Savage Gulf Natural Area

Savage Day Loop to North Plateau Trail 2.2..Outcast Total Miles: 1285.84
North Plateau to Mountain Oak Trail 1.2
Mountain Oak to North Rim Trail 0.8
North Rim to Hobb's Cabin 3.5
Day One: 7.7 Miles

Connector Trail 6.7
Big Creek Trail 3.1
Day Two: 9.8 Miles

Greeter Falls Trail x 2 2.8
Big Creek Rim Trail 3.2
Big Creek Gulf Trail 0.9
Connector to Saw Mill 3.2
Day Three: 10.1

Connector 0.4
Stagecoach Road Trail 1.6
South Rim Trail 5.8
Day Loop to End 1.5
Day Four: 9.3

Total Miles: 36.9

This hike was to get everyone in the group to finish hiking all the trails in the Savage Gulf. Didn't work out that way, but here we go...

Troy, Marco, and I headed out after work. We drove to the Savage Gulf ranger station to start our hike. We were going to hike five days around 50 miles. The weather was looking wet!

We had some misting rain up to sprinkles on the way to Hobbs. We passed two groups of two hikers each that had stayed at Hobbs the night before. Both said that there was fire wood at the cabin.

We got to Hobbs cabin around two o'clock. The bunks were calling our name. I took a nap and then Troy joined in. We got up and collected fire wood for the night. After a lot of thought, we decided to go ahead and stay in the cabin tonight. We sat by the fire out front taking cough medicine and telling lies. We made it a challenge to see who would spot Ranger Lightfoot before he got to camp. The ranger never showed so we were a little let down. We did hear an owl talking.

DAY TWO:

We got up in the morning and headed down the Connector trail. The rocks were wet and slippery. A definate challenge. By the time we got to the swinging bridge, Troy had made up his mind. His knees were hurting and he would call it off. When we got to the Stagecoach Road trail he headed off taking the South Rim trail to the car.

Marco and I headed on. We passed up the trail to Ranger Falls as we had both done that and it was getting late and dark with the heavy fog. It was almost a night hike by the time we got to Alum campsite. The fog was heavy and wet. We set up camp, ate, and called it a night. I got ready to lay down and asked Marco if he was still awake. All I heard was ZZZZZzzzzz.

DAY THREE:

We got up early after an early night and headed off to Greeter Falls. The falls were wonderful with all the rain. We met an older man and his grandson at the falls. The grandson was in school for photography and was taking pictures.

We hiked back to Alum campsite and then took the Big Creek Rim trail to Stone Door. There were a couple of people there. We took some pictures as the fog was actually gone from the gulf. We went down through the Stone Door down to the Connector trail.

While on the connector trail, we met a ranger that was hiking through. We asked him if he heard anything about Troy and he hadn't. We told him about all the trees down on all of the trails. He said that was what he was doing as well. We asked about Ranger Lightfoot (George) and he said that it was unlike him to not stop by camp. He told us that there were some thunderstorms coming in tonight.

We stopped at the Historic Savage Cabin on the way. Then off to Sawmill campsite. We went the 0.3 miles to the Schwoon Spring to get water. We didn't know at the time that we could collect water while sitting by the fire pit in the morning. This spring is actually uphill in a cave. There is no telling how far down the water falls, but you are very cautious while your hanging from the rocks trying to get your water.

We went back to camp and collected fire wood. We sat by a warm fire eating our meals. After we were enjoying our cough medicine, we heard owls and coyotes talking. Then Marco said he saw a light. He though it was Ranger Lightfoot, but it was coming from the wrong direction. We both stared at the light. It looked to move up and down, but really fast and far when it did. After a while we decided that it had to be a tower off in the distance and the cough medicine wasn't helping us. It actually made my tongue go in wrong directions while talking. Marco ask me if I was buzzing? Yep, Marco I was!

DAY FOUR:

Sometime in the night we woke to lighting and thunder. WOW what a show and what a downpour. In the morning, Marco came over and said this pack was soaked under his hammock. A river was running through the camp. He moved under my tarp and we ate breakfast. Water was running everywhere as we hiked out.

We had decided yesterday to hike out today. We had both done the Collins Gulf. On the Historic Stagecoach trail there were two water falls that I had not seen before. They were beautiful. Of course the trail was a creek too! We climbed up and took the South Rim trail. We stopped at on overlook where Marco turned to leave, hitting me with his backpack shoving me toward the edge. He said he was getting me back for Lora. I have done this a couple of times to her. You forget how far you stick out in the back.

Then Marco tried to take me out again at the campground spring. He had taken a picture and wanted to show me. When he step next to me, he stood on a rock and slipped. He hit the ground on his butt while hanging onto me. We both slid towards the creek. Luckily we stopped before splashdown.

We stopped for lunch when we heard the thunder. Oh no, the race was on. The storm was faster. Lighting hitting all around us, no place to take shelter. It poured and thunder crashed. We hiked on. It slowed by the time we got to Savage Falls. We found a backbone from a deer on the trail. We said that the deer probably got in Troy's way on his way out.

Overall it was a great hike. We even saw a toad, a lizard, and a horse hair worm. That is January hiking! Marco did get all his trails in.

Pictures:

Savage Gulf South Rim Trail

Day Loop Trail……….……1.2...............Outcasts total: 369.6
South Rim Trail………… …5.8
Stagecoach Historic Trail…. 1.6
Connector Trail………………4
Day one total…………9 Miles
Day two total…………9 Miles

This hike we had a total of seven hikers, the most we have had so far. We had the usual four plus Taylor and Jason, who have hiked with us before, and one new hiker Craig. Jason brought his dog Daisy, Troy had Shadow, and Craig brought Rusty. It made for quite the crowd going down the trail. We did manage to get everyone, without much hassle, to the trailhead.

After we got everyone and all the cars written down on the permit, I heard the humming of angels and a bright glow arrived at the ranger station. YES, it was Troy with a Kroger sack full of his famous fried chicken. Tears came to my eyes and with over whelming joy, I ran over and gave my favorite hiker a big hug. This time Troy included biscuits and instant potatoes for each hiker. What a hero! The wondrous glory was passed out to each hiker and we headed down the trail.

As we arrived at the first waterfall, Savage Falls, just after you get on the South Rim trail, we noticed it was more of a water dribble. This got us thinking about the water supply at camp. There was a family there at the falls climbing all over. We continued on and checked out all of the overlooks on the way. It was overcast today so the colors where not jumping out as much as they could, but they were beautiful.

At eleven they asked me about lunch and I said I could hold off a little while since nobody else was hungry. A little while later, Troy stopped and turned to ask if I was hungry. My pack was already ripped opened and I looked like a vulture on a bad week going after my chicken. He said OK and they stopped to eat with me. We had an older couple with a dog hiking out pass us during lunch. I let them know that the dogs don’t bite, but I do if you get near my chicken.

We stopped for a break at the Stage Coach campsite. We were standing around talking when all of the sudden we heard a payphone ringing. We all looked at each other and were trying to figure this one out when Taylor finally relented and walked over to his pack and turned his phone off. We notified him that this was against policy and he came up with the weak excuse of having a pregnant wife at home.

Just after the Stage Coach campsite, I showed these younger guys how to watch the trail. With it being fall and all the leaves on the trail covering rocks and roots I was worried about them. With a quick twist of the ankle, I hit all fours. You really want to look at the trail closely to make sure you don’t miss anything. It wasn’t clumsy it was for a purpose.

Marco renamed the Stagecoach Trail as the Roll the Ankle Trail. This trail dropped down 700 feet into the Gulf. It is roadbed, but it is also covered with rolling rocks. It was a little rough on the knees and ankles. Greg tried to keep up with me here, but only managed a three-point landing on this trail.

We took a break on at the bottom of the Stagecoach trail and let the dogs run. Talk about a laugh, as they did circle after circle around us chasing each other. The two bigger dogs where running as fast as they could, and little old Daisy running after them being the only one barking provided quite the entertainment for us.

We took the Connector trail another 90-foot drop to the Sawmill campsite. Since we were the only people in the campground, we picked our site and set up camp. Jason, Taylor, and I headed out to fetch a pail of water. The sign said .3 miles to the Schwoon Spring. We followed the trail along the dry riverbed, checking every once in a while for signs of moisture between the rocks. Soon the trail crossed the riverbed and headed uphill. We did a little studying on this one and swept down the riverbed a ways to make sure that there was no water to be found. After not finding anything we started the steep climb up the wall of the Gulf. About 200-feet up the side of the Gulf was a cave that dropped down about 100 feet. Up above this cave was another opening and it dropped about 70 feet to water. With another climb up to the next level we found a place where you could climb down between the rocks about four feet and lean over the edge of a fifty foot crevasse to catch water in our containers. Luckily, I had my camera to prove this story as the guys at camp thought we were just trying to get out of gathering firewood.

We spent the evening around the fire telling lies and sipping on medication. It dropped down to 25 degrees so we got to test some of our bedding out. Greg did entertain us with the lighting of the stove with the campfire. There was a big flash as he disappeared behind the wall of flames and then he reappeared. Luckily he still had the mustache and eyebrows.

The next morning as we were warming by the morning fire, the discussion came up about the advantages of the Bivy verses anything else. Jason was making the point that he can lay in bed and start his coffee first thing in the morning. Greg perked right up and asked why he didn't just scoot his ass over and start the fire this morning.

Troy and Craig got an early start in the morning to climb the hill. The rest of us left out about 9am. The trip out was pretty uneventful. We had one lady hiker that was hiking in when we were taking a break. She asked if we were hunting or hiking. We just looked at each other. She wasn't too sure about this motley crew that she would have to go through. As she passed us we noticed that she had a stuffed turtle attached to the back of her pack. She said that it was because she was a slow hiker. Troy thought that it was an insult as we are constantly trying to lighten our packs and the professionals are bring stuffed animals with them.

Daisy didn’t like the swinging bridges at all. She provided some entertainment at the parking area when Jason hit her shock collar and she jumped hitting her head on the rear bumper of Troy’s car. She learned to listen though.

This was a good hike and for anyone that is heading down into the Gulf, I feel that the Stagecoach Historic trail is the easiest way down and up.

Pictures