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HIKE |
|
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ROUTE |
Lk Annette trail, bushwack, talus/scree scramble to the ridge and summit! |
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DATE |
5/12/2005 |
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ATTENDEES |
Dan, Don, Jeff, Joan, Mark, Larry, and welcoming newbie
Frederic! |
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NOTES |
PHOTOS
Dan's Pics:
Mark's Pics:
TRAIL REPORT
Hello, TNAB'ers:
Someone
should have a "chat" with the schedule maker for lining up
By my estimate, it took a little over an hour to reach the point of departure: hard left and uphill! The bushwhack was like I remembered - some areas of thick brush, but mostly steep, pine needle cover, and the occasional log to cross. By the time we reached the talus and scree fields, the group had re-coalesced (gravity, the great equalizer!). Then, the strategy was to make a beeline from one island of turf, where the footing is stable, to the next. At one point, we were stretched in a near perfect diagonal line, left to right, across the talus. Near the ridge, I found a goretex hat, baseball style, in very good shape. Bonus!
The core of us reached the ridge around 8:00 PM. Joan and I took the low traverse, while Don and Jeff picked their way through the stand of trees that lay between the ridge and the summit. The higher route proved faster, as we all reached the summit within seconds of each other. Time was 8:15 PM. Larry, of course, was there to greet us (on 3 now, Hoo Haw!).
There was
little time to rest atop, however. We had no sooner taken our packs off,
when a bank of fog came rolling up from the valley, obliterating some
spectacular views, particularly of
Don and I spent the next 20 minutes finding a suitable spot for the geocache, noting its location and doing what we could to obscure it from errant view. The newly clear skies afforded us much ambient light - we were able to make it down the talus fields without headlamps. A crescent moon accompanied us on our descent. The forest, by contrast, was pitch black - you couldn't see beyond the next tree. Eventually, we stumbled back onto the trail and rejoined the others. Our time on trail was extended a bit due to a communication snafu, but everyone made it out fine. It was well past 11:00 PM when we gratefully piled back into the cars and headed home, tired and hungry. Still, a most satisfying experience - can't wait until next week!
Additional notes: Snow was not an issue - only a couple patches here and there. Boots definitely made the difference for me on the talus. Geocachers - you have your work cut out for you!
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=5409407c-647a-43d7-9bfb-696f78de3386
Next
Week:
R&R,
-Mark
"When in danger, when in doubt, run in circles - scream and shout!"