North Sand Dunes Road
Like always, the second pass through a trail seems to go by much quicker. It didn't seem to take us long at all to get back through the Hohnholz Lakes trail to the end of the North Sand Dunes Road trail at the big intersection. We were soon headed onto new territory and down to the North Sand Hills.
The trail was mellow and through the trees for a bit, but then it started getting interesting. We were at the last truly wide spot in the trail when we passed a bunch of people on ATVs headed up the trail in the other direction. Lucky for us, we didn't see anyone else on the way down to the trailhead.
This trail was a blast and we all looked forward to doing it in the regular direction someday. It would be a really fun climb. The trail was narrow and rocky in spots as we worked our way down switchback after switchback. It was a great descent.
When we got to the bottom we crossed the creek and immediately headed over to the big sand. We all raced back and forth a few times and had a blast. Then Monica and Katie got stupid and headed down a big sand hill to the creek below.
Naturally, they couldn't drive back up it. Katie tried and tried but she couldn't get up under her own power so she started figuring out what she would winch from. In the meantime, Monica went exploring the trail behind them to see if it led out.
The trail was too skinny in one part and she mangled her rear, passenger-side fender flare on a tree. Then she came up to a dead tree in the trail and got out her saw. She worked on the tree but could only get about halfway through it. Mike and Les came to save her and she got around and over the tree but the rest of the trail was nasty.
In the end, Monica ended up winching up the same hill that Katie winched up. So the whole trip through the trees was pointless. It was also a big waste of time and Katie still needed to set up their camp. Austin and Katie headed off for the pavement while the rest of us headed off for the North Sand Hills.
We'll definitely do the North Sand Dunes Road again. It was a blast!
