The first wrong turn was pretty easy to make. I planned to climb to the clearing where the garbage can is, but the path branches off in three directions, and I chose the wrong one. It's the center path that goes there, and I chose the one on the right. That got me back to the center of the gulch much earlier than I planned for.
So I took the rusty car path next.
I didn't climb as high on that path as I know for sure will get me to the highest level, after which I could try to find my way to the particular path I wanted to use to head down. I call that path the bowling ball path, because it's shaped like a bowling lane's gutter. I thought I could make my way to it without going all the way to the top, but I was wrong. I'm glad I made that mistake, though, because I've always thought that the rusty car path and the bowling ball path were the only easy ways down, but the one I took yesterday was easy, too. And it has a bridge over the creek, whereas the bowling ball path doesn't, and it's hard to get across without getting my feet wet.
It was interesting to see how much more of the sky is visible from the center trail now that more leaves have fallen.
2.72 miles in 1:02, 5,839 steps, 364ft gain
Not sure if I'll make it out tomorrow morning. Maybe if I do, I'll do the path I set out to do yesterday.