Walks with Moss: South Mountain aka North Mountain

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

South Mountain aka North Mountain

Today's "trailhead"

Downhill dog buried in the snow

Smile at the IR Camera

Does someone really sit and watch this camera?

Ha ha!

My first view of the North Summit

This is what the camera gaurds

North Summit

I tried to get to the roadhead for South Mountain today but I was blocked by deep water over the road. So I went up the roadhead for North Mountain instead. I never knew that Simpson called the East summit of South Mountain "North Mountain", until today. Going to South Mountain via North Mountain made my hike 4 miles longer but I finally got to see the entire ridge from one end to the other. North Mountain is one of the southernmost Mountains in the Olympics.

The void?

There were no views to be had today but the snowy ridge walk was pretty anyway and I got some much needed exercise. I wore my snowhoes for about 4 of my 12 miles. I forgot that my daypack does not carry snowshoes well and my back is hurting now. It was less work to carry my snowshoes on my feet than on my pack. The snow on the top was deep enough for a few of those miles that I was very glad to have snowshoes. Too bad my doggie did not have snowshoes, I think she could have used them.

On my way back I stopped and took a step backwards so I could frame a picture better. When I tried to take that step back I was reminded the hard way that you can't walk backwards in snowshoes. I had to decide if I should fall on my butt or fall on my new camera. I chose to fall on my butt. At least is was a nice soft landing in the snow.

Icefall from the West Summit Radio Tower

This was my first hike with my new camera. My new camera fits under my rain coat just fine, because I can push it down so that the lens points at the ground. So my worries about packing it around in the rain were unfounded.

When I got home I found fog had gotten on my lens underneath the UV filter. I love having a UV filter; it means I can wipe water off my glass all day long without scratching the lens. In spite of the constant rain I managed to take 187 pictures.

I was toasty warm all day even though hiking on snow while it is raining usually means freezing your butt off.

I have two huge blisters because I wore boots instead of shoes. Boo hoo. At least my feet were dry in my new water proof boots and my blisters did not burst thanks to my application of moleskin.

12.4 miles
2,100 feet elevation gain

27.1 miles on my new boots

So far this year

I have hiked 24 times for a total of 227.1 miles and 57,641 feet elevation gain.
In 2008 I hiked 19 times for a total of 130 miles and 28,144 feet in elevation
In 2007 I hiked 37 times for a total of 339 miles and 72,400 feet in elevation gain

192 on my $110 shoes this year (when I started slipping and they quit being water proof I stopped wearing them)
110 miles on last years $40.00 shoes(when they got hole in both soles I stopped wearing them)

Clearly the $110 shoes lasted longer. I am using them for biking now. The $40 shoes went to the garbage can.