Ellie Lane Loop
We decided to hike Iron Mountain/Wild Horse/Ellie Lane/Iron Mountain loop because the weekend forecast was some rain and we didn’t want to eliminate the weekend exercise. Although I’ve done this hike many times, this time it was more difficult than normal, perhaps because I wasn’t hydrated. We had to pause several times on Ellie Lane to the saddle for me to catch my breath. I was so happy to reach the saddle and rest on the boulder just south of the trail where Brandy and I ate our snacks.
I took my SPOT out of the net pocket in my daypack to send an “OK” email message and then set it down on the pack so I could tell when the message was sent. As we were preparing to go, I picked up my daypack and heard the thump, thump, thump of the SPOT as it bounced down the boulder and into the short chaparral. Fortunately, I saw about where it stopped and decided that if I took my normal route off the boulder, from that perspective I probably would not be able to find it so I made my way carefully down the boulder and into the chaparral. After a little searching, I found it. Fortunately, it was still working. Lesson learned—use lanyards on equipment. The SPOT could have easily fallen to a location where I couldn’t retrieve it or it could have fallen where I couldn’t hear it.
The rest of the hike was easy. We saw only one person on Wild Horse/Ellie Lane trails and three people on the way down on Iron Mountain Peak Trail.