Parts of the trail were covered with ice that was vicious to hike. This was the worst kind of ice - deep and thick, hard as a rock, smooth as glass, slick as grease and humped up with a convex shape, making it impossible to step on it, even cautiously. At one place while climbing, I was off the trail, in the brush, skirting the ice, and unknowingly stepped on a little island of ice in the woods. I took a slip and fall, catching the broken end of a tree limb on my left wrist and getting a nasty cut.
To add insult to injury, the fall caused one of my two water bottles to fall from of its outer pocket on my pack and it tumbled down the hill. The hill was so steep and the brush so thick that I never found the canteen. Oh, well, I am just out 1/3 of my water, with no place to replenish it. Fortunately, the 2 pints I had left were sufficient.
The rest of the hike was pleasant and not too tough. I hiked from Bluff Mountain to Wildcat Rock. On the way back down the mountain, I passed another hiker going up and got go play Ranger Bob by giving him some trail directions.
