Hopalong Cassidy

[Forty]

Decided against doing Boo Hoff this morning. Chose to start at the Art Smith trailhead and take the Hopalong Cassidy Trail and make my way north to where the Mike Shuler Trail (Bump & Grind) starts.

Stats on the route...

From Art Smith trailhead to the Bump & Grind trailhead using the Hopalong Cassidy Trail the majority of the hike it was 10.12 miles

The hike started at 1001ft above sea level and ended at 197ft above sea level. Roughly 800 net feet of loss. However, the hike had 3418ft of total gain meaning about 4200ft of total loss.

It took me 3:50.


The hike offers some great views of Palm Desert and the eastern parts of the Coachella Valley. The one thing I really felt a need to share is that the Hopalong Cassidy Trail has some serious trail erosion going on. It looks like the rains we had a couple months ago really damaged the trail. There were a few spots that got very hairy on steep slopes where the trail had been blown out by erosion. Trekking poles came in very handy. I was not anticipating that vigorous of a hike! But, finishing at the Bump and Grind where everyone was patting each other on the back for their morning workout was rewarding. I had just done the equivalent of 4 or 5 trips of what they did!

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[bamm321]

After that last rain the bump n grind was in realy bad shape also, big ruts and such running in the center of the trail. Its been smoothed over pretty good as of now though.

Never been on the artsmith. I will have to do that hike one of these days. thanks for the report

[Forty]

Bamm,

I did the Art Smith last weekend and the trails are in good shape on it. It's a beautiful hike. The Hopalong Cassidy trailhead is about 1.2 miles in on the Art Smith and it's the trail with really bad erosion. Just wanted to be clear in case you thought the Art Smith had poor trail quality. It was in good shape.

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