Sagebrush personal hiking blog
Approaching the town of Vail and the noise of a highway the trail passes through a grouping of prickly pear, or related cactus.
The sun shines for the first of several days, as the trail continues on rolling hills in grassland with scattered low trees and a few cactii.
Further in the day the land seems to be more arid, with less grass, as the route gradually descends below 4k altitude.
The morning followed dirt road, and then one hour of trail in wilderness area, to climb 2k feet over a saddle. Intermittent light rain starts late morning.
Down the other side the trail follows Bear Spring and Bear Spring creek. Several interpretive signs tell the story of a mining operation in 1904 that takes water from Bear Spring 8.5 miles in pipes past Kentucky Camp to hydro-mine for gold.
