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| Hiking | 7.60 Miles |
2,336 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.60 Miles | 4 Hrs 55 Mns | | 1.72 mph |
| 2,336 ft AEG | 30 Mns Break | 12 LBS Pack | | |
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| partners | | Thanks to Ray's 8/8/19 triplog documenting the conditions we had a good idea what we were getting ourselves into. Forewarned we were prepared for the overgrowth, not only did I have my usual small pruner I also had my titanium shears. I also wore my usual long pants and long-sleeve shirt. Tracey stuck with a short-sleeve top... and she would pay for it in blood.
Less than a hundred yards from the start we encountered a relatively fresh pile of LARGE bear scat... being within a few miles of our bear encounter last year along with Ray's rattlesnake encounter two weeks ago, needless to say Tracey would be having visions of encountering one or both the whole hike.
Of course I'm more-or-less oblivious to her concerns... I don't stress whether somethingmight happen, I only deal with a hazard if-and-when it arises.
As Ray mentioned there were a number of overgrown areas... the first part was thicker-section but not very dense brush so the titanium shears make quick work of the worst of it. Anywhere it was not thorny or dense we just passed on through... otherwise we'd be on the trail far longer than anticipated.
Later on when we hit the overgrowth again it wasn't thick-section and less dense brush but thin-section, fine-thorny and denser. Although there was a lot of it, much was easy enough to push aside, which is exactly what I did... again, I'm up to some trail work along the way, I just didn't want to spend double the effort. I was using my small pruner for the thickest but that was about it.
Until Tracey started giving blood... while my long-sleeves just shed off the fine-thorny attacks Tracey's bare arms were taking it all in. Not wanting to deal with it on the return trip, she took charge of the larger shears and went at it with a vengeance. For the next half-mile or so (roughly 6,000-6,200' elevation) I continued to lead the way by trimming the thorny tops of the brush so Tracey could cut it lower without dealing with the thorny part. While it would make for an quicker and easier return, it was warming up fast so as soon as it began to thin out we put the shears away and made for the top.
Due to the Juniper fire we did not have our favorite log to sit on for our snack break so we continued on a short distance toward Carr Peak in search of a substitute whether a bare rock or unburnt log. Finding nothing suitable we backtracked a bit until deciding just to sit on the ground in an area where we felt a slight breeze.
It was warmer and more humid than we hoped so our break was much longer than our usual 10-minute break. Almost a record for us... we took a full 30 minutes before heading back.
I expected the descent to be a monotonous hold-up-pardner on the legs but surprisingly my legs were on cruise-control and before I knew it we were back at the TH. Ok, I had to stop a few times for Tracey to catch up, but I took those short breaks to wring out my skullcap so no big deal.
Although Tracey gave a small blood sacrifice, with no rattler or bear encounters all was good.  |
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