Mount Apatite
Mount Apatite things to do, attractions, restaurants, events info and trip planning
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This is a great multi use park with a wilderness feel literally five minutes off the highway. Rock collecting is fun (But hard work to find the good stuff). The real fun is the challenging and scenic trails for both pedestrians and mountain bikers. Park is dog friendly and good for supervised kids. The trail map is pretty good and trails are getting better marked every year. Plan on spending the afternoon but go back often. Always something new to discover there. UPDATE 4/2023 New signs and maps have been installed on many trails and the map on the parks website is new. Signs now forbid swimming or diving in the quarries. I continue to suggest that new visitors enter park at garfield road entrance as this is by far the best marked and most scenic. It is still easy to get disoriented at the rear entrance unless you know it well. UPDATE 3/2024 Trail markings comtinue to be updated. Today I noticed that some trails are identified by "road signs" with the trail name rather than just a color. Signage is still confusing and I saw one sign saying "you are here" clearly indicating red trail but with a blue blaze painted on the same tree. Google maps does work somewhat within the park but newbies are still best served by remaining on the blue trail and avoiding bike trails or any trails beyond the mining area. Most pf this was still VERY waterlogged today. Still a great destination but know your limits and keep kids on the blue trails where you can see them.
Jason WatsonJason Watson
120
Nice trail ! It has a little bit of everything. There were a few spots were the ground was mushy due to snow melting, but the rest of it was fantastic. A lot of peaks and valleys. There a few wooden benches scattered throughout the blue trail. I had seen some complaints about the trails not being marked well enough so I didn’t know what to expect. But I felt the markings were good enough for me. Anytime there was a diverging path or fork in the road, there were clear markings for the blue trail and I had no issues following the path. I can’t speak to some of the other trails though. In terms of difficulty I would rate it somewhere between a 2 or 3 out of 5. A one being a relatively easy to navigate trial with little to no elevation. At two different points you reach about 500 ft. of elevation. Many winding paths, I found it to be a fun trail, all things considered. Will definitely look to revisit around spring time and fall as well.
Fred MFred M
60
This hike is absolutely amazing. The trails are clearly marked and interconnected. We took the blue loop trail out to the two water holes and the feldspar dump piles. The trail was a moderate hike with little rest stops at every junction. We had a great time exploring the water holes and ledges. We spent 2 hours digging through the dump piles from the mine. The reward was a beautiful piece of dark Smokey quartz and a sizable garnet chunk, as well as some smaller facets and pieces. Unfortunately we lost our trail markings coming back out and ended hiking the roads back to our car. Even so it was a great adventure and we plan to go again very soon.
Willow RayneWillow Rayne
40
I had such a good time. I was worried about all of the reviews that said the trail was poorly marked. But it was VERY CLEARLY MARKED. When you get down in the mines, it can get confusing. I use an app called Natural Atlas, so I easily found my way back the the spot where I entered the mine. I was there on a weekday and encountered a few other people. I picked up some lovely bits of quartz a small piece of tourmaline. The water filled quarries are quite pretty. Up top, in the woods, the mosquitoes were bad whenever I stopped walking. But down in the mines, no problem. I would certainly go again (with a small pickaxe!)
Robin McDougallRobin McDougall
00
While the map is accurate it was definitely hard to keep to the right trails. There's a lot of small creekbeds that turn to mud but the wooden foot bridges help a lot. The hike is beautiful and peaceful but definitely take a photo of your map and pay attention to your route if you don't want to get too turned around. Or maybe you do. That's the fun of hiking!
Amanda LarsenAmanda Larsen
00
Pleasant walking trails, some minor inclines traverse an intriguing gorge at the parks' center. Trails are at times a bit hard to decipher, as posted mapboards seem to favor those who approach from the south side (we entered from north side), as well as due to abundance of "shortcut" trails walkers have forged. Nice place to visit.
Jason GutekunstJason Gutekunst
00
- Please manually select your location for better experience