Sunday, November 14, 2010

Kendall's Katwalk- The snowy approach

Thirty three degrees Fahrenheit and a light rain, is it any wonder the parking lot was deserted?  A family showed up and played in the slush for a bit while I gathered my gear: leaky boots? check.  corroded rain shell? check. inoperative satellite tracker? check.  The last one deserves a little explanation. After months (years?) of hassling me for hiking alone, my wife got me a SPOT for my birthday. I opened the box and discovered a small orange device that sends a signal to satellites that can be used to provide one's location in case of an emergency. I don't know what the SPOT cost but it is $100/year to activate the minimal service and it goes up from there.  I programmed the device online (after firing up my credit card) and checked in on my patio. It worked as advertised and sent an email with my latitude and longitude. The following week I tried it at the trail and it was dead. I figured I had left the power on and drained the batteries, so yesterday I purchased two extra packs of lithium AAA batteries. It's still dead!  I hope their customer service is good because they owe me a new one.

Back to the trail.  Once I was in the woods, the canopy blocked most of the rain and the trail was in decent shape.  The snow was only a couple of inches deep until I popped into the first clearing where it was probably 6 inches deep.  Guye Peak poked through the foggy gloom to the southwest.


There were two sets of boot tracks going up as far as the Commonwealth Basin cutoff, and then there were none.  It was quiet in the snow and fog and just a little spooky as I got a mile or so past the last sign of anyone else.  Soon enough, a younger fitter hiker came up behind me. We chatted for a bit and he told me he was scouting locations for AT skiing in the winter.  I cranked up my speed a bit but I was no match and soon he was out of sight.

I made it another mile or so before deciding to turn back. I figured I was at about 4,800 feet and the snow in clearings was about a foot deep.  My legs were beat and my energy level was low because I've been fighting a cold.  In any case, it wasn't long before my erstwhile companion passed me on the way down.  Again I tried to stay with him, which was a little easier going down. Still he pulled away.  A few minutes went by and I noticed he was stopped in his tracks looking at something on the trail.  Do you know what kind of tracks these are he asked?  I was pretty sure they were dog tracks but he stuck with me until we came across two other hikers, and their dog.  We passed them together and hit a slight upgrade, which hit me like a log.  I suggested he go ahead, and I slogged back to the car wet and weary, ready for the ski season to hit.
Rock with interesting patterns.

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