Saturday, December 9
Start/Finish: Sawyer River Rd winter TH
Miles: 13.8
Elevation gain/loss: 4052′
With high winds and a rain storm coming in on Sunday, I decided I would skip hiking on Sunday and instead push my Saturday to be a very full day. I left the winter parking lot for Carrigain by 1:45pm, tromping up the road in bare boots carrying snowshoes. I wasn’t sure what conditions I’d find and I didn’t want to discover unpacked thigh-deep trails 5 miles into my hike.
I didn’t see any other hikers until around 3-4pm, when 3 hikers passed me heading back to their cars; they were all in snowshoes on the well-packed path. I was glad to see them, because it meant at least those 3 had gone to the summit. I continued to climb and didn’t make the ledge before the summit until well after dark. The wind was a bit fierce higher up, and the snow drifts on the ledge were waist deep. I fell in a few times, but made good progress towards the summit, summiting at 5:30pm. I then headed back the way I’d come and made solid time on my return trip, arriving back to my car around 8:30pm. I headed over to the Highland Center to change my clothes and eat rehydrated dinner on their couch before driving for a bit and then camping in my car for the night.
* Carrigain photo is from a past hike – no photos were taken on this hike.
