New Years Day 2022 – Back in the Saddle!

We kicked off 2022 with this epic hike on New Years Day! Due to plentiful rainfall over the past few days, there were several large washes we had to drive through to get to the trailhead. Luckily we had a large vehicle, as my Civic would not have made it. This also posed more challenges along the trail, having to traverse through several large moving washes of water and carefully step across and up slippery, uneven rocks. Although I managed to hop across most of these obstacles of rushing water, hiking poles proved to be valuable at some of these crossings. The previous rainfall also made it a bit more difficult to find the trail and we had to backtrack a few times. The surrounding views were spectacular throughout our climb, and it was so amazing to see several waterfalls and hear the roar of the water throughout our hike! The temperature was in the 40s and the wind gusts would slap us at times along the way, but the sun was brilliant and provided much-needed warmth. It was bone-chilling at the summit with strong gusts of wind, but the view and the massive monolith, Weavers Needle, was breathtaking. In my opinion, the added creak-jumping challenges made the trek more enjoyable – something one wouldn’t normally experience on this hike.