Google Earth helped me find a starting point and suggested a route through the farms and the streams and eventually leading to a plethora of gates - most bearing some version of "KEEP OUT". Only one, with a small handpainted "BLM" sign seemed safe to pass & I did. The road immediately had ruts 18 inches and deeper and only narrow paths between them. After a mile or so, the road had smoothed out. But apparently the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) administers this land mainly as a playground for ATVs and trails the size of the main road shoot off in every direction. The ATV trails run up steep hills and immediately down the other side. They loop around back to their starting points and they head off multiple directions into the distance. I tried to follow what I considered to be the road and gradually snaked around the larger hills while climbing the smaller ridges. I was exploring and as a very good friend often reminds me: "Not all who explore are lost."
The road went on forever and I knew that I couldn't, so I decided to turn directly into the mountain and go to the top. There was no trail which didn't really matter because I soon slowed to a walking pace. I kept climbing and then pausing to look up. Each time the distance remaining seemed unchanged. But finally, there I was all alone on top of the world with a 360-degree view. All that was left was to reverse my direction and file these thoughts to later rave about.
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| Running from the end of State Line Road |
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| South Canal Road |
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| Nice big hills |
