Addicted
10-11-2009, 07:01 PM
Headed out yesterday hoping that the sun would come out and the clouds would break up and I would get some great shots of the foliage.
Um, yeah, that didn't happen. The beginning of the hike was a nice walk through the woods and I found myself wishing that we were gaining some elevation with all that distance. It was raining lightly and there were lots of wet rocks, wet leaves and wet roots. We skipped the first river crossing ("Are you freaking kidding me?!?") and walked along the river instead. Realizing that the second crossing wasn't optional, I seriously debated taking off my low cut Merrills and going barefoot. I didn't want to spend the rest of this long hike with wet feet. But in the end, I just went for it and didn't get too awful wet. We met a couple of guys on the opposite shore that had just crossed, one having as much trouble as myself. Poor guy had just realized that he left his glasses on the opposite bank!
Up we went, waiting for the clouds to lift, but only hearing the wind getting stronger. Oh well. We made it to the summit of North Twin (or something like it) and took the summit shot, then put on a few more layers of clothing, hates and gloves, and started over to South Twin. It was still raining at this point (had been since we got there), not really heavy but enough to have to wear the raincoat. The trails were wet and there were a lot of puddles. Did I mention the low cut Merrills?? About 50 feet into the trail I got pushed into a puddle by a scrubby tree I was trying to push my way around on the side and was officially wet footed. There was no view whatsoever, so we just chugged on over to South Twin. We spend about 30 seconds on the summit which was now really, really cold. There was the start of rime ice on the summit, which was cool, but meant it was dangerous to hang around as well. Took our summit pics and some pics of the ice there and headed back down.
The river crossing on the way down was much easier, as by now I was completely covered in mud and my feet were soaked. I splashed through and we made a dash back to the truck through the wet leaves, wet rocks and wet roots. LOVE those wet roots!!
Good day. Too cold, no views. But that makes 12- 4000 footers. A good stopping spot for this year.
Um, yeah, that didn't happen. The beginning of the hike was a nice walk through the woods and I found myself wishing that we were gaining some elevation with all that distance. It was raining lightly and there were lots of wet rocks, wet leaves and wet roots. We skipped the first river crossing ("Are you freaking kidding me?!?") and walked along the river instead. Realizing that the second crossing wasn't optional, I seriously debated taking off my low cut Merrills and going barefoot. I didn't want to spend the rest of this long hike with wet feet. But in the end, I just went for it and didn't get too awful wet. We met a couple of guys on the opposite shore that had just crossed, one having as much trouble as myself. Poor guy had just realized that he left his glasses on the opposite bank!
Up we went, waiting for the clouds to lift, but only hearing the wind getting stronger. Oh well. We made it to the summit of North Twin (or something like it) and took the summit shot, then put on a few more layers of clothing, hates and gloves, and started over to South Twin. It was still raining at this point (had been since we got there), not really heavy but enough to have to wear the raincoat. The trails were wet and there were a lot of puddles. Did I mention the low cut Merrills?? About 50 feet into the trail I got pushed into a puddle by a scrubby tree I was trying to push my way around on the side and was officially wet footed. There was no view whatsoever, so we just chugged on over to South Twin. We spend about 30 seconds on the summit which was now really, really cold. There was the start of rime ice on the summit, which was cool, but meant it was dangerous to hang around as well. Took our summit pics and some pics of the ice there and headed back down.
The river crossing on the way down was much easier, as by now I was completely covered in mud and my feet were soaked. I splashed through and we made a dash back to the truck through the wet leaves, wet rocks and wet roots. LOVE those wet roots!!
Good day. Too cold, no views. But that makes 12- 4000 footers. A good stopping spot for this year.