Forsyth trail hike

 I read some details about this hike:  

Distance:  11-11.5 miles round-trip (out-and-back) if heading up to the crest/summit Trail junction.

Elevation Gain:  3,400 to 3,600 feet.

Difficulty:  Strenuous ("butt-kicker") due to the steady, steep incline.

We only did 6 miles of it (out-and-back) because Paul's foot isn't ready for more...and neither am I!  We got plenty of elevation gain in just the little bit we did.  I think it was about 1,400+ feet in that distance.  Paul wanted to turn around because it was hurting his foot quite a bit.  We did two hours in and got back faster than that going downhill.  I think our time was from 9:30 - 12:30.  Afterwards we had a nice picnic at the Pine Valley Heritage Center.  We were so happy to see that only about the first mile of it shows bad scars from the fire.  After that it was greening up and just had patchy spots of fire damage.  After that first mile there was water in the stream and springs all along the way.  We only saw a few other people.  I loved seeing all the different flowers blooming at different elevations along the way. We saw some that we'd never seen before.  It was a good day, but it really drained Paul.