Twice

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It was Saturday afternoon, the high was forecast to be around 70 so I couldn’t, in good conscience, not hit the trails.
I decided to try out my new trekking poles on the steep climb up the Davis Creek trail area.

4.0 Miles in 1:02:44 @ 15:46 min/mile and 1,791 ft. elevation

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I felt strong and did get a PR on the initial climb from the trail head to the split to the first waterfall, but not on the rest.  Odd.  I did stop and talk with a couple people so maybe that is what slowed me down.

I went up to the split where you can traverse over to Pretty Valley to the right, or go up to Hell Hole on the left. My plan was to do a loop. I went right, over to Pretty Valley, Up the south approach to Hell Hole and then back down to the junction. Feeling good, I turned around and did the loop in clockwise.

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Above and below Hell Hole, there is a stretch of pine trees. It almost* looks like my home mountains in Washington…just a bit drier and not enough dense undergrowth, moss and ferns. This is looking up the trail from Hell Hole (just above the campsite) on the way up to the junction with the Cattleman Trail that goes uphill and SE and the Prayer Rock loop.

On my way down from Pretty Valley I could feel my left IT band a bit, but not bad.  The ankles feel good.

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