This trail is massive, and it was time to head up to another section. This thing even leads into some parks and other trails. This trail follows what used to be a railway path.

What is rather nice is many places even added a short trail so you can reach the state trail. It seems any park within a mile of this thing if it could have a trail leading towards it they tried. The place I ended up entering back onto it had a half-mile little winding trail that took you to it. So, it was not too long to get back onto the trail.

There are some not-so-friendly busy roads crossing with a minimal amount of signage. Along with drivers who don’t seem to care if someone is walking across the road or not. This entry point ended up skipping me over a spot I did not do the street crossing on.

Despite the time of year, I went when it was still nice and cool outside. It was still rather amazing looking. This place during the summer must come with quite a lot of shade.

Shade in other parts of the trail I'd be heading on would be a bit harder to find. At least this section would have a couple of nice spots. As it was quite a sunny day.

Right where this alternative path to get back onto the trail was had a bench when it connected you half a mile away. There then was not another bench for quite a few miles.

This place was also quite buzzing with people. There had just been a couple of days of cold snap. I can only guess most people stayed in. I was kind of hoping it would have remained cooler for a bit longer. Once the temps get up there my walking distance starts to decline rather adversely.

It was rather nice not bringing my backpack for water. While at the end of this one, I kind of wish I had it. The temps were just right it was not needed. At some point, I might start wearing my actual hiking backpack with some weight in it that I've not used in years. This however was not going to be one of those trips.

While a lot of this path runs along a busy highway. The trees end up blocking the sight of it. Once in a while on the other side, I'd sometimes spot some kind of encampment. There was even the smell of BBQ at one point as I walked by some rather rough-looking buildings.

There ended up being some unexpected excitement a couple of times while I was doing this section. One I am always glad to see. The other I was kind of shocked it’s even permitted at all.

The first was I noticed some dirt flying all over the place. A golden turtle had just dug and went into a hole. It was making a nest for eggs, and it went into full hiding mode once it heard my footsteps.

It ended up being quite a perfect little spot for her to set up on the hillside. Quite a lot of food all over the place. I was kind of shocked these prickly pears were not half-eaten by this time of the year.

The second surprise was I heard the sounds of a truck. It was however a bit too loud to be coming from the highway. Sure, enough I look behind me and what do I see? A pickup truck on the trail.

It ended up being a ranger that sometimes patrols this trail. On some other trails, I've seen people patrolling them on go-carts to ATVs. Never something any bigger until now. It took up most of the path and I just stepped off to let the person path.

The third was this dirt road that was coming ahead of me. I thought for a moment maybe it was another entry point or a spot to rest. Turns out it was none of these.

There were full-on massive dirt haulers that road down the dirt path. The moment they so much as spotted a shadow of a person they stopped. There were quite a few of them hauling out dirt. Not wanting to cause any further interruptions more than I had just by walking past it I did not stop to take any photos.

You would think there be some kind of massive sign to warn you about the massive dirt haulers. There must been three or four of them in a short period. It must have been quite an active site further down the dirt road.

I’m not quite sure what they were all mining back there. Along the trail near where the dirt road was. There were quite a lot of sparking rocks. You could kind of tell people would stop from time to time and look through the little line of rocks along the path.

Final Thoughts

While I was kind of hoping to make it to the next point of the trail. I was starting in a bit of an odd spot and had no idea the distance from where I was starting to where I was going. I looked at the path I was walking on my phone and my best guess I still had a couple of miles ahead of me.

While a couple more miles is not that huge of a deal if I was on a loop or getting picked up at the next spot. I however was not. So, every extra mile I walked I'd have to walk another mile to get back.

While at some point I want to start reaching out to twenty or so mile days. I’m not quite there yet. The last thing I wanted to do was push myself too much and end up in a situation of having to sit on trial miles from an entry point. I also did not have any water with me. So, there came a point where I could tell it was time to turn around.

Information

Photos were taken and content was written by @Enjar about my personal experiences in the real world away from the computer at home.