The cave pictured here is at a location near the mountain peak that was our destination, but the hike up to Muggin’s Mountain had several more, though none that big in the area we searched.

I wanted to go all the way to the highest point, but my knee was grouchy because of the cold front that came in last night I guess. To prevent accident and to keep me able to enjoy the rest of our time here this week, we decided at a certain point that we had done enough climbing for the day.

We wanted to hike this particular mountain because we pass it frequently and it looks like a crown from the highway. We just had to see it, had to find a way up there. So in our true fashion, we took off and explored on our own this morning, finally finding the correct hiking path that actually becomes a BLM park (7,100 acres worth) yet we were only interested in the crown-looking part. Had we looked up Muggin’s Mountain on the internet, like I did when we got home, we would have found exact driving directions. Where’s the fun in that? 🤣 We had so much more fun (and possibly did some trespassing) our way though! As a matter of fact, during part of our driving search, we were on some lands used by the military as a training ground for munitions. Signs warned that there was unexploded ordinance, yet we just didn’t stray from the path paved by Jeeps and/or ATVS that came before us. After regrouping and doubling back however, we found the correct way up there.
From other vantage points on nearby peaks, it kind of looks like a toad crouching. Use your own imagination as I take you through the photo journey of our hike.The first group of pictures is from the first set of hills we climbed before arriving at the BLM area.

Enjoy!

We parked here and started walking toward what looked like the easiest way up. We were wrong. After climbing up a hill, we took some pics and carefully made our way back down. That part might have aggravated my knee a bit, the shale and rocks were loose, gravelly, and hard to walk sideways on. In fact, Dave beefed it coming down, but was not too injured. It was a slow fall, but a rough enough landing that he remarked, “That’s gonna leave a mark.”

Here, we decided to walk the path through the river bottom, taking in some beautiful sights, interesting rock formations that years of water and other elements have created.

Believe it or not, this rock was actually picked up in the first area we stopped, before we got to Muggin’s Mountain Wilderness.

I was going to use the gallery but figured each picture needed an explanation. Also, I don’t like the way my pictures come up in the editor. I wanted them in order. So, slow as the process is, I chose to display them like I did instead. I hope you enjoyed the trip as much as I did. I’ve already used some balm on my knees and taken a dose of Tylenol as a precaution. Still, I’m pretty sure I’ll be a little sore tomorrow! We did a good bit of walking and climbing but unfortunately not at a pace conducive to much fat burning. Darn my knees! Oh well, time to lay off the bread again I suppose. 😁