Old Power Plant Trail

This time, I picked the trail. As usual, I wanted something short and butt-burning, so we headed for Old Power Plant Trail in Pleasant Grove, right next to the famous Letter G hike.

The trail started with a climb so steep even our dogs looked like they had questions. Somehow, I was having a great hiking day and barely needed a break. My husband, meanwhile, was working hard enough to make it clear this trail had personally offended him. My calves were burning, too. The kind of burn that makes you wonder if you packed enough snacks to negotiate your way back down.

Once we reached the top, things flattened out. We thought the worst was behind us. Adorable.

The trail was so overgrown that we got lost about every ten minutes. We kept checking the map, trying to figure out where the trail had wandered off to this time. It was pretty clear this wasn’t a popular route. We started wondering how people had ever built a power plant out there. Imagine hauling equipment up this thing a hundred years ago. I get winded carrying groceries from the car.

Then we heard a noise straight out of a horror movie.

Thankfully, we had cell reception, so we Googled it. The culprit: a herd of elk. And now the big question: do you turn around, or keep going and hope the elk have somewhere else to be?

After a minute, we saw them running down the hill. Away from us, thankfully. The noise faded, so we decided to continue. A little farther down, we reached the spot they’d been standing. You could still smell them. I’m not going to pretend we felt brave. We spent the next stretch listening for any sign they were nearby, because apparently our hike needed a wildlife suspense subplot.

Just when we thought the trail couldn’t get worse, it delivered one more surprise: a descent down loose shale. We weren’t exactly walking so much as sliding over rocks that sounded like breaking glass.

Eventually, we made it to Battle Creek Falls Trail. And then, right at the end, I slipped on a tree root and fell. Ouch. A perfect little punctuation mark on the day.

Back at the car, we checked AllTrails. This hike had a rating of two.

Two.

I am apparently spectacularly bad at picking trails. Still, we both agreed: it was the worst best hike we’ve ever done.