Tom Rankin
Well-known member
After the storm Friday, we decided not to go up Friday night and waited it out a day. Saturday morning we arrived at the unplowed trail head parking lot, and shoveled ourselves out a parking space. Having gotten a little warmup exercise, we headed up the mountain. The trail was unbroken all the way to the top, and we enjoyed taking turns breaking trail in 8-14 inches of very fluffy powder. I never do this, but for some reason, I started counting the steps to the top. I marked each 1,000 steps, and we ended up with 8,237 steps to the cabin, plus or minus a few 100! 
This interestingly enough was almost exactly 1 step per second, the trip having taken about 2:15.
Laurie went to get water from the spring, and I started a fire in the wood stove. Thankfully, there was a large supply of dry wood in the cabin, complete with matches, paper and tinder. After a while, I had a good fire going and eventually the cabin heated up to the mid 60's. We had lunch and relaxed for a while. The thought of going to Graham was postponed till Sunday. No one showed up Saturday except a snowshoe hare. I had never seen one in winter coat before, it was almost invisible in the snow!
That night, the stars were awesome! We went to bed early and I got up every 3 hours or so to feed the fire. The stove cooperated well, keeping us toasty all night long. We slept in late and had a leisurely morning, finally leaving at 10:25. At 10:26, Kurt Q and Steve showed up! We apologized for leaving just as they were arriving, but they did not look like they were freezing, and they did not seem too bummed. So, off we went to Graham. We left the overnight gear in one pack, and headed down the herd path. I started counting steps here too. It took 5,800 steps from the herd path start to the summit. The walk over was beautiful. The sun was shining but it was still cold enough that the snow stayed fluffy. There is a nice view point just before the summit on the left, which we stopped at for a few minutes. We arrived at the top around 12:45 and had a bite to eat. It was so calm and sunny, I took off my shirts and hung them up to dry!
We set off down and met Jim S and his friend. They were also having a great time. After a few minutes of chatting, we set off for the car. The trail became more and more packed as we went down. Several people had been up and down BLM while we were out doing Graham. We got back to the PA at about 3:00. A great weekend!
This interestingly enough was almost exactly 1 step per second, the trip having taken about 2:15.Laurie went to get water from the spring, and I started a fire in the wood stove. Thankfully, there was a large supply of dry wood in the cabin, complete with matches, paper and tinder. After a while, I had a good fire going and eventually the cabin heated up to the mid 60's. We had lunch and relaxed for a while. The thought of going to Graham was postponed till Sunday. No one showed up Saturday except a snowshoe hare. I had never seen one in winter coat before, it was almost invisible in the snow!
That night, the stars were awesome! We went to bed early and I got up every 3 hours or so to feed the fire. The stove cooperated well, keeping us toasty all night long. We slept in late and had a leisurely morning, finally leaving at 10:25. At 10:26, Kurt Q and Steve showed up! We apologized for leaving just as they were arriving, but they did not look like they were freezing, and they did not seem too bummed. So, off we went to Graham. We left the overnight gear in one pack, and headed down the herd path. I started counting steps here too. It took 5,800 steps from the herd path start to the summit. The walk over was beautiful. The sun was shining but it was still cold enough that the snow stayed fluffy. There is a nice view point just before the summit on the left, which we stopped at for a few minutes. We arrived at the top around 12:45 and had a bite to eat. It was so calm and sunny, I took off my shirts and hung them up to dry!
We set off down and met Jim S and his friend. They were also having a great time. After a few minutes of chatting, we set off for the car. The trail became more and more packed as we went down. Several people had been up and down BLM while we were out doing Graham. We got back to the PA at about 3:00. A great weekend!
