Engine Hill And The Bushwhack That Wasn't

[DayTrip]

Does anyone have a GPS track for this year's Engine Hill Bushwhack? I did Isolation SAT and was surprised not to see any evidence of a track considering it was mentioned in several blogs as being in good shape in the past month or so. I had never done before so I wasn't sure exactly where I should be watching for it so I was keeping an eye out. The regular trail had a fair track and a fresh set of boot prints ahead of me so I continued down until I was pretty sure I had missed it. Wound up doing the normal trail out and saw nothing on the other end either.

On the way back I passed a group of 4 so I asked if they took it and they said they saw nothing either. There were a lot of sections in lower parts of Isolation Trail that were obscured by 6-8 inches of light powder so I'm assuming the whack could have been easily camouflaged too. On the way back I made the stupid decision to try and follow it out. Around 3200' I left the trail and followed the contour drifting slightly up or down to open areas that I saw hoping to find it. Snow was somewhat firm and I was encouraged early on when I hit a tree with pink marking tape but no track. After about 0.2 miles I started post holing more and more often and whenever I hit open areas it was really bad. Dropped in to my armpits many times. After following the 3200' contour about 0.3 miles and seeing how bad all the open areas were I decided to drift downhill and try to stay in more dense tree cover to reduce post holing. So no beautiful birch glades and beautiful vistas. Just back breaking work for a LONG time until I regained the track on Rocky Branch.

I was glad I did it so I would have some idea of what I would be capable of should I be forced to do something like this versus electing to do it for "fun". (I should clarify - I was glad at the precise moment I was leaving McDonalds with a bag full of food and before the snow started on what would be a 4 1/2 hour ride home. Before then...not so much). But I am curious to see where the track was as a reference for how accurate my "guess" was for the start and end. I know it varies every year that is why I wanted to see this Winter's route. If anyone has a track they're willing to share it would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Kimball]

The Strava heat map shows it's not one consistent path.

 

[DayTrip]

Sounds like a bunch of people went out there SUN and trampled it down pretty good. Guess I was off by a day.

 

[skiguy]

Sounds like a bunch of people went out there SUN and trampled it down pretty good. Guess I was off by a day.

Give yourself credit for doing it the old fashion way.

 

[wardsgirl]

And give yourself credit for hiking that 0.3 1980's style!

 

[peakbagger]

Just to check, maybe I am missing something but you were doing Isolation in February as a bare boot? Hard to envision dropping chest deep with a properly sized set of snowshoes. Sure I have encountered spruce traps that have sucked me in with snowshoes but it was in far different terrain. Kind of early for spring rotten snow.

I did it three times in the winter and every time we had to break trail including the Engine Hill bushwhack. We did three variations of the second bushwhack and they definitely required breaking.

Its been awhile since I have been out on this hike in the winter but in the past, the start was just west of the height of land. There was a thick band of softwoods to the north with no obvious route through it, so you had to just push through it and then would quickly pop out at edge of the birch glades. From there it was easy compass navigation. The last third or so transitioned to relatively open hardwoods and then it transitioned to softwood on sidehill slope. I think the temptation by most groups is abandon the compass bearing and just drift down to the trail as the going isnt that great on the bearing. On the reverse course most folks follow there track in so they reinforce a threading of tracks.

One of our variations was on the return to run a bearing and come in high (north) of the saddle at engine hill. The glades extend well up the slope and the views only get better. The trade off is slabbing down the east side back to the trail is steep.

It is interesting on the Strava Heat Map screen grab the the second bushwack to the col just prior to spur has no traces. It got steady use for years but wonder if folks have just gotten lazy for route finding?

 

[OnAClearDay]

FWIW, I hiked Isolation last Sunday and with a late start found the EH bushwhack already nicely tracked out. Later on the Isolation trail I passed a number of groups thanking them for their trail breaking efforts before then having to break out the Davis Path myself. It was quite gusty and in many spots tracks from the previous day had pretty much disappeared (the 'tunnel' is however fairly obvious).

On the return I was the first of the day's batch of Isolation hikers to travel the bushwhack again and at one point I found the track completely blown over without a trace in one of the open glades - that with over a dozen or more hikers having packed down a path just a few hours earlier... It's a wonderful area, almost like an urban park with it's lack of understory, but add a little wind and some blowing snow and it's back to route finding..

As far as I can tell the only certainty of the EH bw is the starting point off the RB trail - the tree marked 'T', everything else is just a flavor of the day. This is reflected quite nicely in the heat map tracks..

 

[DougPaul]

Just to check, maybe I am missing something but you were doing Isolation in February as a bare boot? Hard to envision dropping chest deep with a properly sized set of snowshoes. Sure I have encountered spruce traps that have sucked me in with snowshoes but it was in far different terrain. Kind of early for spring rotten snow.

I managed to drop in chest deep very close to the Davis Path just N of Isolation in mid-March, 2005. I was wearing snowshoes.

The downwind (E) side of the ridge can collect a lot of snow...

Doug

 

[DayTrip]

Just to check, maybe I am missing something but you were doing Isolation in February as a bare boot? Hard to envision dropping chest deep with a properly sized set of snowshoes. Sure I have encountered spruce traps that have sucked me in with snowshoes but it was in far different terrain. Kind of early for spring rotten snow.

I did it three times in the winter and every time we had to break trail including the Engine Hill bushwhack. We did three variations of the second bushwhack and they definitely required breaking.

Its been awhile since I have been out on this hike in the winter but in the past, the start was just west of the height of land. There was a thick band of softwoods to the north with no obvious route through it, so you had to just push through it and then would quickly pop out at edge of the birch glades. From there it was easy compass navigation. The last third or so transitioned to relatively open hardwoods and then it transitioned to softwood on sidehill slope. I think the temptation by most groups is abandon the compass bearing and just drift down to the trail as the going isnt that great on the bearing. On the reverse course most folks follow there track in so they reinforce a threading of tracks.

One of our variations was on the return to run a bearing and come in high (north) of the saddle at engine hill. The glades extend well up the slope and the views only get better. The trade off is slabbing down the east side back to the trail is steep.

It is interesting on the Strava Heat Map screen grab the the second bushwack to the col just prior to spur has no traces. It got steady use for years but wonder if folks have just gotten lazy for route finding?

Oh no..... I was in snow shoes, but my usual trail model not powder shoes. I don't know that it would have mattered. Snow just had no firmness too it unless I stayed in the trees and followed areas that had some "dimpling" to it for lack of a better term (like melted snow blobs that had fallen out of the trees or something. Snow was firmer in these areas). There were just too many areas of small conifers that were unavoidable. They were just wispy little trees no more than 5-6 ft tall but everywhere you could see the tip of one was a guaranteed post hole. That was about the only "good" thing about it. The holes were easy enough to climb out of because the branches were too small to entangle the snow shoes. I really wanted to see the birch glades but the snow was just way too soft in the open areas, I was afraid if I stayed on the contour and made the glades it would take hours to get through them.

 

[DayTrip]

FWIW, I hiked Isolation last Sunday and with a late start found the EH bushwhack already nicely tracked out. Later on the Isolation trail I passed a number of groups thanking them for their trail breaking efforts before then having to break out the Davis Path myself. It was quite gusty and in many spots tracks from the previous day had pretty much disappeared (the 'tunnel' is however fairly obvious).

On the return I was the first of the day's batch of Isolation hikers to travel the bushwhack again and at one point I found the track completely blown over without a trace in one of the open glades - that with over a dozen or more hikers having packed down a path just a few hours earlier... It's a wonderful area, almost like an urban park with it's lack of understory, but add a little wind and some blowing snow and it's back to route finding..

As far as I can tell the only certainty of the EH bw is the starting point off the RB trail - the tree marked 'T', everything else is just a flavor of the day. This is reflected quite nicely in the heat map tracks..

I thought I had read that someone had marked a tree but I never saw it. And trip reports indicated foot traffic so I figured I'd at least find the start of it. Then at least you can probe with your trekking poles and locate the track even if it had drifted over. As I mentioned, there were places on Isolation Trail that had drifted over and were hidden with just 6-8 inches of light powder but you could see the "tunnel" as you called it where the fresh snow had no debris unlike the sides so the way was evident in most places. I'm sure if I could have located the start of it I would have been able to follow it.

That Strava Heat Map is pretty cool. Lot of variety to the route for sure.

 

[RollingRock]

I thought I had read that someone had marked a tree but I never saw it.

A "T" is carved into a tree soon after you pass the marshy/wet section at the height of land. I think it's possible snow drifts may have hidden the start of the trail. I ran into the same issue yesterday when following the ridge path from Jackson to Webster.

 

[JustJoe]

This is the start of the Engine Hill Whack. It's basically at the height of land on the RBT. This tree is right on the side of the trail. As of 11/8/14.

 

[DayTrip]

I could see where I missed that. Blends in to bark pretty well and I was looking at the ground for the track. At least I know for next time, which may be never.