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| Hiking | 5.89 Miles |
1,556 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.89 Miles | 4 Hrs 30 Mns | | 1.65 mph |
| 1,556 ft AEG | 56 Mns Break | 15 LBS Pack | | |
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| no partners | | I organized a trip to the wilderness areas of Mount Trumbull and Mount Logan. The plan was drive up Friday, camp overnight at the Mount Trumbull trailhead, hike both mountains on Saturday, camp overnight again and drive home Sunday. The trailhead has water and a pit toilet. The water is from Nixon Spring up the hill. There’s a great set of interpretive posters as well talking about the sawmill that used to be at that location, and there’s a nice campsite just about 50 yards south of the parking area.
This is a great place for watching the stars. It’s very dark. The moon set about midnight I think, and the sky was filled with stars when I woke about three.
Saturday morning was a 6 AM start up Mount Trumbull. It was about 44°F. The trail starts out easy but then steepens somewhat as it turns up the fall line and starts switchbacking up the hill. With an altitude of over 7000 feet I was taking many breaks, and I didn’t really appreciate how steep this was until I came back down.
You go through several vegetation zones on the way up. At the lowest elevation it’s mostly Juniper and then that gives way to some pinion pine. Once you get up high, it all gives way to Ponderosa pine. Also, you go through a couple of geological layers. The top of Mount Trumbull is basalt from volcanic outflow that came on top of a clay layer. The clay layer has eroded for the most part, leaving the valley. The basalt cap on top has prevented it from eroding, leaving Mt. Trumbull. So first you were climbing through a red clay layer and then that suddenly gives way to a layer that looks like volcanic ash. Then that gives way to basalt boulders on top.
On the way up, I spotted several rabbits, and listened to a white breasted nut hatch, some kind of woodpecker, and a mountain chickadee. There were just a few late season flowers.
I did not find a summit register. I headed back down the way I came getting back to my car about 10:30 AM.
I recommend changes to the guide description. In the third paragraph, replace "Trail is easy to follow..." to the end of the paragraph and the entire 4th paragraph with: Although it is faint at times, the trail goes all the way to the summit. you can usually spot it by long poles laid alongside the trail and cuts through logs that have fallen on the trail. The trail takes you to two spectacular viewpoints. It heads up to the rim to the east of the summit, and just where the trail makes a sharp left turn, you can see a black snag that has a sort of Lord of the Rings vibe up at the rim. Take a short jaunt off the trail at that point up to the snag, and you will see impressive views to the west, north and east. The trail continues on up to a false summit where there are more good views. Finally, the trail follows along the ridge to the real summit, which is marked clearly with a cairn, a benchmark and a tall pole. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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