"After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, which is the most horrible thing in the world."
--Oscar Wilde on Absinthe
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Bruce Christensen - May 28, 2007 4:45 pm Date Climbed: Apr 18, 2007
Solo summit with a storm brewingLeft the Y trailhead solo a little before 8am with beautiful clear skies. Hiked fast since a storm was forecast for later in the morning. After an hour the clouds had moved in and the wind was picking up. I decided to keep going until the rain got heavy or the storm started thundering. Luckily, the rain didn't come until a couple hours after I was off the mountain.
I hiked up Slide Canyon to Bear Meadow (where the big rock is) and then took the trail to Maple Flat. From Maple Flat it was just routefinding to the summit. I followed a rock band a bit above Maple Flat that inclines as it goes south. It offered a good path.
As I moved higher the snow got deeper, and I definitely appreciated my gaiters.
I didn't stick around long on the summit since the storm was coming.
Round-trip GPS stats: 7.22 miles, 3h23m
Gear: bit of water, waterproof shell, thermal underwear, gaiters, leather hiking boots. Didn't take an ax.
Bruce Christensen - May 28, 2007 4:23 pm Date Climbed: Oct 21, 2006
Maple FlatI hiked on a whim up to Maple Flat for a bit of exercise. I started around 4pm and made it up by 5:15pm at a pretty quick pace.
I planned to just turn around and head back down, but the views were too amazing to leave. The leaves were changing colors and the sun was setting. I spent over an hour at Maple Flat exploring and taking pictures. Some of them are available at http://www.brucec.net/pictures/mapleflat2006/.
It got pretty cold as the sun set, and I was glad I brought gloves.
I'd definitely recommend doing this hike at sunset at this time of year. It's gorgeous.
Tracy - Feb 21, 2007 7:49 am Date Climbed: Oct 9, 1987
Route climbed: Slide canyonI hiked this one solo after exploring the area on earlier outings in the winter and summer.