Six sagacious Trailblazers set out from Sunset Trailhead on a cool, sunny morning. We hiked the Schultz Loop Trail and the Little Gnarly Trail up to the meadow in the Dry Lake Hills, and kept going south to the overlook.

There are many unmarked junctions where trails and roads branch off. Two are noteworthy:

The overlook is on top of the Rocky Ridge. It provides a panoramic view of the western part of Flagstaff and of Mt. Elden. The Rocky Ridge Trail is down below us.

After leaving the overlook, I took everyone back to the unmarked junction with the trail going east across the meadow. After explaining the route again, I enjoyed a leisurely walk back to Sunset Trailhead, stopping to snap pictures here and there.

Here’s the sign. [photo by Marilyn]

We turned back, and coming up from that direction the sign for the trail turnoff was very easy to see. How we all had missed it we didn’t know, but it was probably because we were so intently concentrating on our feet during the slippery descent.

At that point we decided we had used up too much time on our unintended detour to go forward with the original route, so we backtracked, taking a slightly different way to a tank out in the meadow.

There was a man sitting beside the pond with two dogs, Axl and Kooky. We took a break on the shore, snacking and playing with the dogs, who would eagerly chase a stick thrown into the water. Then we found our way back to the main trail and arrived at the trailhead where Ted was waiting for us. It was a beautiful day and a fun hike even though it didn’t turn out completely as intended.

Lance