RoySwkr
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- Sep 4, 2003
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Perhaps I should have used the fine weather on a bigger peak, but I had a couple of things to do in the morning and settled for a mellow afternoon hike. The trail is about as easy as any mountain hike can be although fallen leaves hid the rocks and roots and made it easier to stumble. There were a couple of wet spots deserving professional attention and one complex multi-deadfall.
The obvious high point of the trail at the NW bump on the USGS 7.5' map is still marked by a sign, but one of my goals for the day was to investigate whether that was actually the summit. I don't particularly trust GPS readings for elevations, but that is what I had to work with. Each point had at least 7 satellites visible with EPE of about 17 feet horizontal, but the elevations still ranged significantly even after waiting a couple minutes for them to settle so I used a rough average. As I was only interested in relative elevations, I took them holding the GPS normally rather than at ground level so they are perhaps 4 feet high. I used 2238 for the trail elevation.
Next I crossed the gully to the NE bump which appeared to be slightly higher at 2250. The SE bump was the most distinctive although it is actually a little W of where the USGS shows it, and consistently gave the highest readings of maybe 2262. For completeness, I also went to a high spot in the plateau W of the trail - the GPS varied nearly 100' up and down but I picked 2236 as mid-range. Conclusion: the trail probably doesn't pass over the summit, but the woods are open enough for peakbaggers to easily tag as many bumps as they want. Even with leaves down the NW and SE bumps are not visible from one another but can easily be found without GPS or compass.
On the return, I made a side trip over 1809. The woods are a little thicker and the terrain steeper than at Mt Mist, but the summit area is obvious and I didn't take any readings.
The obvious high point of the trail at the NW bump on the USGS 7.5' map is still marked by a sign, but one of my goals for the day was to investigate whether that was actually the summit. I don't particularly trust GPS readings for elevations, but that is what I had to work with. Each point had at least 7 satellites visible with EPE of about 17 feet horizontal, but the elevations still ranged significantly even after waiting a couple minutes for them to settle so I used a rough average. As I was only interested in relative elevations, I took them holding the GPS normally rather than at ground level so they are perhaps 4 feet high. I used 2238 for the trail elevation.
Next I crossed the gully to the NE bump which appeared to be slightly higher at 2250. The SE bump was the most distinctive although it is actually a little W of where the USGS shows it, and consistently gave the highest readings of maybe 2262. For completeness, I also went to a high spot in the plateau W of the trail - the GPS varied nearly 100' up and down but I picked 2236 as mid-range. Conclusion: the trail probably doesn't pass over the summit, but the woods are open enough for peakbaggers to easily tag as many bumps as they want. Even with leaves down the NW and SE bumps are not visible from one another but can easily be found without GPS or compass.
On the return, I made a side trip over 1809. The woods are a little thicker and the terrain steeper than at Mt Mist, but the summit area is obvious and I didn't take any readings.
