TNAB Trip report for Mailbox Peak, April 24 2003

Date: April 17th, 2003
Hike: Mailbox Peak
Route: Standard Trail from the logging road off the north fork.
Attendees: Matt, Gretchen, Joan, Mark, Sherry, Ania, Larry, Suji, Tara, Sean, Dat, Jason and Dan.
Comments:

What's with all the fresh new snow at the end of April??!!

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Photo Credits: Matt K

Matt's Hike Summary: Mudbath on Mailbox

Spring is the time of year when the days get longer, the temperatures get warmer, and the weather gets drier. In theory. Mother is apparently not particularly keen on theory this year. While the days are getting longer, the temps are getting colder, and there has been progressively more snow on Mt Si every week we drive by it. The winter which wasn't is now taking a second shot at things as the winter which won't give up. It may now be light until 8:30 pm, but freezing levels have dropped down as low as 2500 ft lately.

But to get back to this rather brief narrative: The usual suspects headed out to Mailbox for a good tromp in the woods, and, while we could see the fresh snow as we drove out I-90, we couldn't see the mud. There was lots of it. Usually Mailbox is a reasonably good trail for being not too muddy in the spring, but not this year. We waded, swam, fended off crocodiles, and plugged on in the upwards direction. By the time we left the woods there were a good 4-5 inches (yes, inches) of fluffy new snow on the ground (yes, new, all new) , and upwards of 6 inches of new stuff on top. Finding snowpack on the summit is one thing, recent frosting is quite another. This is the first time we've been unable to even think about crossing the talus slope, and the woods weren't much better with slick, older snow under the new stuff. Fantastic for sledding, not so great in hiking boots. But it was a nice evening up there nonetheless, suprisingly chilly on the summit so our stay was quite brief. At least we didn't get thundered, hailed, or rained on this week, so the situation continues to improve! Welcome back Suji & Tara, and happy anniversary Dan & Sherry!

next week: there will be spring!
(work with me here, ok?)
and we'll head for Bandera!

have a good weekend.....go skiing or something