This was a early spring hike along a well used Off-road Road (Forest Road 171). I would take FR171 till I achieved the Swamp Creek cutoff (Trail 970) then hike to the Intersection of TR970 and the Lone Pine Trail. I wanted to tackle this area since I want to plan a late Spring backpacking trip through this area, so scouting was in order. Sometimes, I also like to hike Forest Roads and ATV trails because they have so many side roads and areas to explore. They also have a completely different type of detritus along the road than hiker trails in the wilderness. I find all sorts of things from a dog paw mitten to the rear window frame of a truck topper.
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| Typical road walk at lower elevation |
I guessed that I would eventually hit snow and was curious when I would. Turns out snow was pretty continuous from 9100'.
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| Typical road conditions above 9100' |
Fortunately, early in the morning the snow was solid and was easy walking; however, I knew that on my return, it would get softer and I would start post-holing. I decided I probably needed to turn around based on snow conditions rather than time or distance. Trail 970 is a single track that in the summer is used by motorcycles. Today, it was snow covered and, for the most part, completely hidden. I began route finding along TR970, but eventually lost the trail, so continued to bushwhack for a while until I decided that the weather was changing (it looked like snow) and the temperature was high enough that the snow was getting soft (guess in the upper 30s or low 40s).
I sat down, had some lunch, and headed back. I was glad I did because by the time I got out of the heavier snow, I was beginning to post-hole more than not. Since I was a little short on miles and had plenty of time, I began to explore some of the various side roads and trails that always exist around an off-road road. It was just like riding with Josh & Kristin on the four-wheeler, except they weren't there and I was walking.
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| One of the peaks in the area (South Bald Mountain) |
After the hike, I decided that this area plus other roads and trails in the area will be a good multi-day backpack trip. Stay tuned!
Overall Track Statistics for Red Feather - FR171Swamp Crk, 1332 data points
Length 9.992 miles : Garmin Length 10.508 miles
Start Elevation - 8746.19 feet
Maximum Elevation - 9673.13 feet
Minimum Elevation - 8680.71 feet
Date of Hike - Mar 27, 2017
Start Time - 08:51 AM
End Time - 01:47 PM
Total Duration - 4:55 hours:min
Total Ascent - 1629.56 feet
Total Descent - 1695.05 feet
Net Ascent - -65.49 feet
Maximum Grade - 14.74%
Average Speed - 2.03 mph : Garmin Average Speed 2.13 mph
Maximum Ascent over Mile - 453.94 feet
Maximum Speed over Mile - 2.91 mph
Maximum Gain over Mile (%) - 7.92%
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