nietzschescat
New member
We had an absolutely wonderful day. There was perfect snow for snowshoes (2-3 inches of powder over soft packed snow and nice and deep) and it was snowing all day which didn't amount to much in the valley, but it was filling in our tracks on the mountain pretty quickly.
There were no tracks at all. We climbed up next to the frozen waterfall. There may have been an easier way to start, but once we struggled and slid up to a flatish area we put on our snowshoes and left them on all day. We followed coyote tracks on the ridge next to the stream until the stream kind of mellowed out and we could cross it without sliding down a steep bank. It was nice and clear in the morning and I was enjoying views back across Deep Notch and just starting to see some mountains all blue in the distance when it started snowing and the views disappeared.
We headed for the col between Halcott and Sleeping Lion (aka sleepy lion) and then up another steep section until we were on a nice wide flat ridge heading for the summit. This mountain is all open hardwoods and everything was textured brown malformed trees with fungi, lichens, moss green and all over white snow falling.......animal tracks and bird nests filled with snow. We scared up a ruffled grouse.
We had some discussion about the snow and how our tracks might be obscured and decided we had time and it still felt safe. Eventually, we got closer to the summit and could see the land drop away on either side making it easy to head for the highest point, even without looking at the compass. Once we got to the top we got a little distracted by a few pieces of orange tape tied to some branches, but we kept walking a little bit and spotted the canister pretty quickly. There were some snowmobile tracks near the canister, but not from today. The last person to sign the book was on 1-24.
We had some tea and split another cliff bar and headed down the mountain. After about 1/2 hour we were startled to see someone heading up following our tracks. It's pretty rare to see anyone hiking on a weekday and I've never seen anyone on a bushwhack before.
We continued our slide down the mountain, stopping to take pictures of bird nests and tree galls. It was very quick going down. We were able to follow our tracks back, but they were almost obscured by the time we reached the falls again.
I am sure there is an easier way down than climbing down next to the falls, but we are apparently oddly drawn to icy waterfalls.
This was a perfect day even without any views.
There were no tracks at all. We climbed up next to the frozen waterfall. There may have been an easier way to start, but once we struggled and slid up to a flatish area we put on our snowshoes and left them on all day. We followed coyote tracks on the ridge next to the stream until the stream kind of mellowed out and we could cross it without sliding down a steep bank. It was nice and clear in the morning and I was enjoying views back across Deep Notch and just starting to see some mountains all blue in the distance when it started snowing and the views disappeared.
We headed for the col between Halcott and Sleeping Lion (aka sleepy lion) and then up another steep section until we were on a nice wide flat ridge heading for the summit. This mountain is all open hardwoods and everything was textured brown malformed trees with fungi, lichens, moss green and all over white snow falling.......animal tracks and bird nests filled with snow. We scared up a ruffled grouse.
We had some discussion about the snow and how our tracks might be obscured and decided we had time and it still felt safe. Eventually, we got closer to the summit and could see the land drop away on either side making it easy to head for the highest point, even without looking at the compass. Once we got to the top we got a little distracted by a few pieces of orange tape tied to some branches, but we kept walking a little bit and spotted the canister pretty quickly. There were some snowmobile tracks near the canister, but not from today. The last person to sign the book was on 1-24.
We had some tea and split another cliff bar and headed down the mountain. After about 1/2 hour we were startled to see someone heading up following our tracks. It's pretty rare to see anyone hiking on a weekday and I've never seen anyone on a bushwhack before.
We continued our slide down the mountain, stopping to take pictures of bird nests and tree galls. It was very quick going down. We were able to follow our tracks back, but they were almost obscured by the time we reached the falls again.
I am sure there is an easier way down than climbing down next to the falls, but we are apparently oddly drawn to icy waterfalls.
This was a perfect day even without any views.
