12.7 miles of hiking • 3250' elevation gain •
Wonderful day out exploring new terrain in the Hamilton Hardy area. We parked at the Hamilton trailhead, and went up past Little Beacon Rock back to the conjunction with the main trail. Shortly after we, headed west offtrail to see the old cabin and continued on northwestish until we hit the equestrian trail in the Hardy Ridge area. We headed up Hardy Ridge on the west side and on up to the summit at Phlox Point. There were sections of deep snow alternating with mostly bare ground for the last mile or so. After lunch, a miraculous fog clearing and a great Brocken Spectre viewing, we headed down through the snow on the east side and up to the northern most bridge, back down along Hardy Creek and hooked back up with the main Hamilton trail tagging the falls just before sunset. Amazing day!!
