This trail is among the most popular I’ve ever scheduled. Every year everyone on the hike tells me they loved it and that I should do it again the next year. And why not? It follows a beautiful route through the pine forest, it’s tranquil, it’s serene, it has an easy trail surface, it  has enough elevation and distance to make it a good workout, and it’s got three water features: a spring and two lakes!

In past years I always ran the hike west-to-east and back, but this year I chose the reverse. That took advantage of water and toilets being available both at the trailhead (the White Spar campground) and the turnaround point (the Goldwater Lakes city park), and it also placed more climbing on the way out rather than on the return.

Last year’s hike was broken up by the Whiskey Off Road Bike Race, which apparently occurs the last (or perhaps fourth) Saturday in April, so I carefully avoided that event this time. We did share the trail the Whiskey Basin Trail Run but the trail runners were much less obtrusive than the bikers. (Those runners, by the way, were running distances of 10, 31, 57, or 88 kilometers: some feat! We, meanwhile, were only hiking and the distance was 15 kilometers.)

The lakeshore open to the public runs along Upper Goldwater Lake, and we took full advantage. The water level seemed low compared to past years but our spirits still ran high!

We finished hiking at 12:30 PM and sure enough, almost everyone urged me to schedule the same hike next year. And the dissenters wanted it twice a year!

The finish was early enough for people to get home and still enjoy part of the afternoon. As a result, only three of us stayed in town for lunch. The restaurant was Murphy’s, one of my favorites, which I chose because we arrived early enough to order from the full lunch menu.

Thanks to everyone who came out, and happy trails!