chinooktrail
Active member
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2004
- Messages
- 981
- Reaction score
- 165
Really fun hike and Bushwhacks to Garfield Ridge East and West Peaks via Gale River Trail, Garfield Ridge Trail and down Garfield Trail.
The morning was just the right temp to hike along and not be too warm or cold. Well, until I took a little dip in the first river crossing and tried to ‘hike dry’ my pants and my shirt that got soaked. My feet and boots stayed dry since I landed on my butt with my feet out of the water!
Sadly this seems to be a recurring trend with me, and one I would greatly love to break.
I think we were all yakking too much to get a decent pace going, so when we made it to the first junction some of the group decided to head to Galehead instead and get out before dark.
Once we started down the GRT looking for the best spot to start to bushwhack things got a little icy, but not too bad. The maps I had printed out were a little fuzzy and it was tough to determine the best spot. We decided on one and made it to a good view point, good enough to see the peak we were actually trying to get to through the trees!
Back on the trail and it got more icy so the microspikes went on. We found a good spot to head in and found the peak marked as ‘PAM’, and the canister. This one had some good views from the ledge and was a great little spot.
Quickly back on the trail it was off to the next bushwhack of the day!
This one was a little further off trail and involved a few ‘false peaks’, one of them had a few nesting grouse. Not sure who scared who more, but I nearly had a heart attack when they took off about 4” away from me! (they probably have a few choice words for those silly humans who can’t find the real peaks…) We quickly fought our way through to the place where the jar had been on a tree, and found the jar on a rock below.
After signing in it was another fun bushwhack back to the trail! Always fun to go and explore in the woods and push your way through nature. Reminds me of being a kid in the backyard, ‘exploring’ in the woods, never more than a mile from the house, but felt like we were in a real wilderness!
We hit a waterfall on the next section of trail. This is where hiking with a dog gets a little sketchy in these shoulder seasons. As beautiful and interesting as the waterfall was, and it really was quite breathtaking, I was far more concerned about getting Geneva up it safe and sound. She is a great little climber for sure, but once slip on this and she could have easily been badly injured. So for Geneva and I it was another bushwhack around that one section. We clearly were not the first to take to the woods instead of staying on the trail in that one section.
By the time we hit the next junction with the Garfield Trail my feet were both ‘toast’ and starting to get quite painful. And Geneva was looking a little like she was favoring one of her back legs. I decided to head down slowly while the rest decided to go for the summit of Garfield for their December 3 grid.
Even though there was still ice on the trail, I decided to take the spikes off to try to save my feet a little for the ~5 miles they had left to cover. It was slow going and the headlamp came out! I REALLY like hiking under headlamp I’ve decided! Wicked fun stuff. Geneva would hear something and come running back to me once in a while to let me go first…
But most of the time she would go a short distance ahead, and then turn and wait. It was like following two glowing green floating orbs most of the way! I kept hoping they belonged to Geneva and not some other beasty! I think she may be about as scared of the dark as I am, and it is great to work on our fears together and try to overcome them. The only noises I really heard were a few owls here and there. Nice quiet night with a beautiful view of the moon and stars.
In no time I popped out onto the road and my waiting car! Thanks for the car delivery and switcharoo ladies! Geneva was very happy to get into the backseat and lay down to relax. I think she was asleep before I had my boots off.
Great day out and hike to a few new peaks for me! Thanks everyone!
The morning was just the right temp to hike along and not be too warm or cold. Well, until I took a little dip in the first river crossing and tried to ‘hike dry’ my pants and my shirt that got soaked. My feet and boots stayed dry since I landed on my butt with my feet out of the water!
Sadly this seems to be a recurring trend with me, and one I would greatly love to break.I think we were all yakking too much to get a decent pace going, so when we made it to the first junction some of the group decided to head to Galehead instead and get out before dark.
Once we started down the GRT looking for the best spot to start to bushwhack things got a little icy, but not too bad. The maps I had printed out were a little fuzzy and it was tough to determine the best spot.
We decided on one and made it to a good view point, good enough to see the peak we were actually trying to get to through the trees! Back on the trail and it got more icy so the microspikes went on. We found a good spot to head in and found the peak marked as ‘PAM’, and the canister. This one had some good views from the ledge and was a great little spot.
Quickly back on the trail it was off to the next bushwhack of the day!
This one was a little further off trail and involved a few ‘false peaks’, one of them had a few nesting grouse. Not sure who scared who more, but I nearly had a heart attack when they took off about 4” away from me!
(they probably have a few choice words for those silly humans who can’t find the real peaks…) We quickly fought our way through to the place where the jar had been on a tree, and found the jar on a rock below. After signing in it was another fun bushwhack back to the trail! Always fun to go and explore in the woods and push your way through nature. Reminds me of being a kid in the backyard, ‘exploring’ in the woods, never more than a mile from the house, but felt like we were in a real wilderness!
We hit a waterfall on the next section of trail. This is where hiking with a dog gets a little sketchy in these shoulder seasons. As beautiful and interesting as the waterfall was, and it really was quite breathtaking, I was far more concerned about getting Geneva up it safe and sound. She is a great little climber for sure, but once slip on this and she could have easily been badly injured. So for Geneva and I it was another bushwhack around that one section. We clearly were not the first to take to the woods instead of staying on the trail in that one section.
By the time we hit the next junction with the Garfield Trail my feet were both ‘toast’ and starting to get quite painful.
And Geneva was looking a little like she was favoring one of her back legs. I decided to head down slowly while the rest decided to go for the summit of Garfield for their December 3 grid. Even though there was still ice on the trail, I decided to take the spikes off to try to save my feet a little for the ~5 miles they had left to cover. It was slow going and the headlamp came out! I REALLY like hiking under headlamp I’ve decided! Wicked fun stuff. Geneva would hear something and come running back to me once in a while to let me go first…
But most of the time she would go a short distance ahead, and then turn and wait. It was like following two glowing green floating orbs most of the way! I kept hoping they belonged to Geneva and not some other beasty! I think she may be about as scared of the dark as I am, and it is great to work on our fears together and try to overcome them. The only noises I really heard were a few owls here and there. Nice quiet night with a beautiful view of the moon and stars.
In no time I popped out onto the road and my waiting car! Thanks for the car delivery and switcharoo ladies! Geneva was very happy to get into the backseat and lay down to relax. I think she was asleep before I had my boots off.
Great day out and hike to a few new peaks for me! Thanks everyone!
