Val and I wanted to go for a good, close by hike with good distance and elevation. Looking at different possibilities, we picked Rock of Ages since none of us had done it in a while. So we went along with Mark and Carole with the intention to do the normal loop. We got there pretty early and where on the trail real quick. Without a lot of complications, we found out way to the arch where we made a quick stop to catch our breaths and take some pictures. Then we started the real climb. We followed the devil’s backbone up all the way to Benson Plateau which went without a hitch. To this point, we were on track for timing so we stopped at the junction of Rock of Ages and the Horsetail Creek trail. The idea was to take this trail and then descend towards triple falls but that’s where things didn’t go as planned. By mistake, instead of continuing on the Horsetail Creek trail, I turned on the Bell Creek trail thinking it would go straight to the bridge and then down… Big mistake. The Bell Creek trail took us for a spin thru the forest with lots of ups and downs and beautiful scenery but clearly way out of our way. At last, we found the junction with the Oneonta trail which we knew would eventually join back with the Horsetail Creek trail. We took that path down which seemed endless. Several switchbacks and miles later, we were back on track descending towards Triple Falls. By then it was later than expected so we didn’t make the accustomed stop to check out the waterfalls. Instead, we rushed down to the car completing a bit over 14 miles.
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