Date(s) Hiked: 2-19-2007
Trails(s) Hiked: Carter Moriah trail to Mt. Moriah
Total Distance: 9 miles 3550 ft. elevation gain
Difficulty: Very Difficult. The trail itself was gradual, but breaking trail and route finding was really hard, especially with only 2 people.
Conditions: The trail was packed out until a quarter mile past Mt. Surprise. The rest of the trail was deep snow, with some drifts about 4 feet deep.
Special Required Equipment: Snowshoes! The bigger the better. Other than that the usual.
Trip Report: This was quite the hike. Adam and I had originally planned on doing M & S Carter, but we where worried about having to break trail (HA) on our own, so we decided to head up Moriah. Gearing up at the car, we met Gary, Tracy and their 2 dogs. They headed up the trail, and we soon followed. The going was pretty straight forward up to Mt. Surprise, and we made it up there surprisingly! quick. A little ways after that we met up with Gary and Tracy. Uh-Oh, the trail was unbroken and their two dogs couldn't make it through the deep snow. They discussed turning around, and then decided that Gary would continue on with us and Tracy would take the dogs down. So up we went.
As first, breaking the trail wasn't too bad, and we each took our turns heading up. A little while in, Adam decided he wasn't feeling it today and was having trouble walking in our tracks with his smaller snowshoes, so he decided to turn around. So up me and Gary went, promptly losing the trail and wallowing in the progressively deeper snow. Slowly we continued on up, through some of the deepest snow I've seen. We eventually slowed to a crawl, and just kept trying to put one foot in front of the other. The worst part of the hike was the minor "humps" on the trail. I kept thinking were almost there just to go up a crest and see the summit far, far away. So on we went, occasionally losing the trail, then finding it, until we got about half a mile from the summit. We then dropped are packs and topped out in about 25 minutes. We could only stay up top for a couple of minutes because of the wind and cold, and then started the long slog down, but at least the trail was broken.
I loved it. This was one of the hardest hikes I've down, but the magic of route finding and heading up in the fresh snow was amazing. Doesn't get any better than this.
Pictures Here
Trails(s) Hiked: Carter Moriah trail to Mt. Moriah
Total Distance: 9 miles 3550 ft. elevation gain
Difficulty: Very Difficult. The trail itself was gradual, but breaking trail and route finding was really hard, especially with only 2 people.
Conditions: The trail was packed out until a quarter mile past Mt. Surprise. The rest of the trail was deep snow, with some drifts about 4 feet deep.
Special Required Equipment: Snowshoes! The bigger the better. Other than that the usual.
Trip Report: This was quite the hike. Adam and I had originally planned on doing M & S Carter, but we where worried about having to break trail (HA) on our own, so we decided to head up Moriah. Gearing up at the car, we met Gary, Tracy and their 2 dogs. They headed up the trail, and we soon followed. The going was pretty straight forward up to Mt. Surprise, and we made it up there surprisingly! quick. A little ways after that we met up with Gary and Tracy. Uh-Oh, the trail was unbroken and their two dogs couldn't make it through the deep snow. They discussed turning around, and then decided that Gary would continue on with us and Tracy would take the dogs down. So up we went.
As first, breaking the trail wasn't too bad, and we each took our turns heading up. A little while in, Adam decided he wasn't feeling it today and was having trouble walking in our tracks with his smaller snowshoes, so he decided to turn around. So up me and Gary went, promptly losing the trail and wallowing in the progressively deeper snow. Slowly we continued on up, through some of the deepest snow I've seen. We eventually slowed to a crawl, and just kept trying to put one foot in front of the other. The worst part of the hike was the minor "humps" on the trail. I kept thinking were almost there just to go up a crest and see the summit far, far away. So on we went, occasionally losing the trail, then finding it, until we got about half a mile from the summit. We then dropped are packs and topped out in about 25 minutes. We could only stay up top for a couple of minutes because of the wind and cold, and then started the long slog down, but at least the trail was broken.
I loved it. This was one of the hardest hikes I've down, but the magic of route finding and heading up in the fresh snow was amazing. Doesn't get any better than this.
Pictures Here
