Tappan Mountain
Coming off of the Happy Platte trail, it makes sense to do Tappan Mountain, too. We followed Forest Service Road 210 out as far east as it would go, which wasn't very far. We did the turnaround and took it west to the loop. Platte Springs Road (210) was pretty mellow, so it was a quick trip. We took FS 293 (Perkins) so we'd do the loop in the counterclockwise direction.
We saw some other people doing the loop in the same direction. They were taking different spurs, so sometimes we'd be ahead of them and sometimes we'd be behind. It all worked out.
The Lucky Boy spur wasn't very exciting, and we all had to find wide spots to turn around once we found a gate. The loop was nice, though.
The Look Out spur ended up being the highlight of the trip. It climbs up the side of Tappan Mountain on a rocky, loose, and narrow trail. It used to keep going, heading downhill, but now it stops at a big turnaround with great views of the mountains and Highway 77 below. We timed it right and decided to have lunch there.
Monica heard some air coming out of tire and looked down to see a big cut in her sidewall. She parked somewhere flat and Matt changed the tire really quickly. He especially enjoyed the Armour All and dirt all over the spare tire that was transferred to his clothes. It worked out pretty well, though, and didn't take long to switch out.
Lunch was fantastic, and we always enjoy sitting and looking at big views while we snack and chat. The other group ended up coming out to where we were while we were changing the tire, and they visited for a little while before they headed back out. We stayed for quite a while, but then finally headed back down to the loop.
When we got to FS 210 again, Monica had to map the rest of it to get the whole loop. Matt left at that point. When we got to the end at the pavement, Julie decided to head back home while Walt and Monica went across the highway to do the Badger Flats trail. It was a great trail, even with a flat tire.
