The Ron Coleman Trail starts at the end of McKelligon Canyon, climbs to the ridge, and then snakes along the top of the Franklins till it drops you off on Transmountain Road.
This isn’t some namby-pamby, flip flops and Hawaiian shirt, tallboy six-pack stroll. It’s gnarly. Scrambling up cliff faces. Hands and feet. Spitting death in the eye.
Well, at least some of it is. Lots of it just like a walk in the park. The Franklin Mountains State Park. There’s some serious verticality to overcome. It can be hot, and windy. But there are places where you can see both sides of the city, and the Samalayuca dunes peaking out from behind the Sierra Juarez, or redirect your gaze and you might as well be in Afghanistan.
Hiking the Ron Coleman Trail is heroic. It’s a feat. An accomplishment. And afterwards, you can point to the ridge around the peak of South Mount Franklin, and you can say, I’ve been there. And mean it.
Except for the imbeciles who start out at 5pm and then have to be rescued…