Hi Folks
I had a pleasant but brief hike with a quick overnight. I parked at the trailhead for the Edith pass trail with every intention of doing a 3 day 2 night trip to Mystic Lake.
The weather at the 4,000 ft elevation was amazing without any snow and temperatures of 10 deg C. At 4,700 ft on the southern slope I started to find long patches of ice where the snow had melted and frozen again. Without crampons I picked my footing and took my time but it was slow going. I stopped for the night just off the trail. I was using my Nano 7 with a 0 deg F top and 3/4 UQ and slept like a log. I was surprised to find that the temperature didn't go below freezing at night! I think I finally slipped out of the coma around 9:45am.
Because it never froze that night at that elevation, the packed path was a bit soft but the "shoulders" of the trail were so soft my poles sunk like a rock in water . After a couple hours of that I checked my position and found I would never make it to Mystic lake at the pace available to me so I had lupper on the trail and headed back to the car.
It wasn't a wasted trip by any means but I will wait until the trail is clear of snow before I try getting to Mystic lake again.
....Yes, I know; I have a face that's PERFECT for radio!
....and Yes, I do wear that hat to embarrass my children!
...an hommage to one of Fronkey's videos.
Jungle Jim
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