July 12, 2005 - Fiery Gizzard/Dog Hole Loop

On July 12, 2005, I decided to hike the Fiery Gizzard/Dog Hole Loop in the Grundy Forest. I hit the trail at 8:30am.
School Branch
Little Fiery Gizzard Creek	Blue Hole - On my way back out, people where gathering to swim here
Sycamore Falls - another popular swim hole 1.3 miles from the parking lot	Old Dog Hole Mine the sign says "mine unsafe, do not enter"
Sycamore Falls is as far down the Fiery Gizzard Trail that I had ever been. Just a little farther and the trail splits. Fiery Gizzard Trail continues straight or you can go up Dog Hole Trail to the left. Having no idea which way would be the best to go, I chose Dog Hole Trail. Either way, I would wind up back at this spot in 6.6 miles. It turns out that I chose the easier trail, which means I would be returning on the difficult one.
Werner Point - The Dog Hole Trail climbs directly to the rim of the gulf and follows it all the way to Raven's Point. Here at 3.4 miles, I'm standing on the most impressive overlook of the hike.
At the next overlook, I saw a timber rattlesnake at the edge of the bluff.	Finally, at 4.8 miles, I reached Raven's point. I ate lunch here and actually made a couple of phone calls. This location also marked the end of the Dog Hole trail. It was now time to return via the Fiery Gizzard Trail. One could continue on this trail and reach Foster Falls in about 8 miles. But that is for another day.
For the next 2 miles the trail drops 500ft. into the gulf. Every single step is on loose rock. At times the rocks are very slippery. This is by far the most difficult trail I have ever been on and I'm going downhill! At times I had to stop and try to figure out where the trail went next or if I was even on the trail.	Finally at 8.1 miles, I am back at the Dog Hole Trail Junction by the mine. What a relief, only 1.5 miles to go. This was a great hike. At times it went very slow trying to navigate through the rocks. It took me 6.5 hours to hike 9.5 miles. I signed out at 3:00pm.