Was planning on doing Ontario this Sunday, but deemed it impractical to try to climb fresh powder on old neve, not to mention the navigational nightmare, so we dropped down a couple thousand feet to Wilson, expecting various forms of precipitation.
The fog was thick but elevated above the canopy, so not many views except for the immediate forest surrounding us, which was awesome for a change in scenery. It had rained before the sunrise, so we got some cold drops from the overhanging foliage above us. Got to the “halfway” point on the Sturtevant Trail and the fog thickened and hard white bb's started pounding us, leaving about a half inch of Dippin' Dots on the forest floor (remember those?). By the time we reached the science facility, the hail had eased into a light snowfall. The fog was thick enough to obscure the 100″ telescope until we were almost at its feet.
Going back down on the Winter Creek route took us through a small burn area FILLED with tall, luscious poodle dog, sometimes reaching out and infiltrating the trailspace, as if daring you to slip into some serious regret of your weekend planning decisions. Imagine balance beam-ing over a lava pit filled with giant iron spikes with swinging axes interrupting your traverse. Yup. Exactly like that. This point was also where the fog was thickest, bringing our visibility down to less than a hundred feet. We felt like we were stuck in a 50's horror film. The sheer terror of the Dracula-esque botanical minefield didn't last long, though, as we were out of the burn area quite quickly. Phew.
The fog cleared up quite quickly, and we were even kissed by some sunlight before it dropped before the westward ridges, and… well s#*t. Adams Pack is closed. I was really looking forward to those hot dogs. Oh well, they're just hot dogs.
Responses
By the way, my dramatization of the poodle dog is slightly inflated by the somewhat-enjoys-writing in me. Some parts of the trail require a little bit of careful shimmying. Just watch your step, and if you happen to be accident prone at the worst opportune moments… then perhaps take the Sturtevant trail back down. Or otherwise grab a garden hoe and do all of us wonderful hikers a huge favor. You will forever hold our gratitude… until it grows back.