Jen S.
Yelp
May 27, 2020
It's hot! The trail is very slippery if you don't have the proper (hiking) shoes. Bring bug spray!!! It's four stars for me, despite the bugs. Dress comfortably. Feet may get wet. Water is still a bit chilly right now, but it was cooling with how hot it was today.
Fun hike with friends. We got there at 9am and had plenty of parking. Parking is located in front of the sign Camp Seely since the gate was closed. We left the area though around 11:30 AND we had even hiked it to the rock three times because we kept missing it. It's a pretty easy hike, but we didn't pause long or take breaks and the heat got pretty intense. I'd bring easy snacks and more hydration though next time to make it a more leisurely afternoon. The bugs just made it somewhat unbearable. There are shaded areas, but the flies and other bugs are a bit of a distraction.
Refer to photos to look for spray paint markings to lead you to Heart Rock. They're marked on the right side of your trail for reference, parallel to the water/creek. I was looking at the ground so much, I overlooked the spray paint markings and caught them on our way back to the car.
Here's what I kept missing-
There's a cool long tree trunk on my right, that I could easily stand on, and when you see that log/tree trunk, there is another thinner tree log/trunk that runs parallel to the creek. It's here that you have to decipher the two paths. If you are walking downhill and it's really steep, you've missed Heart Rock overlook. Do not exert your energy yet on that steep hill until after you e seen Heart Rock. That path led us to the cool water swimming spots in the river at the bottom (if I revisit). If the water level was higher, I could see how people could slide down some of the rocks like a water slide.
FYI: One of my photos shows the long skinny tree trunk that lays horizontally and the two paths (we didn't see this the first time):
Left path is a STEEP DOWNHILL grade that leads you to the river
Right path is more of a straight path that leads, then a sudden rocky drop you step down, that leads you to what looks like an edge/cliff, but there are more rocks and paths to lead you to Heart Rock. We kept missing this because we thought it was the edge of the hill and nothing past it. My mistake.
The hike should have only been a mile, but after my blunders and we got to explore some, it was a total of 3 miles so we had a longer hike than the norm. I was tired and had to get back home to some appts for my son. We got the trail done in two-and-a-half hours but hope to explore the water more next time. I'll revisit super early in the morning, or in the earlier spring season, anytimebefore the bugs swarm the area.