A Return to Pine Mountain

It was bitter cold today but I decided to bundle up and return to GPS trails at Pine/Wooster Mountain. I was still unfamiliar with the northwest section of Wooster so that was my goal.

I parked at the Pine Mtn. parking lot and slogged up and across the Yellow Trail. I took the brown trail alternative on the climb up to Pine Mtn.

Pine and Wooster Mountain Trails

The official entrance to the trail is a bit down the hill from the parking lot,

 Brown Trail Alternative

Here is where the Brown Trail intersects with the Yellow Trail

 Back on the Main Yellow At the Pine Mountain Summit

Once you get to where it levels off, it is really nice!

The Yellow Trail at Pine Mountain

Views of Bennetts Pond as you descend (going easterly)

The Yellow Loop turns off to the left - I descended on the right

Red Trail

At short distance down, I veered off to the left on the Red and continued on--a little later, turning to the left where the Ives veers right.

Staying on the Red

Ives veers to the right - the Red veers to the left

 At the Tree Burr Intersection

A very distinctive looking tree burr (it reminded me of a Chinese pagoda) was the landmark at the intersection of the northward trail(s) I wanted to explore.

Trails and NOT A TRAIL!

Tree Burr - Main trail makes a hard right here

Much of this area was not only not blazed but rarely traveled so finding the trails was difficult.

The big rock was on the left - its a great landmark for this area!

After a focused attention on staying on the trail - it traverses a ridge, I ended up back by a pond and near a building. At this point I no longer could figure out where the trail was...

 ..and ended up taking a crazy detour down into the valley and back up again (purple dashed line on map). The big rock (mentioned earlier) was the landmark that kept me from getting lost!

my crazy descent into the valley over these rocks...

 Lastly I scouted out another trail that ascends another ridge and right before the ascent, I saw this hunters (bird watcher's?) tree stand.

Conclusion

Sadly it wasn't a very productive trek as I am not so sure how valuable the GPSs I took will be. Nevertheless, it was good to get out off the house and hike a few miles. Despite the dire prediction of bitter cold wind, I had a down jacket and felt very comfortable!