Ed'n Lauky
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2007
- Messages
- 1,802
- Reaction score
- 168
We were the first ones out on the trail today. We headed up a hard packed Avalon to the A-Z trail which was equally well packed. The Tom Spur was a tad softer but gave good support. The Willey Range trail started out well packed but up near 4000' there was quite a bit of drifting and with temps up near 40* it was starting to get soft. Somewhere in that area I absolutely destroyed one of my Hillsounds so I switched over to my MSRs.
The Willey Range trail disappeared up on the top of Field. Not only had the trail to Willey not been broken out recently, if you didn't know it continued on to Willey you would think that it ended there on Field. There was no sign of a trail at all. That was good enough for us. We left the breaking out of the trail to some other brave soul.
The Avalon trail heading down was smooth and steep all the way to the intersection with the A-Z trail. The MSRs were perfect for the descent except that they really put the breaking muscles to work. The spur up Avalon was well packed out and it went straight up. There were no ledges to negotiate. It is actually easier now than in the summer.
On the way back the lower section of the Avalon trail was really well packed out.
On the way up the second stream crossing was only partially bridged but very easily crossed. The other crossings were all bridged.
There was one blowdown, an easy stepover. about 1/2 mile from the trailhead, otherwise the entire loop was free of obstacles. From about 10:00 AM on the snow on the trees started melting and it rained on us quite a bit especially over the Willey Range trail We also got bombed a few times.
There was blood on the Avalon trail from the top of Field to the AMC parking. I believe it was from a dog that went through there yesterday. Hope he's doing alright now.
Mileage: 7.2
Elevation Gain: 2800'
[email protected]
The Willey Range trail disappeared up on the top of Field. Not only had the trail to Willey not been broken out recently, if you didn't know it continued on to Willey you would think that it ended there on Field. There was no sign of a trail at all. That was good enough for us. We left the breaking out of the trail to some other brave soul.
The Avalon trail heading down was smooth and steep all the way to the intersection with the A-Z trail. The MSRs were perfect for the descent except that they really put the breaking muscles to work. The spur up Avalon was well packed out and it went straight up. There were no ledges to negotiate. It is actually easier now than in the summer.
On the way back the lower section of the Avalon trail was really well packed out.
On the way up the second stream crossing was only partially bridged but very easily crossed. The other crossings were all bridged.
There was one blowdown, an easy stepover. about 1/2 mile from the trailhead, otherwise the entire loop was free of obstacles. From about 10:00 AM on the snow on the trees started melting and it rained on us quite a bit especially over the Willey Range trail We also got bombed a few times.
There was blood on the Avalon trail from the top of Field to the AMC parking. I believe it was from a dog that went through there yesterday. Hope he's doing alright now.
Mileage: 7.2
Elevation Gain: 2800'
[email protected]
