mountainkneer
New member
February 16, 2008
After much discussion about the sensibility of this hike, the two of us who were opposed were reluctantly swayed by the persuasiveness of one of our other hiking partners. He had definitely thought out this trip. He displayed a few different enlarged maps with the route and elevations plotted out and had brought an altimeter and GPS. A couple of us were hesitant due to reports we have read in the past about the difficulty of reaching Marshall, especially in the short days of winter- and from the Loj no less! Maybe it was arrogance in knowing that between the four of us we had over 150 High Peak hikes, maybe we didn't want to disappoint our friend, but at any rate we went to sleep with sweet dreams of Marshall in our minds that night.
At 8:00 am, about an hour later than we had hoped to start, we headed out in -10 degree, but calm weather. The trail from the Loj to Avalanche Pass was very well packed. While on a stop at Marcy Dam to remove layers, we saw fresh bear tracks directly below the dam. Avalanche Pass was beautiful in the clear, crisp sky. As we walked over the lake we saw several climbers ascending the Trap Dike. We stopped for a few minutes at the outpost before we crossed the center of Lake Colden, Mt. Colden seemed to be calling us back as it loomed high above us - should have listenend. The trail from the ranger's cabin to the first two bridges was easy to follow. We turned right before the second bridge and stayed to the right of the creek as we started our approach towards Marshall. Shortly after passing the second bridge we saw another set of tracks and became quite excited as we thought we were definitely on the right track. We were totally unaware that we were actually fast approaching numbers II and III of Burnside's published attempts in "Where's Marshall I-VI". Our party of 4 met up with a party of 3, who had hiked in from the Upper Works, the group who had obviously created the set of tracks we became so excited about earlier. There was absolutely no trail to follow at this point. The light and powdery snow made for very slippery footing and the constant stopping and searching made it difficult to remain warm.
After a couple hours of bushwacking through the woods, trying to follow the stream, falling in spruce traps, looking for broken branches, and relying on rabbit tracks for guidance, the two of us unsure of the hike to begin with, accepted defeat and wisely decided to turn back. We still had over 400 ft to go according to the altimeter. As much as we had been traversing, who knows how long that 400 ft would have taken us!
Ten hours after leaving in the morning, we returned to the Loj and enjoyed a very satisfying salty snack and had peace with knowing we had made a smart, safe choice. Sure the smartest thing to do would have been to have persuaded our friends to turn back with us, but it was quite clear at the time that wasn't going to happen. An hour after we returned to the Loj, our friends returned only to say they too had accepted defeat. The other party ended up turning back as well. - The elusive Marshall will have to wait for another day (a long, warm summer day).
After much discussion about the sensibility of this hike, the two of us who were opposed were reluctantly swayed by the persuasiveness of one of our other hiking partners. He had definitely thought out this trip. He displayed a few different enlarged maps with the route and elevations plotted out and had brought an altimeter and GPS. A couple of us were hesitant due to reports we have read in the past about the difficulty of reaching Marshall, especially in the short days of winter- and from the Loj no less! Maybe it was arrogance in knowing that between the four of us we had over 150 High Peak hikes, maybe we didn't want to disappoint our friend, but at any rate we went to sleep with sweet dreams of Marshall in our minds that night.
At 8:00 am, about an hour later than we had hoped to start, we headed out in -10 degree, but calm weather. The trail from the Loj to Avalanche Pass was very well packed. While on a stop at Marcy Dam to remove layers, we saw fresh bear tracks directly below the dam. Avalanche Pass was beautiful in the clear, crisp sky. As we walked over the lake we saw several climbers ascending the Trap Dike. We stopped for a few minutes at the outpost before we crossed the center of Lake Colden, Mt. Colden seemed to be calling us back as it loomed high above us - should have listenend. The trail from the ranger's cabin to the first two bridges was easy to follow. We turned right before the second bridge and stayed to the right of the creek as we started our approach towards Marshall. Shortly after passing the second bridge we saw another set of tracks and became quite excited as we thought we were definitely on the right track. We were totally unaware that we were actually fast approaching numbers II and III of Burnside's published attempts in "Where's Marshall I-VI". Our party of 4 met up with a party of 3, who had hiked in from the Upper Works, the group who had obviously created the set of tracks we became so excited about earlier. There was absolutely no trail to follow at this point. The light and powdery snow made for very slippery footing and the constant stopping and searching made it difficult to remain warm.
After a couple hours of bushwacking through the woods, trying to follow the stream, falling in spruce traps, looking for broken branches, and relying on rabbit tracks for guidance, the two of us unsure of the hike to begin with, accepted defeat and wisely decided to turn back. We still had over 400 ft to go according to the altimeter. As much as we had been traversing, who knows how long that 400 ft would have taken us!
Ten hours after leaving in the morning, we returned to the Loj and enjoyed a very satisfying salty snack and had peace with knowing we had made a smart, safe choice. Sure the smartest thing to do would have been to have persuaded our friends to turn back with us, but it was quite clear at the time that wasn't going to happen. An hour after we returned to the Loj, our friends returned only to say they too had accepted defeat. The other party ended up turning back as well. - The elusive Marshall will have to wait for another day (a long, warm summer day).
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