Went for a trail run up the left fork of Vock Canyon. It's the next canyon to the north, less than a mile away. I've been up there before, but only as far as Cherum Springs.
The springs are in a direct line to my well and according to the hippie well dowsing dude who set the well pump for me, my well is from that same underground river.
Anyway, the plan was to see how far the trail goes, because I have some maps that show it coming back down a BLM road to Shadow Canyon, the Canyon to the south of Falcon Valley where my property is located. The maps show I can make a loop, which would be a fun couple hours. The trail is technical, not really challenging, but is off camber in places with a few medium sized rock gardens to traverse and the same as most mountain trails around here, tight with brush and low hanging trees. About a 1/2 mile before the springs, you go into a pine forest, very scenic. I continued on past Cherum Springs and the trail actually gets easier. It splits about a mile past the springs. Westerly is supposed to go up to Cherum Peak, which is at 7,000' elevation. East should drop down into Shadow Canyon. Took the east fork, trail winds steeply downhill, but isn't difficult. In approximately two miles, the trail T's with a decent, but very steep east and west orientated road. The road has a locked gate to the west, and I can see solar panels, a few shipping containers and a small house up on top of that ridge. Drive another mile and come to another locked gate with no trespassing signs in the uphill side of the gate. I'm looking at BLM and US topo maps that show this is a forest road. Even if it's private property, they have no right to install a locked gate on a federal easement/access to BLM land road. I know I'm maybe three miles from Stockton Hill Rd, and very annoyed. I hang out for maybe ten minutes, hoping someone from up at the house might come down and see what this trespasser (me) is doing so I can get them to let me out. Nope. I could see I could get around the gate, but would be off the trail and really trespassing, and I had no idea if I would come across another locked gate. I ended up turning around and backtracking to Vock Canyon. I marked the gate location on my GPS so I can complain to the BLM. Maybe they will do something about it, but it's doubtful. I'm doubtful because there is a through road that ends up near the town of Chloride on the other side of the Cerbats in a canyon to the south of mine. One of the few roads through the mountains. There is a designated forest road with a trail number that had been blocked for several years by a tall solid gate wrapped in barb wire with no trespassing signs all over. The property behind the illegal gate is owned by a rich dude with a private sportsmans gun club. The BLM ordered him to keep access open, and he ignored them. They obviously haven't pushed it because the gates still there. There are a few other old mine roads through the mountains that are either impassable or gated, or both. I have a map of the area from 1944 that shows them as designated roads. I also have a 2020 US topo map that shows the same roads.
View from about 6,000' up the mountain, about 1,500' higher than my property.
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A little farther up the trail, I saw the peaks behind my property come into view. Hard to see in my phone pic, but its the peak before the dark brown peak in the background.
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