uphillklimber
Member
Originally, we planned to go up to the Kinsmans from the parking lot at the Basin, via the Basin Cascade trail. We were so looking forward to camping up top by the pond. So we gear up and start out from the parking lot on the south bound side of 93.
First thing is a stream crossing. There are about a dozen places to cross, but none of them suit my wife. After about a half hour, I exclaim that either we can cross this stream or we can go home. She asks how and I say we brought waldies, take off your boots and walk right thru the water. Half way across, her feet are numb and she asks for help. I tell her she has to keep walking. Finally, we are across this itty bitty stream. What a hoot!
We dry off and head south, hoping to hook up with our trailhead. When we get a ways past the parking lot, it is clear that the trailhead is not this way. So we turn around and head north. The dog and my wife walk right by a likely trail, and I have to doubletime it to catch them and bring them back. Did I mention that the map shows the trail we want, but does not name it? We think the trail we want is this one. It says ski trail on a tree. For future reference, ski trail means a real boggy area in the summer, with lots of deep mud. We think this trail will take us to the Basin Cascade trail, so we forge on. We end up basically wandering around in the woods, and never stumble across The Basin Cascade trail. Finally, we head directly for the sound of traffic (Rt 93). Unbelievable. For all our wandering, we come out directly across from our car. We never ventured more than 500 feet from the car......
It is now 12:15 and I am ready to bag it. First an itty bitty stream stymies us, then we can't locate our trailhead, then we wander around bushwhacking and don't go anywhere.... But it's a beautiful day. I remember that the trail up cannon is a short little jaunt, so I suggest we go there to salvage the day. So it is off to Cannon.
In the parking lot, we make up lunch and chow down. We empty my pack of the tent, stove, sleeping bag, you know, all the stuff you don't need for a dayhike. Since we do not have daypacks, we just load all the stuff we need into my pack, and my wife slack packs, rather no packs! A couple hundred feet into this klimb and I suggest that since this klimb is only 2 miles and we are going to gain some 2120 feet, that it's gonna be a steep one. A little ways in, we see some areas of extreme erosion and ruts. I am standing on loose gravel with the ruts about shoulder deep. Then we get to hard ledge and the erosion has ended.
I figure the klimb will take about 2 hours (later on, the book says 2:05). It takes us 2:10, with an extended viewing session at the overlook most of the way up. It was a very physically trying trail. Short, but very steep, with uncertain footing due to the water running everywhere. The views are just something else. If it weren't for the late start, we'd have stayed longer, but, oh well. Since the highway goes right thru here, we were to constantly hear the sound of traffic, punctuated by loud pipes that save lives. Please, if you ride, do your pipes need to be that loud? Notable on this day were the number of gliders being pulled up and released by a single engine plane. I got a few shots of this and was thinking, what fun this would be. Who knows, some day, I may take in a nice quiet glider ride over this area of heaven.
We check in with the tram operator. My wife does not relish the thought of descending this trail, as it is steep and many areas have a stream running right down thru the middle of it. Some areas are very deeply eroded also, from the traffic and water runoff. The tram runs until 5 PM and costs $9 a person. No dogs allowed, so we get to walk it back down. No problem. Surprisingly, it only takes me 1:20 to descend this trail. That has got to be some kind of record for me. I always need about what it took me to klimb a peak to descend it. I knocked about a third of the hiking time off.
All in all, not too bad a day, but I'd have liked to awoken atop the mountain instead of my own bed. Not that we are aiming for the 48, but this is #6 for us. We may get all of them in a decade or so at this pace.
__________________
First thing is a stream crossing. There are about a dozen places to cross, but none of them suit my wife. After about a half hour, I exclaim that either we can cross this stream or we can go home. She asks how and I say we brought waldies, take off your boots and walk right thru the water. Half way across, her feet are numb and she asks for help. I tell her she has to keep walking. Finally, we are across this itty bitty stream. What a hoot!
We dry off and head south, hoping to hook up with our trailhead. When we get a ways past the parking lot, it is clear that the trailhead is not this way. So we turn around and head north. The dog and my wife walk right by a likely trail, and I have to doubletime it to catch them and bring them back. Did I mention that the map shows the trail we want, but does not name it? We think the trail we want is this one. It says ski trail on a tree. For future reference, ski trail means a real boggy area in the summer, with lots of deep mud. We think this trail will take us to the Basin Cascade trail, so we forge on. We end up basically wandering around in the woods, and never stumble across The Basin Cascade trail. Finally, we head directly for the sound of traffic (Rt 93). Unbelievable. For all our wandering, we come out directly across from our car. We never ventured more than 500 feet from the car......
It is now 12:15 and I am ready to bag it. First an itty bitty stream stymies us, then we can't locate our trailhead, then we wander around bushwhacking and don't go anywhere.... But it's a beautiful day. I remember that the trail up cannon is a short little jaunt, so I suggest we go there to salvage the day. So it is off to Cannon.
In the parking lot, we make up lunch and chow down. We empty my pack of the tent, stove, sleeping bag, you know, all the stuff you don't need for a dayhike. Since we do not have daypacks, we just load all the stuff we need into my pack, and my wife slack packs, rather no packs! A couple hundred feet into this klimb and I suggest that since this klimb is only 2 miles and we are going to gain some 2120 feet, that it's gonna be a steep one. A little ways in, we see some areas of extreme erosion and ruts. I am standing on loose gravel with the ruts about shoulder deep. Then we get to hard ledge and the erosion has ended.
I figure the klimb will take about 2 hours (later on, the book says 2:05). It takes us 2:10, with an extended viewing session at the overlook most of the way up. It was a very physically trying trail. Short, but very steep, with uncertain footing due to the water running everywhere. The views are just something else. If it weren't for the late start, we'd have stayed longer, but, oh well. Since the highway goes right thru here, we were to constantly hear the sound of traffic, punctuated by loud pipes that save lives. Please, if you ride, do your pipes need to be that loud? Notable on this day were the number of gliders being pulled up and released by a single engine plane. I got a few shots of this and was thinking, what fun this would be. Who knows, some day, I may take in a nice quiet glider ride over this area of heaven.
We check in with the tram operator. My wife does not relish the thought of descending this trail, as it is steep and many areas have a stream running right down thru the middle of it. Some areas are very deeply eroded also, from the traffic and water runoff. The tram runs until 5 PM and costs $9 a person. No dogs allowed, so we get to walk it back down. No problem. Surprisingly, it only takes me 1:20 to descend this trail. That has got to be some kind of record for me. I always need about what it took me to klimb a peak to descend it. I knocked about a third of the hiking time off.
All in all, not too bad a day, but I'd have liked to awoken atop the mountain instead of my own bed. Not that we are aiming for the 48, but this is #6 for us. We may get all of them in a decade or so at this pace.
__________________
