Arctic Mine

Three cars drove out of Washington on the dirty, sometimes dicey, Maybert Road built in 1876 to the Canyon Creek bridge. After driving across the bridge, built 20 years after the road (how did those Maybertians cross that Creek?) we eeked out parking spots back where we came from, by the bridge. The road was definitely for high-clearance vehicles past that spot. We hiked up Maybert further to what we figured was Arctic Mine Road (bless the GPS and Marilyn N.'s memory). Pretty soon we arrived at the No Trespassing gate which we ignored by climbing through it and continuing on the road. The buggy (insect variety) road led to the Canyon Creek crossing where the bridge was long gone, as was the fallen log that used to suffice. As the creek was raging, rock hopping appeared out of the question and the women sat down, figuring this was as good a lunch spot as any.

But John was not satisfied and went looking for a crossing. Using his long legs he hopped around on the rocks but we were in the mode of a sitdown strike and only humored him along waiting for him to give it up. Not to be deterred, John and Clarence brought planks from the mining site there to bridge the longest hop over the raging torrent. John demoed the crossing repeatedly for the skeptical hikers and finally Akiko, Elly, and Clarence decided it was good enough and took it. And so followed most of the pack. As Elly scrambled to take a picture on the other side, she almost stepped on a rattling rattler (silenced by the rushing water) who, luckily for her, scurried away to the shade and protection of a small tree. Yikes! How do you treat rattlesnake bites, anyway?

We continued up the creek to the various mines, the biggest being Arctic, where we sat down on the foundation of some building for lunch. There, we enjoyed Maureen's leftover party cookies shaped like little bears, clubs, etc.

We reunited with Jo, who had napped and waiting at the crossing. She was surrounded by butterflies, sucking the water out of the wet sand and the lovely spot didn't look half bad. When we returned to the Maybert Road we were as seduced by the Golden Quartz picnic area where we took off our shoes and cooled our feet. Grace, Cyndi, Selma, Akiko, Tiana, Marilyn N., Clarence, Jo, Becky, Maureen, John, and Elly had hiked either 7, 8, or 9 miles - take your pick...so probably close to 8 - a fairly good hot hike with a fair amount of elevation gain.

After the fabulous BBQ/potluck last Sunday, there have been many requests for recipes. I forwarded Becky's dips as printing them in the blog was not as readable as the email.