poison ivy
Well-known member
I had grand plans this weekend for a Northern Presidential traverse, but the weather didn’t really cooperate. With 75 mph winds forecast, I knew a long trek above treeline probably wasn’t a great idea. Nor was my original plan to head up Airline, so at 8 a.m. Bob&Geri, Gaiagirl and I set off toward Mt. Madison by heading up Valley Way.
What a difference between last week and this one! Last Saturday, Valley Way was covered in a pristine white blanket of fresh powder and tree branches were hanging low with their white coats. This Saturday, Valley Way was a mess -- lots of slush down low on the trail and plenty of icy spots that made crampons necessary pretty low down on the trail. I must have done a little bit of carping about doing the same trail two weekends in a row, because Bob stopped at the Fallsway Loop and said we could head up there for something different… but I had made a detour down that trail last weekend too! Although I said that Tama Falls was really pretty and worth seeing, everyone wanted to continue up Valley Way, so we trudged on. It was actually nice to see the views through the trees, which were non-existent the last weekend.
At Valley Way Tentsite, we layered up and prepared for the trip above treeline. We could already hear the winds roaring in the bowl to our left and gray clouds were flying overhead at a rapid pace. As we reached treeline, we could see the small shapes of hikers fading into the clouds as they hiked up toward Mt. Adams. We however, veered over to Madison Springs Hut, which is closed and boarded up for the winter, in order to add more layers and have a quick munch before heading up to Madison’s summit, .4 of a mile away. The wind was howling at the hut and circling around the building, making it difficult to find a sheltered spot. Our stop was brief as a result before we set our eyes and our feet toward the summit.
I was immediately glad to have my crampons on, because even at the lower portion of the summit push, the wind was trying to knock me around. I stumbled every time a gust came if I didn’t have both feet planted firmly into the ice that coated the rocks along the trail. The wind wasn’t terribly cold, but it was very strong and seemed to grow with each passing step, occasionally pushing me uphill faster than I would have liked. Bob had a snowshoe sail off his pack and decided to leave it behind after placing a few rocks from a cairn atop it. My bag for my goggles didn’t fare as well and is probably someplace in the Great Gulf at this point. I waited until the frost feathers the wind was knocking off the rocks were stinging my eyes before putting the goggles on. We stopped in the lee of almost every cairn because it offered a little bit of protection as we watched the clouds sail past us with wild abandon.
It actually was a good thing that we had to battle for a little while to make it up to the summit because with each passing step the sky grew a little clearer. At first, we only had a glimpse or two of the Wildcats and Washington through a gray shroud of clouds, but by the time we were just below the summit, the sky was blue and the clouds overhead were the white puffy type.
As we rested in a small dip just off the summit, two hikers came down. They recommended we cross over to the other side of the mountain so the wind was pushing us into the rocks, rather than toward a precarious edge. We followed their advice, but even so had to crawl on our hands and knees (okay, crampons and hands more accurately) past the final cairn to the sign near the summit. I was relieved to be on my 36th peak in winter and sat on a rock near the summit as long as I could stand the wind to drink in the terrific views from the summit. We then turned to battle the 75 mph wind to head back down to the hut, which was more difficult in spots because we were now facing the wind head-on.
Upon reaching the hut, we cowered in the U at the backside to have some lunch and some of Geri’s terrific warm cider. I was completely rattled by the trip up to the summit and I think most everyone agreed that we should abandon our plans to head up Adams. We all agreed that this was the most wind we’d ever experienced while hiking.
As we headed down from the hut, we still had plenty of energy and lots of daylight so the team decided to do a little redlining once we reached the Lower Bruin Trail. While I had some concerns about the brook crossing, Bob thought it would be frozen over enough that we wouldn’t have any trouble (and he was definitely right.) We switched from crampons to snowshoes to head down the Lower Bruin Trail, which was not tracked out (though we did see some footprints near a big blowdown.) The trail went steeply down hill and Bob led the way, breaking trail pretty much all the way.
From the Lower Bruin Trail, we crossed onto the Watson Path briefly and then over to the Brookside Trail. We stopped for a few minutes at Duck Fall, which was very pretty and really enjoyed the trail as it descended alongside Snyder Brook, which had some really pretty sections of green ice.
As we approached the next junction, I checked the map again and saw that the Inlook Trail had lots of starred viewpoints, so we decided to take the Kelton Trail over to it. We crossed the brook on the thick and sturdy ice and then began ascending up the hill. I didn’t enjoy the Kelton Trail very much because it had a lot of side hilling, tons of ice and lots of blowdowns. The upper reaches apparently get a lot of sun so there was plenty of bare ground alternating with a few inches of snow. While everyone else took their snowshoes on and off a couple of times, I just kept walking in mine because I was too lazy to take them off in the first place.
The trip up the Kelton Trail was well worth it when we reached the Upper Inlook, which had a fantastic view of the now blue skies over Madison and Adams. We put our snowshoes away for good here as we walked along a series of ledges… the views were definitely a treat though the icy rocks were tough on the feet, especially since we all had plastic boots on. There were one or two super icy pitches that made for some quick slides down into the trees. I think everyone was relieved when the trail dumped us out on Valley Way again, ending our adventures for the day with an easy walk out to the car. We emerged at Appalachia at 5 p.m. and met up with HikerBob for dinner in Bethlehem.
This was a really fun day out in the woods (well, once we were out of the wind!) and thanks to Bob&Geri and Gaiagirl for indulging me in my redlining habit.
Pictures from the day are here.
- Ivy
What a difference between last week and this one! Last Saturday, Valley Way was covered in a pristine white blanket of fresh powder and tree branches were hanging low with their white coats. This Saturday, Valley Way was a mess -- lots of slush down low on the trail and plenty of icy spots that made crampons necessary pretty low down on the trail. I must have done a little bit of carping about doing the same trail two weekends in a row, because Bob stopped at the Fallsway Loop and said we could head up there for something different… but I had made a detour down that trail last weekend too! Although I said that Tama Falls was really pretty and worth seeing, everyone wanted to continue up Valley Way, so we trudged on. It was actually nice to see the views through the trees, which were non-existent the last weekend.
At Valley Way Tentsite, we layered up and prepared for the trip above treeline. We could already hear the winds roaring in the bowl to our left and gray clouds were flying overhead at a rapid pace. As we reached treeline, we could see the small shapes of hikers fading into the clouds as they hiked up toward Mt. Adams. We however, veered over to Madison Springs Hut, which is closed and boarded up for the winter, in order to add more layers and have a quick munch before heading up to Madison’s summit, .4 of a mile away. The wind was howling at the hut and circling around the building, making it difficult to find a sheltered spot. Our stop was brief as a result before we set our eyes and our feet toward the summit.
I was immediately glad to have my crampons on, because even at the lower portion of the summit push, the wind was trying to knock me around. I stumbled every time a gust came if I didn’t have both feet planted firmly into the ice that coated the rocks along the trail. The wind wasn’t terribly cold, but it was very strong and seemed to grow with each passing step, occasionally pushing me uphill faster than I would have liked. Bob had a snowshoe sail off his pack and decided to leave it behind after placing a few rocks from a cairn atop it. My bag for my goggles didn’t fare as well and is probably someplace in the Great Gulf at this point. I waited until the frost feathers the wind was knocking off the rocks were stinging my eyes before putting the goggles on. We stopped in the lee of almost every cairn because it offered a little bit of protection as we watched the clouds sail past us with wild abandon.
It actually was a good thing that we had to battle for a little while to make it up to the summit because with each passing step the sky grew a little clearer. At first, we only had a glimpse or two of the Wildcats and Washington through a gray shroud of clouds, but by the time we were just below the summit, the sky was blue and the clouds overhead were the white puffy type.
As we rested in a small dip just off the summit, two hikers came down. They recommended we cross over to the other side of the mountain so the wind was pushing us into the rocks, rather than toward a precarious edge. We followed their advice, but even so had to crawl on our hands and knees (okay, crampons and hands more accurately) past the final cairn to the sign near the summit. I was relieved to be on my 36th peak in winter and sat on a rock near the summit as long as I could stand the wind to drink in the terrific views from the summit. We then turned to battle the 75 mph wind to head back down to the hut, which was more difficult in spots because we were now facing the wind head-on.
Upon reaching the hut, we cowered in the U at the backside to have some lunch and some of Geri’s terrific warm cider. I was completely rattled by the trip up to the summit and I think most everyone agreed that we should abandon our plans to head up Adams. We all agreed that this was the most wind we’d ever experienced while hiking.
As we headed down from the hut, we still had plenty of energy and lots of daylight so the team decided to do a little redlining once we reached the Lower Bruin Trail. While I had some concerns about the brook crossing, Bob thought it would be frozen over enough that we wouldn’t have any trouble (and he was definitely right.) We switched from crampons to snowshoes to head down the Lower Bruin Trail, which was not tracked out (though we did see some footprints near a big blowdown.) The trail went steeply down hill and Bob led the way, breaking trail pretty much all the way.
From the Lower Bruin Trail, we crossed onto the Watson Path briefly and then over to the Brookside Trail. We stopped for a few minutes at Duck Fall, which was very pretty and really enjoyed the trail as it descended alongside Snyder Brook, which had some really pretty sections of green ice.
As we approached the next junction, I checked the map again and saw that the Inlook Trail had lots of starred viewpoints, so we decided to take the Kelton Trail over to it. We crossed the brook on the thick and sturdy ice and then began ascending up the hill. I didn’t enjoy the Kelton Trail very much because it had a lot of side hilling, tons of ice and lots of blowdowns. The upper reaches apparently get a lot of sun so there was plenty of bare ground alternating with a few inches of snow. While everyone else took their snowshoes on and off a couple of times, I just kept walking in mine because I was too lazy to take them off in the first place.
The trip up the Kelton Trail was well worth it when we reached the Upper Inlook, which had a fantastic view of the now blue skies over Madison and Adams. We put our snowshoes away for good here as we walked along a series of ledges… the views were definitely a treat though the icy rocks were tough on the feet, especially since we all had plastic boots on. There were one or two super icy pitches that made for some quick slides down into the trees. I think everyone was relieved when the trail dumped us out on Valley Way again, ending our adventures for the day with an easy walk out to the car. We emerged at Appalachia at 5 p.m. and met up with HikerBob for dinner in Bethlehem.
This was a really fun day out in the woods (well, once we were out of the wind!) and thanks to Bob&Geri and Gaiagirl for indulging me in my redlining habit.
Pictures from the day are here.
- Ivy
![Grand Teton Day Hikes and National Park Map [Map Pack Bundle] (National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41DB0jvRnbL._SL500_.jpg)
![Yellowstone National Park [Map Pack Bundle] (National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51kGuJ72qjL._SL500_.jpg)
