Short hike through the Sleeping Giant

OldBill

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Joined
Aug 18, 2015
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547
Still recovering from a hip injury 6 months ago. Couldn't walk 50' without taking a knee. Yesterday I got tired of the endless PT so decided to go for a short hike. I'm in the Pecos next week and this would be a good test. Don't have great local scenery that many out West do but I do have Sleeping Giant State Park 10 min away. It has rocky trails, some scrambles and steep sections. Wound up being 5.8 m, +1300' / -1400' in 3.5 hr. Progress!

So many doctor visits! Don't push the Red Button...
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First down scramble - lots of these.
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There's a tower the CCC built on top. You can make out one of the towers on the left.
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The tower - always people here. They come up a paved path for 3 miles round trip.
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Back up a 100' scramble. Picture doesn't capture the steepness well.
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View of the cliffs on the eastern side of the head of the Giant. Be there in another mile after a steep climb over the head.
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There's a 30-40' down climb before the head. I call it "the root". A couple of guys were trying to get their dog to go down it. The dog was having none of that idea.
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Views of the head. Once I start the climb I don't pause for photos. It's pretty much using all fours on slick rock.
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View from the edge of the cliffs I'd photographed from below. Quinnipiac College below. Long Island on the horizon to the right.
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More scrambles down about 100' and I intersect an old road. How they used it for carts is interesting. Maybe those rocks have fallen since then.
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Then it's down and back up the ridge to the East. A view from the top of that looking back at the cliffs on the Head.
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Had quite a few of these along the trail
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Start of the last major climb. About a 200' climb. I should have taken a photo of the crux, but was getting tired and my knee was hurting. Hip wasn't bad, which was encouraging.
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Ok...... I have a good horse trail spotted for our Winds trip....
 

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