Savage Gulf to Hobbs Cabin II

May 2007
Savage Gulf to Hobbs Cabin II..... Trail Rating........Outcasts Total: Miles 134.4
Savage Day Loop.......4.1 Miles.......Easy
Savage Day Loop.......2.0 Miles......Easy
North Rim Trail.........0.3 Miles......Easy
North Plateau Trail....7.1 Miles......Easy
North Rim Trail.........3.5 Miles......Easy
Mountain Oak Trail...0.8 Miles......Easy
Big Tree Spur Trail...0.8 Miles.......Easy
North Plateau Trail...1.2 Miles...... Easy
North Rim Trail.......0.3 Miles.......Easy
Savage Day Loop......2.0 Miles.......Easy
Total……………….......22.1 Miles

This was a make up hike for me. Since we had a date picked that Greg couldn't make we changed the date for the Mousetail Landing Trail. No use in just throwing away the other reserved date. Troy and I made this trip.

When we got out at the ranger station I asked if Troy had decided which trail he wanted to take. Before I got it out of my mouth he informed me that we are hiking ten miles in. He had the trail figured out. The man was on a mission. He had originally thought that Hobbs cabin was a ten mile in and ten mile out trail. He had worked to get to this point and after the last hike to Hobbs Cabin he found out that it was a little short. We were going to hike twenty miles. He had his mind set. He said ten; I say thirteen and a half. I always have to raise him.

The lady at the Rangers station remembered me. She was in her usual clever state. Well we ended up doing the Day Loop as a warm up before we got serious and headed down the Plateau Trail to Hobbs Cabin. This threw off a young couple as we passed them going both ways. We passed another group of guys that were leaving and they looked like death warmed over. Troy said that they looked like they just finished the Appellation Trail in record time.

Mother Nature didn’t see us sneak in. The weather was wonderful and the sights beautiful. We jumped up some deer and seen quite the array of birds and squirrels. There was some discrepancy in the map and the number of old roads. They had labeled four of the nine roads we crossed. We finally figured out that the Old Hobbs Cabin road was the one gravel road we crossed. We sat down here and removed about twenty ticks apiece. At the start of the trail we covered ourselves with a new orange scented bug spray that Troy found. It does not bother ticks. The best that we can figure, we must have hiked through a nest of ticks. We pulled them off all the way down the trail and including in the campsite.

There were two guys staying in the cabin, one guy in a campsite, and the young couple finally showed up later. Troy started a fire as I went and collected some water. Later that evening, the same Ranger that drove me out of the woods for my family emergency last trip, showed up and we had a nice visit with him. He asked about Samantha and said that he had a mother at a church picnic whose child had a seizure. He told her that he had just been through the same thing and everything was going to be all right. We told him about some trees down and he said that he was getting a new man next week. We noticed that the spring was a lot lower on water than last time and asked the Ranger about that. He said that he never saw it dry, but if they didn’t get more rain he wasn’t sure it would last.

After a good nights sleep we got up and hung out at the camp for a while. I went and checked out the outhouse, jiggled the handle, headed back to camp and stood frozen in the entrance. There was Troy sitting by the fire petting a doe. Over his shoulder was a ten-point buck. Where was my camera? In my backpack across the campsite. I started toward my pack and the buck walked off in the woods and the doe walked to the edge of camp. When I started unzipping my pocket the doe walked off. No pictures, so you will just have to take my word for it.

We headed off taking the North Rim Trail and cutting across the Mountain Oak Trail. The Big Tree Spur Trail is a trail that the Boy Scouts made. It is worth checking out. This hike was a record-breaking trail for old Troy. He told me back in October before our hiking began that he was good for up to five miles. Well thirteen in one day is quite an accomplishment. He was even impressive at the end making the last two miles in forty minutes. Reminded me of our horses when we were heading back to the barn.

Pictures