Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Paddle Log #27 Newfound Lake

We took a day trip over to visit my wife's aunt and uncle on Newfound Lake.  As I mentioned in my last post, I didn't have my kayak since we flew across country. 

Conveniently enough, the NH Audubon Society rents kayaks at the Paradise Point Nature Center.  The staff there was very friendly and helpful.  The process of renting the kayak was very quick and painless, and the rates they charge are very reasonable - probably the least expensive kayak rental I've ever had (and I've rented kayaks at two places in Pearl Harbor, on Maui, in DC, and Lake Winnipesaukee before this).  Lemme tell ya it was money well spent, because I had a beautiful afternoon on the water!

The rental gear was in good condition.  They set me up in a single-seater Perception kayak.  Like the loaner Wilderness Systems Pamlico 100 I used a few days ago on Lake Winnipesaukee, it was a little on the small side for me, and my knees were sticking up out of the cockpit, but it wasn't bad. 

I paddled out onto the lake and it was pretty darn choppy.  There was 5-10 knots of wind coming out of the south, and the fetch was allowing the wind waves to build up to 2 feet or so.  I paddled south and then west, clockwise around Paradise Point and into the Charles L. Bean sanctuary.  In the picture above, my boys are speeding by in that boat crossing my bow on their way out tubing.  There's also a family of mergansers in the foreground on the left.

Once I entered the shelter of the sanctuary, it was absolutely peaceful and the water was like glass.  I almost felt guilty disturbing the peace as I glided through the lily pads.  I would have loved to just hang out there a while, quietly gliding along the shore.  Unfortunately, the only downside of renting a kayak from the NH Audubon Society is that they all have to be turned in by 4 p.m., and I still had to paddle up-wind to get back to the dock at Paradise Point.  As a result, you'll see in my trip stats that I was moving for 1 hour 11 minutes but only spent 32 seconds not moving.  Even so, it was still money well spent, good exercise, and a beautiful afternoon on the water. 

When I got back, I was pleasantly surprised to find that family of mergansers sitting on the rocks, and they actually cooperated with letting me try to take some pictures as I paddled by.

Stats for the paddle log:
  • Date: Tuesday, 31 July 2012
  • Time In: 2:36 p.m.
  • Time Out: 4:00 p.m.
  • Elapsed:  1 hrs 11 min
  • Moving Time (GPS): 1 hours 11 min
  • Stopped Time (GPS):  32 seconds
  • Mileage (GPS): 2.87 miles
  • Sea State: 1 on lake, 0 in sanctuary.  There were ~2 foot waves on the lake with a steady wind from the south and plenty of fetch.  Once I paddled into the sanctuary the water was like glass.
  • Winds: 5-10 kts SE
  • Air Temp:  81F
  • Water Temp: 79.4F
  • Current:  None.
  • Gauge Height: 
  • Avg Speed (GPS):  2.4 mph
  • Max Speed by (GPS):  4.5 mph
  • Rapids?  None. 
  • Hazardes?  Not much.  Wake from an occasional passing boat.
  • Kit: Perception rented from NH Audubon Society.  Flop hat, NRS paddling gloves, short sleeve swim shirt, swim trunks, Keen Newport sandals.
  • Configuration:
  • Route:  Put-in at the Paradise Point Nature Center run by the NH Audubon Society.  Paddled clockwise (south then west) around Paradise Point into the Charles L. Bean Sanctuary.  
  • Other comments (such as wildlife spotted): 1 adult merganser with 4 juveniles in tow, many ducks, water bugs and water lilies.


Saturday, July 28, 2012

Paddle Log #26 Lake Winnipesaukee

Since we flew across country for this vacation, we didn't have our own kayaks with us.  My eldest wanted to go kayaking with me, so we packed a picnic lunch and headed on up to Trexler's Marina to rent a tandem kayak.  I also figured this would be a good opportunity to scout out some of the islands and coves on the other side of the island that I didn't reach on my previous solo paddling excursion.

Time stamp leaving Trexler's



Trexler's rents a few different types of kayaks.  We opted for an Emotion Kayak that was essentially the same as our Ocean Kayak Malibu Two XL, but with built-in cupholders.  The staff at Trexler's were very friendly and helpful.  It was expensive though.  The price was the highest I've ever seen for kayak rentals, but I was willing to pay it for one day out on the water with my eldest and for the convenience of it being so close to our condo on the lake.


Lunch Break



From Trexler's, we paddled under the bridge going to Moultonborough Neck bridge to Long Island and on to the east following the shoreline counterclockwise into a small cove.  We stopped to have lunch there in the cove, and found ourselves surrounded by two families of loons.  There were somewhere between 6 and 8 loons, but I couldn't count them all because they kept diving underwater.

Loon off the starboard bow

As we continued our paddle along the shoreline, at one point we startled and were startled by a Great Blue Heron that was standing very close to shore.  We didn't notice him until he sprung up and started flapping his wings to take flight about 15 feet in front of us.  It was spectacular to see, but I wasn't fast enough with my camera to catch it.  

We also saw one adult trailed by 12 juvenile mergansers.  I have yet to get a good photo of the mergansers, but my son took a couple of pics for me while I was paddling.

It was a very nice afternoon on the water, and it was cool to check out some different parts of the lake we hadn't been to before.




Stats for the paddle log:
  • Date: Saturday, 28 July 2012
  • Time In: 11:36 a.m.
  • Time Out: 2:14 p.m.
  • Elapsed:  2 hrs 38 min
  • Moving Time (GPS): 2 hours 31 min
  • Stopped Time (GPS):  7 1/2 min
  • Mileage (GPS): 5.14 miles
  • Sea State: 0
  • Winds: 5-8 kts E
  • Air Temp:  76F climbing to 78F
  • Water Temp: 77.8F
  • Current:  None.
  • Gauge Height:  503.63' (lake full = 504.32'  source)  The Lakes Region has had 6 inches less than average rainfall this year, so the lake level is a little low.
  • Avg Speed (GPS):  2.0 mph
  • Max Speed by (GPS):  4.0 mph
  • Rapids?  None. 
  • Hazards?  Not much.  Wake from an occasional passing boat.
  • Kit: Emotion Tandemonium rented from Trexler's Marina.  Flop hat, NRS paddling gloves, short sleeve swim shirt, swim trunks, Keen Newport sandals.
  • Configuration: My eldest son sat in the front seat and I sat in the back seat of this Tandemonium kayak (very similar to our Malibu Two XL at home).
  • Route:  Put-in at Trexler's Marina.  Paddled east under the Moultonborough Neck bridge and  counter-clockwise along the shore.  
  • Other comments (such as wildlife spotted): Many loons, 1 adult merganser with 12 juveniles in tow, many ducks, 1 great blue heron, other smaller birds I couldn't identify.  Lots of dragonflies and waterbugs, water lilies.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Paddle Log #25: Lake Winnipesaukee

We're back in New Hampshire again for a family vacation.  In the 15 years I've been coming here with my wonderful wife, we've only missed coming here two summers - the summer we were in Hawaii (2008) and last summer due to our PCS to Kitsap and my work schedule.  It's good to be back.

Wednesday was what I consider a perfect day for paddling. Between it being a weekday and being overcast, there were few people out on the water.  The air temperature was just right - not hot, not cold.  No wind.  No waves.  Just peaceful, calm water on Lake Winnipesaukee.

Since we flew out here from Seattle, I don't have my kayak here with me, but our next door neighbor graciously allowed me to borrow his kayak.  It's a Wilderness Systems Pamlico 100.  It was a little small for me.  With the foot pedals moved all the way forward, I still couldn't quite squeeze my knees into the cockpit.  Even so, it was a glorious day on the water.

I paddled south along the western shore of Long Island and then counter-clockwise around Sandy Island.  I wasn't ready to go home yet then, so I paddled across to Ragged Island and counter-clockwise around Ragged Island.

Even though I've been coming to Lake Winnipesaukee for family vacations for 15 years now, this is only the second time that I've seen a loon.  It still surprises me how big they are.  I keep expecting them to be like the size of a duck, but they're more like the size of a goose.

I was really glad I paddled around Ragged Island.  In addition to the loon, I also saw several other birds and some peaceful coves with lily pads and beautiful water lily blossoms.

Seeing families walking around Ragged Island reminded me of the awesome geocache the boys and I did there a few summers ago.

When I finished paddling around Ragged Island, I was really enjoying myself and didn't want to go home yet.  I wanted to just keep paddling the long way home counter-clockwise around Long Island, but I didn't plan my timing well.  It was half past noon and I was hungry, and I hadn't brought any food with me, so I headed home for lunch. 





Stats for the paddle log:

  • Date: Thursday, 26 July 2012
  • Time In: 10:04 a.m.
  • Time Out: 12:36 p.m.
  • Elapsed:  2 hrs 32 min
  • Moving Time (GPS): 2 hours 19 min
  • Stopped Time (GPS):  14 min
  • Mileage (GPS): 6.0 miles
  • Sea State: 0
  • Winds: < 5 kts NW
  • Air Temp:  65F climbing to 69F
  • Water Temp: 75F - Yep, the water was warmer than the air.
  • Current:  None.
  • Gauge Height:  503.63' (lake full = 504.32'  source)  The Lakes Region has had 6 inches less than average rainfall this year, so the lake level is a little low.
  • Avg Speed (GPS):  2.6 mph
  • Max Speed by (GPS):  4.8 mph
  • Rapids?  None. 
  • Hazards?  Not much.  Wake from an occasional passing boat.
  • Kit: Wilderness Systems Pamlico 100 and Seaquel paddle borrowed from neighbor on lake.  Ballcap, NRS paddling gloves, short sleeve swim shirt, NRS paddling pants, neoprene booties.  I brought my orange rain coat in my small dry bag, but didn't need it.
  • Configuration: The Pamlico 100 was a little small for me.  With the foot pedals moved all the way forward, I still had difficulty keeping my knees inside the cockpit.  Also, the owner had a fishing rod mount bolted to the starboard side of the hull.  I knocked the fingers of my right hand against the fishing rod mount about four times during the trip.  The built-in seat was pretty comfortable - no complaints at all from two and a half hours on the water.
  • Route:  Put-in at Jonathan's Landing beach on the west side of Long Island.  Paddled south, counter-clockwise around Sandy Island, then east to Ragged Island and counter-clockwise around Ragged Island.  I was tempted to keep going counterclockwise around the rest of Long Island, but I was getting hungry and didn't bring any food with me, so I went back clockwise up the southern then western side of Long Island.  
  • Other comments (such as wildlife spotted): 1 loon, 3 mergansers, many ducks, 1 robin, 1 maybe killdeer or semipalmated plover lots of dragonflies and waterbugs, water lilies.  I've been coming to Lake Winnipesaukee for 15 years now, and this is only the second time I've seen a loon.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

(Almost) Bald Knob Hike

I've been wanting to go explore some of the trails around the Castle in the Clouds ever since I joined the Lakes Region Conservation Trust and received my waterproof trail map from them a couple of years ago.

I had originally planned to take the boys up to the Castle in the Clouds, park by the pond and hike out to Bald Knob along the Shannon Brook Trail.  However, I failed to take into consideration the business hours of the Castle in the Clouds and the fact that they close the gate down on Rt 171 at 4 p.m.  We got there just after 4 p.m. and just after they had closed the gate.  So instead of parking up at the pond, we parked at the small parking lot at the Shannon Brook trailhead just off of Rt. 171.

Welcome Kiosk and Trail Map
at Shannon Brook Trailhead off Rt. 171



Starting from down at Rt. 171 instead of up at the pond resulted in a shorter but steeper hike toward the top of Bald Knob. 

The trail is well-defined and marked with either paint or plastic markers on the trees.  Plus, they include mileages to the next trail or landmark.

There were some pretty nootka roses along the trail.

My boys and I hiked as far as the Bald Knob geocache, which is at a spot with a beautiful view south over Lake Winnipesaukee, including the Moultonborough Neck and Long Island.  I wanted to keep climbing to the top of Bald Knob, but the kids were tired and it was dinner time (we got started later than I had intended), so we headed back down to dinner.  Even so, it was an enjoyable hike and a good first exposure to the network of trails around the Castle in the Clouds.  I would like to go back and climb Turtleback someday, but I suspect I'll have to do that one without the boys.  Of note, LRCT has a hiker recognition patch you can earn by hiking all of the trails in the Castle in the Clouds property.  I'd like to earn that someday, too.


Hike Stats:  When I'm searching for places to hike with my kids, I appreciate having some basic facts and figures about the hike for me to judge if it's doable with my kids.  With that in mind, I hope other parents considering this hike find the following information useful.
  • Date: 25 July 2012 
  • Time of Departure: ~4:00 p.m.
  • Time of Return: ~6:15 p.m.
  • Elapsed:  2 hours 13 minutes
  • Moving Time (GPS):  1 hr 23 minutes 
  • Stopped Time (GPS):  50 minutes 
  • Mileage (GPS): 2.57 miles (Note this is NOT the total mileage to the top of Bald Knob since we didn't make it all the way to the top.  This is the mileage to the geocache and back.)
  • Avg Speed (GPS):  1.8 mph
  • Elevation Gain:  1058 feet
  • Max Elevation:  1511 feet
  • Weather:   Sunny but breezy.
  • Winds:  According to NH Weather, it was 5-10 mph W, but I didn't really notice even the slightest breeze while we were hiking.
  • Air Temp: 75F (from NH Weather)
  • Trail:  Well-defined and marked trail.  Hard pack dirt.
  • Hazards?  Some poison ivy off the sides of the trails, but not much.
  • Kit: T-shirts, shorts, boys wore regular sneakers.  I wore my hiking boots, but I would have been fine in sneakers.  We were under the shade of trees most of the time and didn't need sun screen nearly as much as we needed bug spray.  There were a lot of mosquitoes.
  • Route:  At the trailhead parking lot on Rt 171 there is a kiosk with a trail map.  You can also buy the waterproof trail map from the Lakes Region Conservation Trust.  We went up the Shannon Brook Trail to the Bald Knob Cutoff Trail, but did not hike all the way to the top of Bald Knob.  There were no facilities available at the trailhead or anywhere along the trails we took.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Evergreen Wings & Waves Waterpark

A while back, December 2009 to be exact, my dad and I took my boys to visit the Evergreen Air & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.  Not long afterward, we read in the news that they were building an indoor waterpark there with a 747 up on top of the building.  I've been curious and wanting to go check the place out since then.  This weekend we made a trip down to Oregon and went to the Evergreen Wings & Waves Waterpark.



Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF):  We had a fun time and I'm glad we went... once.  In the end though, it's more cost-effective to go to the Great Wolf Lodge

With the military discount, it cost us $100 for our four tickets to get in.  We arrived on Saturday about 11 a.m. and departed around 5 p.m.  In that time, we went down the slides 8 times, so that works out to about $12.50 per 30-second trip down the slide.

Inside the waterpark, it is very similar to a Great Wolf Lodge, but with an aerospace theme.  There is a jungle-gym with a big bucket on top that fills with water and dumps down every three minutes or so.  Only in this case the bucket is suspended from a simulated fire-fighting helicopter.

There is a big wave pool, and they have a big video screen that shows trivia questions about water.  The smell of the pool chemicals was pretty strong, and my eyes were stinging a bit.  They also play music here, sort of like you might hear in a gym.  An indoor waterpark like this is pretty noisy to begin with, but with the music added on was a bit much.  My kids were complaining it was too loud.

There are four main slides that all depart from inside the 747 on top of the building.  Thankfully, they tell you right up front on the sign that it's 111 steps to the top where you get on the slides. 


At the top of the 111 steps, this is inside the plane where the four main slides all begin.  Note how they are color-coded - blue and orange on the left, yellow and green on the right.  On their website, they have some pictures and videos, but the videos don't actually go down the slides.  They just show people getting on the slide at the top and getting off the slide at the bottom.



1.  Mach 1 (the orange slide) is a single-person, no inner-tube slide.  However, they are pretty strict about their rules.  First, NO swimsuits with any rivets or zippers are allowed.  You have to do a slow spin around for the attendant at the waterslide for him to check out your suit and make sure you don't have any rivets or zippers.  I saw one person walk up and had a simple rivet for a drain hole in his swimsuit pocket, and the attendant held out a pair of medical scissors and offered to cut off the pocket with the rivet, or the kid could choose not to go down the slide.


Second, NO "surf shirts" or swim shirts are allowed.  This one really baffles me.  I mean, the women are required to wear some sort of two-piece swim suit for "modesty" or to avoid any type of public indecency charges.  A lot of the "tankini" style swim suits women wear don't seem much different than men's swim shirts.  Guys who showed up wearing swim shirts were required to take them off and hold onto them in their hand while they went down the slide.  What???

Oh yeah, and no shoes are allowed.  Not even specialized "water shoes."  If you have anything on your feet, then you have to take them off and hold them to your chest as you ride down the slide.

Also also, no cameras are allowed.  That was sort of the straw that broke the camel's back and really started pissing me off about all their rules.  I mean, seriously, it's a small, waterproof, point and click camera with a floating-strap on it.  While I was well aware of the other rules because they're prominently posted everywhere at the cash register and at the bottom of the stairs and halfway up the stairs and at the top of the stairs, nowhere was there any mention of "no cameras allowed."

I had rivets for drain holes on my swim suit, and I didn't feel like blinding all the other patrons by taking off my swim shirt and exposing them to the glaring white reflection off my body, so I opted not to go on the Mach 1.  Since they told me my camera wasn't allowed, I don't have many pictures to share from this day at the waterpark.

2.  Sonic Boom (the yellow slide) you can ride down in either a single or a double inner-tube.  This slide is an enclosed tube only from the airplane until the tube enters the building.  Inside the building, the top half of the tube is open, so you can clearly see everything.

3.  Tail Spin (the blue slide) is every similar to the yellow slide, but it's all enclosed tube and dark inside.  It was sort of like a waterslide version of Space Mountain.

4.  Nose Dive (the green slide) was pretty cool because it takes you through a few twists and turns but lets you build up speed and then spits you out into this big open bowl, and you fly around and around swirling down to the center like a toilet bowl.  Eventually you go down the hole in the middle and the ride is over within about 5 seconds of going through the hole in the bottom.

Unfortunately, they didn't have enough inner tubes.  

The place ended up getting pretty crowded.  There were a couple of large groups there from the Boy Scouts and the Civil Air Patrol.  We were fine from about 11 a.m. until about 1 p.m., but from then on, there was a line of at least 20-30 people waiting for inner tubes at the bottom of the water slides.  The result was that coming off the water slide, you had to give up your inner tube to one of the attendants who handed your inner tube to someone waiting in line.  Then you get in line to wait for your turn to have an inner tube again.  After waiting in line for an inner tube, then you have to go up the stairs and wait in line to go on the slide.

In the end, we spent a lot of time waiting in line and rode the slides 8 times.  In contrast, on our first day at the Great Wolf Lodge, we rode the slides 15 times.

Lunch

They don't allow outside food or drinks.  This didn't concern me before we went there.  When we went to the museum back in 2009, I enjoyed the Cosmo Cafe at the museum so much, I created a separate Yelp listing for the cafe (you don't have to enter the museum to eat at the cafe).  I figured the cafe at the waterpark would be similar.

Nope.

It was a typical museum grill with cheap burgers and fries and Pepsi fountain sodas.  Now, they have a really nice big grassy lawn outside the waterpark.  In hindsight, I would recommend either (a) bring a picnic lunch to eat outside on the grass, or (b) walk across the parking lot to the Cosmo Cafe at the Space Museum.

In Summary

I'm glad we went.  We had fun.  I liked the aerospace theme to this indoor waterpark and the educational aspects of the questions on the big screen over the wave pool and the small hands-on science center on the second floor.  However, next time we are looking for an indoor waterpark adventure, it's more cost effective to go to Great Wolf Lodge where one night's stay at the lodge gets you two days' admission to the water park.  GWL prevents getting overcrowded because you aren't allowed in the waterpark unless you're staying at the lodge.  Evergreen was too crowded and we spent too much time waiting in line for a tube or waiting in line for a slide.  The pool chemicals weren't as noticeable at GWL.  The noise level was better without the music.  There were more choices of things to eat, and you only needed your RFID wrist-band to pay for the food (no need to carry around your wallet inside the waterpark).

(Disclaimer:  Nobody at GWL has given me any benefits or paid me anything for this or any previous blog post.  These are my frank opinions.)

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Olympic National Park - Hurricane Ridge

Summer has been slow in coming to the Pacific Northwest this year.  While all our friends on Facebook have been complaining of triple-digit temperatures and power outages and huddling in shopping malls and other public buildings for air conditioning, I've been wearing blue jeans and fleece pullovers.  After being at sea for a few months, I returned to port in mid-June and was pelted by hail and cold raindrops the size of grapes.  I was actually shivering from the cold as I greeted my family on the pier.

Well, we finally have some semblance of nice weather, and we took advantage of it this weekend by going up to the Hurricane Ridge visitor center in Olympic National Park.


Before we moved here, my wife bought me a book, Best hikes with KIDS: Western Washington and Cascades.  I've been drooling over it and wanting to try many of the hikes it describes.  This was the first hike we've tried from this book.  Each hike in the book has cute little icons to tell you the difficulty and seasonal availability of each hike.  I didn't want to do anything too strenuous for our first hike of the summer, so I picked #163 Hurricane Hill.  This hike has the easiest of the book's three difficulty ratings, and in the text it says,
Day Hike
Easy for children
Late July-October
2 1/2 miles
700 feet elevation gain

Overall, it was an enjoyable hike with spectacular scenery.  However, it's a good thing I didn't try taking my family on any of the "moderate" difficulty hikes.  This one was a challenge for my family.


The first time I visited Hurricane Ridge before my family moved here (pictured above), it was mid-June and there was still a substantial amount of snow up there.  That time, I couldn't even drive past the visitor's center because of the rest of the road out to the Hurricane Hill trailhead was snowed-in.

This picture was taken in nearly the same spot, but at least 6 feet lower in altitude because I'm not standing on top of a huge snow bank.  This time, it was 64F and sunny, and most of the snow had melted. We stopped at the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center first to look at trail maps and check out the scenic overlook.  Then we drove out to the end of the road where there is a small parking lot at the trailhead for the Hurricane Hill trail.
ll

Lotis at the Hurricane Hill trail head.
Do trusty, well-traveled stuffed animals count?



The trail was well-defined, paved in many segments and hard pack dirt in others.  There were a few patches of snow we had to trudge through, but it wasn't bad.  It's 1.6 miles from the trail head to the top of Hurricane Hill.

The first 0.8 miles are pretty level.  The last 0.8 miles are a pretty steep incline and switchbacks.  The boys started complaining that "the batteries in their feet were low" and that they wanted to go home.  We distracted them with a snowball fight along the way.  Eventually, we resorted to bribery and offered to let them pick something out in the visitor center gift shop if they made it to the top.  That kept them going for a while.  As it turned out, my wife and eldest son ended up stopping and waiting on a park bench while my youngest son and I made it to the top.  I was running out of steam and slowing down toward the final stretch up to the top, and my youngest son went charging ahead of me yelling, "Common, Daddy!  You're almost there!  Do it for the gift shop!"

View from top of Hurricane Hill (5757 feet) 
looking north to Port Angeles, WA.
My youngest son at the top of Hurricane Hill.


The view from the top was pretty amazing, and I'm very proud of my youngest son for making it all the way to the top with me.

We also got to see a family of two adult and two baby mountain goats at the top.  A park ranger warned us that the mountain goats can be aggressive, so make a lot of noise to let them know where you are and scare them off.

This is the view looking back down the way we came.  I kept expecting to see Julie Andrews come running over each meadow, arms outstretched, long black dress twirling around her as she belts forth, "The HILLS are ALIIIIIIIIVE with the SOUND of MUUUUUUSIIIIIIIIC!"



The meadows and hillsides were all dotted with blotches of purple, pink, yellow, and red wildflowers.

In addition to the mountain goats pictured above, we also saw many black-tailed deer, marmots, and one black bear from a long distance away (moving speck on the next ridge over).  The deer were everywhere and didn't seem to mind people on the trail.  It's like someone told them the humans have to stay on the path.

As has become a standard operating procedure for us, my boys complained, moaned, groaned, and gnashed their teeth about being torn away from their video games to get in the car and head off to a national park in the morning.  By the end of the day, as usual, when it came time for bedtime prayers and I asked them what their favorite part of the day was, they both said going to Olympic National Park.

Trip stats for the day:
3.84 miles
1 hour 55 minutes moving time
30 minutes 6 second stopped / resting time
2.0 mph average speed
4.6 mph max speed
~900 feet of elevation gain.  The parking lot is around 5000 feet, and the top of Hurricane Hill is 5757 feet, but there was a little bit of up and down along the way.
There were NO facilities available anywhere along the trail.  There were outhouses back at the last picnic area before the trail head.