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| Hiking | 8.95 Miles |
2,960 AEG |
| | Hiking | 8.95 Miles | 4 Hrs 26 Mns | | 2.09 mph |
| 2,960 ft AEG | 9 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | As expected, Hike A for the day was thwarted by snow covered roads. Not just a little snow, but pretty much a snowbank above 5000', so I turned around and headed elsewhere. Wasn't really thrilled with my Hike B option, so ended up at Hike C.
I've hiked the first half of Talache-Blacktail trail many times, but have never taken it beyond Butler Mtn. I knew the Forest map of the trail route was crap, but I didn't have a whole lot of other info. The original plan was to hike the full length of Talache-Blacktail from the Maiden Rock TH up and over to the other end near Talache, and then back.
Got started around 0930 and headed uphill. Wyatt and I were just on this trail this past Sunday, but I was solo today. Headed up the steep ascent to the ridge, then north on the ridge towards Butler Mtn, keeping an eye out for the trail supposedly veering right and down Bimetallic Ridge. I've been thru here before and never noticed that supposed turn, and it's unlikely I would miss a turn that many times, which was why I suspected the maps were wrong. Once again, no turn spotted, even after careful attention, so I figured at some point the trail had been rerouted.
Continuing off the north end of the ridge and down the north face of Butler Mtn was all new territory for me. Pleasant hike downhill, although I knew I would have to regain all that lost elevation on the way back out. Partway down the hill, I spotted Peak 4326 ahead of me, looked at the map, and decided to abandon my initial thoughts of finding the end of Talache-Blacktail and opt for the Peak ahead of me. Eventually, almost near the saddle, the trail split sharply. I strongly suspect the right fork is the continuation of Talache-Blacktail (nowhere near the route shown on maps), but having given up on that objective, I took the left fork towards Peak 4326.
After a short, very steep climb up to the summit, I topped out on the nearly treeless peak, and was greeted by incredible views in all directions. Well worth the last minute change in plans. The summit was broad and flat, with a few rocks to sit on and a couple of fire rings. After taking way too many pictures, I headed back down. Coming down that steep rocky slope was tedious, but I stayed mostly in the dirt off the side of the trail to avoid the worst of the loose rock. Once off that short section, the trail was fine as I reclimbed over Butler Mtn. On the way back down, I made the short side trip to Blacktail Mtn again, despite just being there on Sunday. The small patches of snow from a few days ago are already gone.
After Blacktail, it was a steep descent back to the trailhead. Started raining with about a quarter mile to go. Saw nobody else all day, but did see one deer and one turkey. As I've said before, the trails in this area would be some of my go-to workout hikes during the warmer months. |
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Wildflowers Observation Moderate
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| Stop crying and just go do the hike. |
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