West Alder Trail

We hiked the lower part of West Alder Trail (798) today, starting at the cattle guard about .5 mile below the junction of FDR610 and FDR611, or 6 miles above the Alder Guard Station. The road is very rough, don't take it lightly. We started at 10,250 ft. and hiked down 1.3 miles and 250 ft of elevation to Alder Cr. We followed the trail on the East side of the creek up to Fish Park, crossing the creek about 50 yards below the trail post. We set up a rock cairn for others to use for guidance. Fish Park is a series of old beaver dams, about .5 miles long. We left Fish Park and up the side of the canyon for another .5 miles for lunch and then came back to the trucks. We came back the longggg way, but a lot smoother, stopping at Blue Cr. lodge for pie, curly fries, coffee and other beverages (non-alcoholic) and then back to South Fork.

We will hike the rest of the trail next Tuesday, starting at the junction of FDR610 and this trail and then on to Hanson's Mill.

Almost everyone agreed that this is an Easy rated trail, no steep hills of any length to tackle. We will see what the rest of the trail is like next week............

We will meet at the VCPL by 9AM, bring lunch, water and a friend.

We will have a Moonlight hike next week, details will follow as they are determined..........

Dennis