Saturday, July 12, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Baden Powell: Mountain Lions Like Snow too....
Dedicated to the man who created the Boy Scouts, this hike definitely required some boy scout learned skills. For example, how to tell which way is North. Another, how to stop yourself from sliding down the side of a mountain covered with snow.
Jenn, her brother Dave, Elizabeth and John all headed out early one morning towards the Mountain High area of highway 2. Driving towards the saddle and parking lot, they noticed that there were hardly any cars. This made everyone think that the hike was going to be nice and peaceful. Getting out of the car and looking up toward the peak, lead them to believe something different. You see, there was still snow on the mountain. This is something that the group wasn't entirely prepared for.
After tossing on their gear, they started to head up the trail. Not even a mile in, snow patches began to show on the mountainside. Excited that there was snow, the group quickly moved along the trail. Later, this would not be the emotion they were expressing.
As small patches of snow turned into large patches of which the group had to cross, Jenn became a little more wary of the hike. At this point John and Elizabeth decided to share their trekking poles with Jenn and Dave as they were very much needed to keep from sliding down the side of the mountain. About 2 miles in, the large patches of snow had turned into huge ones and losing the trail became a concern.
As we hiked along the trail, we hiked along the snow filled trial, we started to notice animal prints in the snow. They were mountain lion tracks. Big mountain lion tracks. We came to a point in the hike where the trail opened up into a small flat area. It was at this point where the trail seemed to disappear under the snow. We each spread out, combing the area, trying to pick up the trail. As we looked for the trail, we spotted more and more mountain lion prints.
Elizabeth stopped and asked everyone, "uhhh do you guys smell that?" We all raised our noses to the wind and caught the strong scent of animal urine. It was at that moment that we realized that we were standing in the mountain lions marked area. We bunched together and shot of on what we thought was the continuation of the trail.
This "trail" was all snow, with a width of a few inches; just enough to step one foot in front of the other. Once false step, and a hiker would slide down the mountain side. And that's just what happened. We all watched in horror as Elizabeth's foot slide out from under her, and he started to slide down the mountain side. Luckily, she was able to wrap one of her legs around a tree as she slid. We helped her back up to the trail.
It was at this point that we decided that attempting to continue on with this trip could lead to deadly results. We turned around and marched back through the slick icy snow back to the car.
We did not reach the peak, but with all the odds fighting against us, we figured it would be better to attempt this hike at a later point in the summer.
Jenn, her brother Dave, Elizabeth and John all headed out early one morning towards the Mountain High area of highway 2. Driving towards the saddle and parking lot, they noticed that there were hardly any cars. This made everyone think that the hike was going to be nice and peaceful. Getting out of the car and looking up toward the peak, lead them to believe something different. You see, there was still snow on the mountain. This is something that the group wasn't entirely prepared for.
After tossing on their gear, they started to head up the trail. Not even a mile in, snow patches began to show on the mountainside. Excited that there was snow, the group quickly moved along the trail. Later, this would not be the emotion they were expressing.
As small patches of snow turned into large patches of which the group had to cross, Jenn became a little more wary of the hike. At this point John and Elizabeth decided to share their trekking poles with Jenn and Dave as they were very much needed to keep from sliding down the side of the mountain. About 2 miles in, the large patches of snow had turned into huge ones and losing the trail became a concern.
As we hiked along the trail, we hiked along the snow filled trial, we started to notice animal prints in the snow. They were mountain lion tracks. Big mountain lion tracks. We came to a point in the hike where the trail opened up into a small flat area. It was at this point where the trail seemed to disappear under the snow. We each spread out, combing the area, trying to pick up the trail. As we looked for the trail, we spotted more and more mountain lion prints.
Elizabeth stopped and asked everyone, "uhhh do you guys smell that?" We all raised our noses to the wind and caught the strong scent of animal urine. It was at that moment that we realized that we were standing in the mountain lions marked area. We bunched together and shot of on what we thought was the continuation of the trail.
This "trail" was all snow, with a width of a few inches; just enough to step one foot in front of the other. Once false step, and a hiker would slide down the mountain side. And that's just what happened. We all watched in horror as Elizabeth's foot slide out from under her, and he started to slide down the mountain side. Luckily, she was able to wrap one of her legs around a tree as she slid. We helped her back up to the trail.
It was at this point that we decided that attempting to continue on with this trip could lead to deadly results. We turned around and marched back through the slick icy snow back to the car.
We did not reach the peak, but with all the odds fighting against us, we figured it would be better to attempt this hike at a later point in the summer.
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