Clouds and Flowers

I’m the official spokesperson for hiking up Maple Springs Road to Santiago =)

It’s 24 miles roundtrip if you start at the beginning of Maple Springs Road.  It’s 17 miles roundtrip if you park where the paved road ends.  It’s about 9.5 miles if you park at 4 Corners.  I always park at 4 Corners and go from there.  If you hike on a weekday, you’ll encounter few, if any, OHVs and it’s lovely.

The day of my hike it was totally fogged in the whole time so no view at the top, but the wildflowers loved the mist and it made for some spooky pictures in the burn areas.  The road to 4 Corners was in insanely bad shape so don’t go past the ending of the paved part if you don’t have a high-clearance vehicle!