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Originally Posted by Neville
So, just how faint is this trail? I'm going to have a topo and compass anyway, but are these tools I'm going to depend on?
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It's faint, but you'll find it if you are patient. You will have to depend on the topo map, the compass not so much because because the views are mostly wide open. If you know where the trail is going it's a lot easier to find.
The tricky places are where it's single-track burro trails. At the foot of the mountains coming from the east trailhead the trail goes east from one drainage to another behind a hill. The key is a notch in a rock fence, and you won't see Acebuches Canyon until you are practically on the edge looking down into it.
http://www.thebackpacker.com/pictures/pic/myg338l.php
The place where the trail climbs out of the bottom of Acebuches Canyon is easy to miss even if you know where it is.
http://www.thebackpacker.com/picture...t6xu0fox7p.php
The top of the Acebuches drainage can turn into a bushwhack where you just head for the saddle - you'll see the trail if you are lucky. At Panther Spring the trail goes way up the side of the canyon and is easy to miss. North of Rancherias Spring the old two-track road can be hard to follow when it crosses the creek bed several times. And west of Rancherias Spring the trail is faint as it crosses a ridge, a drainage and then climbs onto Guale Mesa.
The park trail guide helps a lot. It's not easy to get lost at all. Wear heavy pants for the times you get off the trail a little.