BIGEarl
Well-known member
Thanks.
I believe we were properly prepared for the day. And, I believe we did reasonably well in response to the changes we encountered along the way. One missed opportunity was at the summit. While we were in the sheltered area near the hiker log (northeast side of the Sherman Adams Building) there was enough time to restore our goggles to fresh condition. We all could have placed them inside our jackets to warm them (de-ice) and then wipe the lens dry and clear. Allowing enough time to stabilize with the outside temperature we would have been in much better shape heading off the summit cone. It may not have made a difference but five sets of eyes seeing clearly would surely have been better than what we were working with.
The Jewell Trail was relatively easy to follow. Easy for me to say, I was in the back.
Based on only one small side trip of approximately five yards, the trail was easy to follow for those up front – Sue and Bryan. From the pictures I think you can tell there is a fairly well defined corridor that it follows. Near the treeline the trail gets pretty tight. That combined with the significant amount of snow on the trees made for slow-going. Either the snow was removed from the branches or the point person (Sue on the top half of the trail) just plowed through. The base of snow is also limiting the corridor from the bottom up. Above the treeline was the most difficult part of the Jewell Trail. The trail is marked with small cairns spaced far apart and it makes several large turns. Plus, there was a significant number of deep drifts along the way. We lost the trail between the treeline and the Gulfside Trail. Fortunately, all we needed to do is head straight up toward the summit of Clay and we came to the Gulfside Trail, with its large cairns that are relatively close together. Even with limited visibility we were able to see multiple cairns when we reached the Gulfside Trail.
