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The
snow began to get a bit deeper after I passed the Hale Brook ravine. There were a
couple of small downed trees
that I had to duck under, but for the most part, it was just a slow uphill
slog through snow that was gradually beginning to soften.
There were maybe five or six
inches of new snow on top of a hard-packed base. The new snow was soft
and sticky and tended to adhere to the bottom of my snowshoes in large
clumps. It would have been good snowball- or snowman-making snow. I had
to stop fairly often and use my poles to knock it off as it made me feel
like I had heavy cement blocks attached to my boots. Even worse, it
covered the crampons on the bottom of my snowshoes, rendering them
useless and leaving me with no traction, not a good thing on a steep
trail.
The higher I climbed, the more snow there
was clinging to the branches of the fir and spruce trees that lined the
trail. Occasionally, I saw a yellow blaze on a tree at or below knee
level, a good indication of just how deep the snow still was this late
in March, considering that blazes are usually at eye level.
As the trail curved to the right and headed
in a southerly direction, I got a look back north or northeast (again
through the trees) toward what was probably either Cherry Mountain or Mt
Deception.
The temperature was quickly rising as the
day progressed, and the snow on the trees was beginning to melt and form
tiny icicles on the tips of the branches and needles. Climbing still
higher, the icicles grew larger and soon occupied most of the open
spaces between the evergreen boughs.
Almost at the top, the sunbeams broke though
the treetops from clear blue sky, revealing an entire forest shimmering
with transparent ice and bright white snow. |
Hale Brook
Trail. On the other side of the ravine, the trail began to
switchback up the summit cone. |
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