Point Trail / West Clear Creek

Marilyn, Marie, Bob, and I hiked the Point Trail to West Clear Creek on Sunday. When we got down to the creek, we changed into neoprene socks and started hiking up canyon.  We paused at the entrance to Sundance Canyon and then Marie, Bob, and I went across the neck high water into this side canyon. A few strokes of swimming were needed to get across.

The bottom of Sundance Canyon was crowded. One group had camped there the night before. They had gotten some rain, but stayed perfectly dry due to the overhang of the canyon walls.  It’s my understanding that the final 180 foot rappel (when doing the canyon from the top) is down this overhung section.

We then hiked down canyon, past the way back up to take a look at Bear Canyon. We found it, but it was very vegetated – I didn’t feel like bushwhacking through it.

It started to rain on the way back up. Also, we saw what we think is poison ivy. Marie inadvertently touched one of the plants – she used several wipes to scrub the affected area – so far, no rash or itching! It was weird; despite looking for poison ivy on the way down, I didn’t see any. But, on the way back up (using the same route), I saw at least half a dozen plants.

We got into the truck only moments before it started raining really hard.

A downed tree across the trail. It was easy to duck under it though. This trail was quite steep; those of us without teenage knees found the descent to be somewhat painful. I found going back up to be quite a lot easier.

Marie, hiking through the foliage. It had rained the night before – we got wet when we went through the foliage.

It took us quite a while to figure out how to get through here.  The pool at the right is quite deep, probably above head level. We ended up finding a way to get through by going left.

Bob and Marilyn backtracked to get to shallower water.

This is Sundance Canyon:

Looking out of Sundance Canyon:

Kevin, Marie, and Bob. (One of the guys who camped there overnight took this photo of us. Marilyn decided that she didn’t want to cross the deep water leading into Sundance Canyon.)

Small or young fish (minnows?):

Marie, hiking toward Bear Canyon:

Flowers along a weeping wall on the way back from Bear:

I think this is poison ivy: