Just north of our house there is a hike that has been on my list for a while. So on Saturday, we decided to cross it off our list. It’s a difficult out-and-back hike just over 7 miles long with 2500+ ft. of elevation gain. Here’s our Gaia GPS data.
When we proposed this as our family Saturday activity, we got resistance from each and every child. So Manina and I loaded up our backpacks, left a list of chores to be done, packed up Finley and hit the trail all by ourselves. It was great.
The hike is steep. It’s uphill and relentlessly so. We quickly realized that not having our kids was the right decision for this hike. The first 2.5 mile section is along a semi-maintained dirt road. Then you cross the border to the Lone Peak Wilderness area and you’re at the First Hamongog.
We stopped and ate a sandwich and some snacks before resuming the climb up to the Second Hamongog.
The trail changes significantly and in some places almost disappears into the scrub oak. It was very green and somewhat overgrown thanks to the wet winter and spring, and the wildflowers decorated it all along the way.
We kept going up into the conifers, and then the trail got rocky and strewn with chunks of granite. After a little more than a mile and 1000+ ft. of ascent, we were very excited to see the trail open up onto the Second Hamongog.
We snapped a couple pictures, then backtracked a couple hundred feet to a very well established campsite and set up our hammock. We had a few snacks, watched Finley chase some butterflies, and put our feet up for a few minutes. It was a well deserved rest from a tough climb.
We started hearing some thunder, so we packed up and quickly hiked back down the mountain. It was overcast and cool for most of the way down, but we were pretty worn out by the time we got back to the car. We had a great time hiking the Hamongogs, even though we’re still not quite sure how they got named!
MightyJohnsons 