[pct-l] Trail Conditions Hwy 74 to Saddle Junction Apr 15-17

[James Vesely]

Great report I followed you on Halfmile's maps sounds like a great story
to remember.  

Keep it up and good luck.

Jim


-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net
[mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Eric Martinot
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2012 7:13 AM
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: [pct-l] Trail Conditions Hwy 74 to Saddle Junction Apr 15-17


Sunday morning April 15, after the big April 13-14 storm passed, I  
started north from Hwy 74 (Mile 152) to see if I could get through to  
Saddle Junction or even all the way through Fuller.  (Got to Hwy 74  
nobo April 12, just in time to sit out the storm.)  I did get to  
Saddle Junction, but it took three days in the snow.

First, a big "thank you" to the unknown person who walked a day ahead  
of me, starting during the tail end of the storm on Saturday April 14  
it seemed.  I was able to follow your snowprints the whole way and  
that made the section much less stressful (and less postholing,  
although you seemed to have used some type of small-print snowshoe so  
I could still break through your prints).  You had an excellent  
ability to stay right on top of the trail (with a few snafus).  At  
lower elevations your snowprints were already melting into bare  
ground, revealing the trail underneath.

The first part of the trail, from Mile 152 to 164 just past Eagle  
Spring trail junction, was easy to follow although mostly walking on  
snow, just some inches deep.  It's probably all melted by now.  Lots  
of water flowing across the trail in the first 8 miles, but then  
nothing from snow melt after that.  Somewhere around Mile 164 (before  
Peak 7123) was the first foray into 12-18" of snow in forest where the  
trail wasn't visible, and both the unknown person and I went astray a  
little, but not serious, and tracking down to Fobes Saddle still easy,  
still mostly walking on snow.

The interesting part began on the approach to Spittler Peak and  
especially the east side traverse of Spitler.  There, in the forest,  
the snow was deep enough to completely obliterate the trail, and the  
first real post-holing began, sometimes up to my knees.  Still, my  
unknown leader took a good line and the trail re-appeared and was  
faithfully continued on the north side.  The east slope of Spittler is  
steep here, with some long run-outs, but the snow was soft and deep  
and so I didn't feel the need to don traction (Kahtoola KTS) or take  
ice-axe in hand.