Shamblin’ Up Mount Eddy

🥾 Billie Goat Trail Report: Mount Eddy

Yesterday’s adventure: convince a couple of friends who have never summited a mountain that hiking Mount Eddy sounded like a perfectly reasonable way to spend a Saturday.

In my defense, I answered most of their questions beforehand.

We hit the trail at about 6,500 feet and had a beautiful climb through Deadfall Lakes before reaching the part where Mount Eddy gets serious. The last mile serves up roughly 1,300 feet of elevation gain, a healthy collection of switchbacks, and plenty of opportunities to reconsider your recreational choices.

This is where I introduced said friends to my patented high-altitude hiking technique: the shamble.

The shamble is not fast. It is not pretty. There is no wasted energy and absolutely no concern for appearances. You just keep moving uphill until eventually there is no more uphill.

At about 8,500 feet, everyone started looking a little less enthusiastic about the adventure I had invited them on, so we stopped for a strategic deployment of caffeine-and-sugar gummies….everyone rallied, and the shamble continued.

And damn if we didn’t get to the top.

Mount Eddy — 9,025 feet.

Windy, cold, spectacular and completely worth it. Mount Shasta staring us straight in the face, mountains in every direction, and two brand-new summit hikers standing on top of something that had looked pretty damn far away a few hours earlier.

Then back down we went for celebratory drinks and lunch at Upper Deadfall Lake before finishing the trek back to the trailhead.

Everyone made it.  My backup caffeine gummy supply proved its value. And friends, who began this adventure fairly certain that climbing mountains was probably not their thing, spent the ride home asking questions about climbing Shasta.

I may have created a problem.

Billie Goat Trail Rating: 🐐🐐🐐🐐🐐
Would shamble again.