Great trip. Perfect weather. Microspikes needed for second half of trail. Cheryl Talbot was an leader. All the hikers were friendly and had no difficulties with the pace.
A great new Winter Scramble on the ridge containing Slide Mountain near the Ranger Creek Airstrip on Highway 410. Stunning views in all directions with ~4000’ of gain over ~11 miles (round trip).
Sunny weather, no wind, and low avalanche conditions on MLK? Can't beat that! It ended up being a perfect day for a winter scramble of Mt. Ararat
Arrived 8:30am MLK holiday to find main parking lot full, and overflow filling up fast. At trailhead observed an overcrowded trail and decided to do this hike another time.
Great moderate hike on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning
I don’t know if it is the freshwater runoff and/or the lack of boat activity but winter time can be the best time to paddle in the south end. The water is so clear you can see at least 30’ down! It was hard to believe in the mild conditions that we are in the middle of January and a nice day on the water for the maiden voyage of Rohan’s new boat!!
Always be ready with an alternative ski trail route when poor trail conditions exist on your planned route..
Great day with old and new friends. Good views at Fragrance Lk lookout along with peek a boo view of Pleasant Bay and the Islands along the Two Dollar trail only viewed during the winter with alders bare of leaves.
Brought snowshoes. Didn't use them. Could've used some microtraction or an ice axe though! Complete snow cover started around 4200'.
Cross Country Ski up Sun Mountain's Thompson Ridge Trail for a great ski workout, low crowds, wonderful views, and to practice your downhill skills on the long descent.
A 15 km loop out of the town "ice rink" trailhead, with very nice variety and views. Strong intermediate skill required for several short, very steep hills. (This report is for a ski we actually did on Jan 15, when we had to change the destination due to conditions.) At 9:00 a.m. it was 19 degrees and was 31 degrees by 2:00 pm.
This trail is pretty much a creek bed right now.
Repeat tour still found enjoyable skiing.
Better than expected snow condtions resulted in enjoyable skiing.
We paddled approximately 11 miles from Luhr's Beach toward Johnson Pt and then crossed to Devil's Head for lunch. Afterwards we paddled to Treble Pt and Lyle Pt before returning to Luhr's Beach.
We left the trailhead at 8:30am. Yesterday it rained alot. After the switchbacks there was water cascading over rocks all over this area to the Big Hump. The trail had full streams in some places. Very large puddles 4-5 strides were common. On this day we had to throw rocks into many downhill streams (4?5?) in order to keep our boots dry during crossing. There were many many trees over the trail that we climbed/squeezed under, or climbed/slid over. I enjoyed the hike, like an obstacle course. We say approx 8 people on the way out, some with dogs. The weather was light rain in the first hour, that cleared. Once over the pass/saddle it was darker, cooler, with mist in the air, you could see the clouds coming up the pass from the other side. We did not make it to the camp ground- there was a narrow fast running stream with jaggedy rocks, approx 2-3 miles west, from pass/saddle. we had gone a total of 10.75 miles and returned by 3pm. The views of the Brothers were amazing, the valleys were beautiful. I can't wait to go back in the winter and the summer. Definately consider the gain when considering companions on this hike.
We successfully hiked to the summit , and had limited views . The rain came when we had gone over half way down.