Arrow Mountain Hike - 12 April 2020
Shauna and I started doing some hiking. They've closed down Summit Creek hiking trail so we decided it do Arrow Mountain, Billy Goat trail. It's on of the few activities that we can do together where we can practice physical distancing and take the dog for a walk. So the trail is somewhat challenging and Shauna and I made it up to about .75 kms, but we didn't want to push it too much. On Sunday, 12 Apr I decided to take the dog for a walk while Shauna had a bunch of things to do at home. I decided to go all the way to the Bill Goat look out, 2 kms up. It was quite a trek and I think I over did it. I'm sure many of you, in much better shape than me, hike it all the way on a regular basis but I'm certainly not there yet. For those of you who have never tried it, I would suggest good walking sticks, good hiking boots and water. Here is a short chronicle of my trip to the top.
The first 'stop' is at .8 kms there is a bench. On the way up to the bench there are some nice rocks to park your butt on if you need a rest. There is a nice view from the bench. Bear (Shauna's dog) had fun running up and down the paths chasing sticks.
The view of the town below is pretty decent, although the tree tops still block a lot of the view, but the mountains across the valley in West Creston are spectacular.
It was pretty tough climbing until we reached the 1 km marker then the path began to flatten out compared to what we had just climbed. From there on it was relatively easy until we reached a plateau at about 1.75 kms. It was a nice view but no place to sit down, I did see a stake in the ground with a ribbon on it that said 'bench'. I guess one will be hauled up there at some point.
From then on the hiking was very steep and definitely a challenge for these old bones. We persevered however and made it to the Creston Community Forest. Our goal was only a few meters away.
We made it to the top and that was certainly the longest and hardest 2 km hike I've done in many years, since I was a boy scout leader for sure. Thank goodness it was all downhill from there. A big thanks to the Creston Valley Trails group for their hard work on making such a great recreational hiking trail. We look forward to killing our boredom this summer exploring other trails.