Rails to Trails on the Stanislaus

After heading up to Sonora Pass, we decided we'd hike where the weather would be a bit warmer the next day. And since we had fun following the old pioneer trail yesterday, today we took the West Side Trail from River's End on the Cherry Lake Road back towards the town of Tuolumne.

This trail begins with a steep but short climb from the road up to the old railroad bed, and from there on it is almost dead flat. There were a couple of gullies that required us to climb up and down a total of maybe fifty feet because the trestles were no longer safe, but other than that, this was a cakewalk.

But that didn't mean it wasn't lots of fun. We rolled along at a good pace, and covered about seven miles in our afternoon walk. We found a nice spot for a picnic, read a few educational signs, and really enjoyed the fall colors and the cool autumn air.

This trail in the spring can be quite hot---but it also has loads of wildflowers. In the fall it was a completely different experience. And we saw a total of one person, a lonely mountain biker, during our three-and-a-half hours on the trail. Pretty nice.