Alpinista
New member
All the trails in this area were quite wet and muddy. Since I've never been in this part of the prezzies, I'm not sure if that's the norm. I'd be curious to hear from others if it is.
I'd originally planned on doing an overnighter in the Wild River Trail area. But when my hiking buddy and I realized we'd both spaced on bringing a pan to boil water -- and with the yucky weather -- we decided to do a day hike. I suggested going up Air Line to do a little reconnaissance mission because I've just adopted a 1-mile section of Air Line and wanted to see what kind of tools I'd need to bring to maintain the trail. The lower portion of Air Line has lots of brush growing in toward the trail and needs to be clipped back. All the drainage areas need to be cleaned out. Thankfully, it wasn't very buggy considering the conditions.
It was a wild time being in the middle of the clouds hanging over the prezzies. Occasionally, the sun would break in and shed a little light. But mostly we were in one giant misty cloud. My hiking buddy made it to Upper Bruin before I did and was blessed with amazing views toward Adams and Jefferson. By the time I got there, we were back in the clouds, which made for a surreal view of the rocky terrain above treeline.
We took the Upper Bruin cutover to Valley Way and it was nice to finally go downhill. (Air Line is not technically difficult but there are sections where it's relentlessly steep). Valley Way is a nice change of scenery and much easier to maneuver than Air Line.
I'd originally planned on doing an overnighter in the Wild River Trail area. But when my hiking buddy and I realized we'd both spaced on bringing a pan to boil water -- and with the yucky weather -- we decided to do a day hike. I suggested going up Air Line to do a little reconnaissance mission because I've just adopted a 1-mile section of Air Line and wanted to see what kind of tools I'd need to bring to maintain the trail. The lower portion of Air Line has lots of brush growing in toward the trail and needs to be clipped back. All the drainage areas need to be cleaned out. Thankfully, it wasn't very buggy considering the conditions.
It was a wild time being in the middle of the clouds hanging over the prezzies. Occasionally, the sun would break in and shed a little light. But mostly we were in one giant misty cloud. My hiking buddy made it to Upper Bruin before I did and was blessed with amazing views toward Adams and Jefferson. By the time I got there, we were back in the clouds, which made for a surreal view of the rocky terrain above treeline.
We took the Upper Bruin cutover to Valley Way and it was nice to finally go downhill. (Air Line is not technically difficult but there are sections where it's relentlessly steep). Valley Way is a nice change of scenery and much easier to maneuver than Air Line.
