Bandersnatch to Red Queen to Snark to Waterline loop: This Friday turned out to be an almost rain-free day, sandwiched between a past week of hard rain and a coming week of hard rain (per forecast). We even had a few short openings with blue sky and sun, and that means short.
Eleven intrepid hikers enjoyed the trek, appreciating the diverse flora, brilliant yellow and gold leaves still holding on, and that colorful array of tree trunks when wet – from deep reds to rich browns laced with graceful veins to comforting smooth white and cream. Nancy, a go-to hiker familiar with tree and plant identifications found beautiful fallen sugar cones to admire. Nancy then pointed to two sugar pine trees – the only ones that we spotted on the entire trail.
We encountered a few solo runners and hikers who greeted this pack of 11 with smiles and patience. Starting at Wizend/Bandersnatch sign on Glenview, we entered the watershed on the Waterline to the Bandersnatch trail, stopping to enjoy the outdoor sculptures. Climbing the switchbacks up Bandersnatch to the picnic table challenged us to a nearly 300’ climb in less than a mile.
We continued to the Red Queen intersection, to a short RT climb in the direction of town, returning to proceed deeper into the woods on Red Queen for quite a distance. We retraced our direction on Red Queen to its intersection with Snark. Descending the Snark trail is one steep decent and beautiful, eventually looping back in sight of the Wonder Trail across the creek bed, passing the water treatment plant, and listening to the flow of the creek. We finished on the waterline. Our hike amounted to 4.4 miles with 820’ elevation gain.
Elisabeth
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