Mount Avalon - April 15, 2006

[TrekMan]

We stopped at Highland Center to check the weather, showers has just passed through and some misting still, but clearing was expected. It was a bit overcast, about 45 degrees and misty when we headed up the Avalon Trail directly behind the Crawford Depot. The trail was muddy to start, though not too wet, then some spotty snow coverings. We took the loop trail that goes by Beecher and Pearl Cascades and then by the time we reached the intersection with the A-to-Z Trail at 1.3 miles, the trail was mostly snow-covered. We had only ½ mile up the Avalon Trail to get to Mt Avalon at 3442’ elevation, and if weather was good and we were feeling strong, the plan was to proceed to Mt Field (4326’) and then loop back to the A-Z Trail and head down. Well … that certainly did not work out. The Avalon Trail soon got steep and snow turned to ice. We had no crampons or cleats of any sort, so we were very slow and cautious with just hiking boots. A couple of sections were quite dicey with a need to go off trail to seek softer footing to skirt the ice. We made it to the top at about 1:20, some sprinkling prompted us to throw on the rain pants, and there was a bit of a breeze. We ate our lunch and did not need gloves, got some good pics down to Highland Center and down the Notch - headed out after about 20 minutes and got back to Highland Center about 3:15.