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Susan made the mistake of expressing an interest in
hiking. Hiking in early May can be dicey so I was happy
to find a low elevation hike that promised some views.
Unfortunately I didn't pay particular attention to the
elevation gain.
45 minutes into the trail Susan informed me that she's
afraid of heights. This made things interesting. Marian
had taken off up ahead and she had the keys. I couldn't
very well leave Susan in the middle of the forest to
be carried away by the man eating mosquitoes. So I whipped
out the topo map and tried to convince Susan that the
worst was over. She's never going to believe anything
I say ever again.
The trail really was quite steep. I found the whole
trail quite deceptive. The description in 103 hikes
seemed misleading but maybe it was just me. My goal
was to get Susan as far as the first viewpoint where
she could chill out comfortably and wait while Marian
and I hiked on. I'd actually brought a book & a
blanket 'just in case' so I didn't feel too guilty leaving
Susan and heading off in pursuit of higher elevation
& mountain views.
The view from the first viewpoint is quite beautiful
and refreshing after climbing through the trees and
fighting off giant mosquitos for a couple of hours.
Marian had already been waiting there for half an hour
so we didn't stay long. The trail got even steeper immediately
after the first viewpoint then eased off for a while.
We followed Sigurd Creek for a while as we picked our
way through the mud and skunk cabbage. There were some
nice falls and rapids along the way however you have
to leave the trail to get a good look and since we'd
left Susan to fend for herself we didn't feel like we
had a lot of time for extra curricular viewing.
The trail took a turn away from the creek and up along
a small tributary. Another long, steep climb ensued.
I'd lost Marian again as I had stopped a few times to
video tape. When I got to the top, the trailmarkers
went left although I could see a trail to the right
marked with flagging tape. I opted to follow the trail
markers. I quickly lost most of the elevation I had
worked so hard for and found myself down near the valley
floor. It was getting ugly as I keep falling through
the snow. During one of my more intimate moments with
the snow, I noticed that the footprints I had been following
didn't have any trekking pole marks on the sides and
therefore could not be Marian's I called a few times
but could see no other choice but to hike back up to
where the trail had branched off.
Found Marian along the flagging tape trail and we continued
along for a while before stopping for lunch. We were
hoping for a bit of a view. After lunch we realized
that her trial and my trail met up and that if I'd just
stayed on my trail I would have met up with her.
We knew we needed to be getting back but were disappointed
that we hadn't had much of a view. I thought we had
missed the second viewpoint at the point where the trail
slip off so we headed back there, via 'my' trail. Sure
enough, the viewpoint was where I thought it was and
the views were great.
Couldn't linger long as Susan was calling us on the
radio asking where we were so we snapped a few pics
and busted a move back down to the first view point
which proved to be much further than we expected!
Susan had bravely ventured down on her own so we hustled
to catch up with her. The rest of the way down was uneventful
and we were back at the car about 6.5 hours after we
had left it.
I wish we'd had more time. I would have liked to explore
further beyond the second viewpoint as there is apparently
a spectacular view only one hour further along. It looks
like a good area to spend a couple of days although
that trail would not be fun with a heavy pack. It would
be ok except that the trail isn't in particularly good
shape.
If anyone has pictures of beyond the second viewpoint,
I'd love to see them!
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