Got an unexpected day off so I decided to go exploring in the Applegate area. I went hiking at the Sterling Mine trail. I’v hiked this area before. I did a 5 mile loop there last year. This trail system offers several different loop, shuttle and out and back options. On this hike I had no plans as I didn’t know I’d be hiking at all. I decided last minute that I would do a loop starting at Tunnel Ridge. I was going to hike to Little Applegate trail head then 1.6 miles of dirt road back to my vehicle but that didn’t work out. As this was a last minute hike I didn’t verify that I had the proper layers downloaded to my GPS app and I hadn’t brought a good map of the area. The info I had on my Gaia app wasn’t accurate or it was outdated because the trail markings on the app didn’t come close to matching my location. I didn’t want to end up having to back track several miles so I just went out a random distance and then returned the way I came in. I did a short bushwhack to a hill top also before heading back. I will be spending more time in this area for sure. Its a short drive from my home and there’s lots of good hiking in the area. Other than not coming prepared and finding a tick on my clothing this was another good day of hiking.