Well, things got off to a shaky start. After driving way back into the foothills, we came to a parking lot that (we thought) was for the area we were to begin the hike. However, there was a $5 charge! What?! The information we had about the hike specifically said there was no charge. But we just assumed we had misinformation, so we opened up the wallet...uh oh. We didn't have $5. We had 2 $1s or a $20 bill. Was it worth $20? really? After a bit of debate we ended up leaving $3.86...(the $2 plus all the change scrounged from the ashtray) and a note that said we would pay extra the next time we visited a state park! haha oops!
Needless to say, we paid all the fee that we could manage...and headed up the "trail" in the direction the arrow pointed. However, this didn't seem so much a trail as a road...a mostly deserted, gravel road, but still a road. We kept going, thinking that it would turn into a trail at some point...and eventually it did - after 4 miles!! Well, we added 4 uphill miles to the trip right now to start with.
After we walked up the gravel road and finally made it to the trailhead (where there was another parking lot that didn't require payment!! doh.) We headed into the woods, and up towards old copper and manganese mines - Tubal Cain Mine Trail. That was another almost 4 miles in. However, after we go to the mine area (where there was a bunch of old rusted carts and mining equipment) we seemed to lose the trail! We wandered around a couple different little trails that all seemed to come to dead ends....and finally decided it was time for lunch anyway.
After lunch, still confused and map-less, we wandered back down the trail hoping that we perhaps missed a turn-off. After conversing with two seperate sets of fellow hikers who were equally as lost, we went back in the original direction. Eventually we found the path and it led us across a creek...and then up, up up! Up we hiked, up and up, until we bust out into the sunshine with an incredible view of the mountain peaks, that felt close enough to touch! We continued up for another 6 miles or so, and made it alm0st to the top of Marmot pass before we started to run low on water and decided to head back.
On the way back, we speculated the whole way about how we could possibly snag a ride back to our other parking lot with some fellow hikers. However, unfortunately, at the time we arrived back on the trailhead...there were no fellow hikers to be found! We began the last 4 miles of the journey on the gravel road down the hill...not more than 2 minutes went by before a big truck came speeding down the road. The driver halted (in a large dust cloud) and asked (!) if we needed a ride! WOW. We gladly accepted, although it meant getting awfully snuggly in the cab of this man's truck...however, we were tired...and gravel roads are really not enjoyable like hiking in the forest.
Needless to say, we ended up hiking 19.4 miles that day...and we didn't get a parking ticket, even though we were $1.14 short on payment :S. All in all it was a great day. These pictures really don't do it justice, but I'll post a few anyway because the mountains were so gorgeous!
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