Trail 1 (Advanced) (11E23)

This is an advanced section of the Rock Creek Loop. From its west entrance, the trail starts off with some deep ruts as it starts steeply climbing into the forest from a forest road on a semi-steep grade. It goes through a corridor of manzanita trees forming a tunnel-like canopy where you have to watch your head on low-hanging branches. The trail is pretty rutted and full of loose rocks, making it more technical, but it gets even more advanced as the east half of the trail is essentially one long series of rock slab ledges. The trail becomes really wide, and the rock layers span the width of the trail, allowing for multiple line choices to get up the rocks. There are a couple of sneaky cheater lines to skirt the edge of the rocks, but it can be really advanced if you choose to go straight up the rock ledges. The rock layers continue until the end of the trail, as it continues to climb steeply with several more sections of embedded rock slabs. You’ll go up all of the obstacles from the west-to-east direction. The trail ends when it turns into a road designation at the intersection with 5-3.