Since the Thursday crew finished their impressive efforts on improving North Faulty (Mystery) Trail back in September, I’ve wanted to get a comparison of the old and rerouted trail for the
website. I attempted a hike about a month ago but turned around a bit soon because of a tree blocking the trail. I repeated the hike on a beautiful morning last Saturday.
Fortunately, I hadn’t yet read Luis's report of his bicycle trek on the same trail the previous day, or I might have waited for him to make the comparison knowing he would have recorded a quality GPS track. I encountered the same three down trees (NF01, NF02,
and NF03 on the map below).
I created the map using a combination of Garmin Basecamp and Gaia. I found three trail sections with major reroutes: near the south end, in the middle, and at the north end of the 2.75-mile hike.
I took a photo of what I presume is Paako Ridge golf course along the way.
I absolutely agree with Luis about the quality of the new trail and the wonderful views from it.
I also agree with the couple whom I met on the trail (and educated about its medallion trees) that this is one of the best hikes on the mountain. I encourage everyone to give it a try.
Cliff Giles
Webmaster
P.S. Thanks to the Monday crew for removing the three down trees (plus one) yesterday.