Erskine bowl

[Tim M]

Yesterday morning I ascended barometer and crossed over to erskine bowl on the edge of the bowl adjoining barometer. This was my first time going past the ridge between the two. Weather was perfect after the wind and fog blew through. According to the audobon map, there is a trail that descends from the bowl on the far side of the main water gulch. Anyone with experience with this trail? Maybe it's one for the late fall? I ended up not going to the far side of the bowl and followed bare spines down until I had to waist through brush aiming for a notable rockslide near the bottom before tying into a navigable water ditch. That brought me to the mud hole at Burma. Just wondering if any thoughts on this bowl, maybe ascending is easier?

[Philip]

Be very skeptical of routes on published maps, especially the borough trails catalogue. Some of those were submitted to 'grandfather' them in for future access (a political thing), though I would expect Audobon map trails to be better established. I don't have direct experience with that bowl and I hope others will chime in, but in general lesser travelled routes can be quite ephemeral thanks to rapidly regenerating brush.