THE Trip, Dripping Springs, OR, The Last Man and Woman Outta the Mountains, The Challenge(s)

Copyright 2011, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

It took some time for Man and I to build up our courage (or stupidity) to attempt a little (???????) hike up to Dripping Springs.  Gotta say right now, it is really a GOOD thing I had no idea how far it really was until we returned from our "little" hike!

So, in a poor attempt to show you were we were, I did the Google Maps thing, and screen captured a couple of different maps (you really are going to need to click on these images to get to the larger view):

We drove Dripping Springs (County Road 77) from the left of this map (west) to where the road takes a sharp 90 degree turn to the left (or north) and becomes Baylor Canyon Drive. Only we did NOT take Baylor, instead we took the small pencil thin, almost cannot see it road, continuing to drive east and towards the Organ Mountains.

See that single red "X".  that is the Visitor's Center.  That is where you park and start your walk.  See that double red "X", where the pencil thin road ends? That section of the road is actually a walking trail from the Visitor's Center to Dripping Springs.  The springs are at that double red "X".    I suppose you could drive the walking trail with a 4 wheel drive vehicle.  If you use Google Maps and continue to enlarge the map, to get more and more detail, you can see they call that walking trail, Dripping Springs Road, see:

So, that gives you a visual of one kind, now, let's see some other visuals, photos:

This sign always instills a deep sense of confidence:

Above, Man starting up Dripping Springs Road, errr, the hiking trail.  The entire trail is gravel, this is a good section, no ruts, smaller gravel, sorta flat (side to side).

And, then, there were sections like this, large loose stones:

Let me tell you, I was very worried about twisting an ankle.  Yes, I was treading cautiously!

It was 1.5 miles from the Visitor's Center to the "top", where Dripping Springs were.  There was a 500 foot jump in elevation in that 1.5 miles.  Yes, we climbed 500 feet in that 1.5 miles. Can we say, WOW??  Can we say, SORE muscles??

Can we say, come back tomorrow to see some of the views we enjoyed on our slow long walk to the springs??



* The reference in the title, to the last man and woman off the mountain, comes from the fact that we were indeed the last 2 off the mountain that day.  It took us 3.5 hours to go up and come down.  Oh, it took about 45 minutes to come down!  LOL  Other hikers started their walks from the Visitor's Center after we did, passed by us on the trail, going up and then were coming down before we ever reached the top.

The sun sets around 5:00 ish, maybe a few minutes later, we arrived back at the Visitor's Center around 4:30.  The shadows were already dropping the temperatures dramatically on the trail.  We were the last off the mountain that day, but, perhaps, the happiest couple that left the mountain that day.  We made it all the way to Dripping Falls, and back, no twisted ankles, and we made it before dark and cold set in.

(Remember that yellow sign??  I did, all the way up and all the way down that mountain!)

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