March 13th. Giants Head, The Grind

Giants Head was a trail that we had dismissed in the fall as being shorter than we liked. Based on the recommendation from Deb and Keith…the guys we met up Conkle Bonk.…..as being the grind that the name promised…we thought it might be worth the challenge.

Looking at it from the Trout Creek and Summerland Trestle hikes drew us to it….so today was the day.

The road up to the trailhead was again one of those straight up ones…that would have been impossible in the winter weather without chains…or studded winter tires..!!!

The trail starts off with a bit of paved road…..and then diverts off at 90 degrees…..straight up the hill. With Summerland below you…its quite the sight.

And grind indeed it was. The uphill slog lived up to its promise……but like all the best slogs…its rewards were bountiful.

It was coolish when we started out….so I started with my coat on. That lasted about 5 minutes on the hill. For some reason it became very warm…!!! And thankfully the view was a great excuse for frequent stops…!!!

….and a couple of well placed benches on the way up…..

On this perfect blue sky, sunny, windless day the vistas down into the valley…and indeed…from the top…all the surrounding valleys were up to par for sure.

Its a well marked trail. Many red posts to remind you….that it’s a grind..!! I’m imagining its likely a very busy one in the summer.

There were more people on the trail than we have been used to. Even a couple of trail runners bounding by us across the top of the Giant.

Around the top there are a series of what can only be described as viewing posts. Several of them are welded in the direction of the more relevant points that can be seen from the top. Including the Summerland research station, Apex Mountain and Brent mountain.

The path down is always worse……LOL…and this one was no exception. We continued the loop and followed the east ridge down.

The path, as with many of them at this time of year, was ice covered….but it’s warm enough that the snow melt makes the bare part of the path soft and slippery mud. Choosing our footsteps very carefully and picking our way, down we went…..trying not to slide down the sheer drop below. Fun and a bit scary….!!!

The very last part we rerouted out to the paved road as the very soft surface became too treacherous and frankly too much hard work…..!!!

Another beautiful day, another beautiful memory.

Extra pix.