Mount Hale

Trails Used

Little River Rd, heard path, Haystack Rd., North Twin Trail, Fire Warden's Trail

Trail Conditions

Equipment

Notes

Short hike with E.T. Fudge and Ryan today so Fudge's big day next weekend will be a bit shorter. This is likely the better way to Hale right now. Snow /ice free until higher up on FW (3k ft'ish). The heard path and North Twin Trail are not too muddy. Some running water on lower FW, before a quickly transitioning to breakable ice then short section of unstable monorail. After that the final mile was solid snowpack this morning.

Parking

$10 parking at Seven Dwarf's.

Water Crossings

Just one crossing on North Twin Trail. Flowing high, but easily crossed on rocks with no wet feet.

Also on this trip

Trails Used

Little River Road, North Twin Trail, North Twin Spur, Twinway, Zealand Spur, Lend-A-Hand Trail, Firewardens Trail

Trail Conditions

Equipment

Notes

Bareboots from 7Dwarfs to the N. Twin TH, then micros to about half way up N. Twin, then snowshoes to S. Twin, across to Guyot, and down to Lend-A-Hand, then back to Micros. North Twin to South Twin was nicely packed, the rest of the trails were varying amounts of lumpy, churned, loose snow. Most people seem to be going with microspikes now, and the monorail is supportive but there is a few inches of snow that got rained on on top, and is now getting churned up, so a lot of lump. I was super psyched when I got to S. Twin and saw that a couple of people had broken trail to Guyot, probably yesterday or the day before. Remarkably few trees down between S. Twin and Guyot made for mostly easy navigation. You'll definitely want snowshoes for this stretch. It was much colder up above 3500' today, the snow below that level melted quite a bit and the last half mile of N. Twin trail to the TH and Haystack rd has some dirt patches exposed now. Above 3500', not a lot melted.

Parking

Parked at 7 Dwarfs. $10 in the mailbox by the office door with my make/model/plate on a napkin which I origami'd into an envelope. Met a couple just heading out who parked at the end of the road near the bridge and convinced them to move to 7Ds. They asked if I thought they'd get towed and I don't know, but it would sure suck to finish the hike to an empty spot where your car USED to be, probably with no cell service. I assume the property owner at the end of the road got salty at some point when hikers blocked his driveway or something like that...so use the Dwarfs.

Water Crossings

The new log at the main crossing is solid and made crossing a breeze.

Trails Used

Zealand Road, Hale Brook Trail

Trail Conditions

Equipment

Notes

Love me a golden ticket! The road walk had a few inches of fresh snow on it and there were cross country ski tracks from yesterday. I started in bare boots but switched to snowshoes to avoid the whole walking in beach sand thing. The snow depth increased as I ascended but the texture was awesome. Not sticky yet and as long as I stayed where the trail had been previously packed it was pretty nice. The sidehill section was sketchy for sure. There was no clear evidence of where folks had walked before so I made my own way. Sometimes down low and sometimes up high. I just looked for the snow that provided a little better traction and went with it. Above the last water crossing there was still more sidehill (DOES IT EVER END?) but the trail is wider there and it feels less sketchy. Descending was actually not too bad. Again, I looked for the grippiest snow and had a serious conversation with my snowshoes about their responsibility in keeping me safe - we have had a committed relationship for 7 years now so they get it. No bum touches and no slides at all. I saw not a soul the whole day. I love days like this. :)

Parking

I was pleasantly surprised to find the winter lot had been plowed this morning. My shovel was in the backseat just in case.

Water Crossings

The first bigger one wasn't too tricky. I crossed a little lower than I usually do and checked all my foot placements carefully. The second one higher up needed some caution. It's open and there is lots of ice which is covered by the new snow. I stepped on snow covered rocks and some sticks which I stabbed a bunch of times to be sure they felt secure. My snowshoes did get wet but that was the lesser of the evils.

Wildlife

Still in Hell