Senior Hiking #381 - Mickinnick Again!

Dec 6, 2010…Back to Mickinnick …tr #13 …
hike # 381
by Betsy


Today was the day to go back and finish the job…and get to the top of Mickinnick. It’s not like we haven’t been to the top before…in fact, we have, many times and I have lost count…in heat, in cold, on snowshoes, in rain…you get the point.

Another foot of snow dumped on us this week but today the sun was out, and the temps were warmer…yes, 27° is warmer than 23°! There were two rigs at the trailhead…and we met the two young gals coming back down shortly after we set out. It was one’s first time on snowshoes and they had gone up the steep trail only for two miles. We had to stifle smiles when one asked if they plow the trail! She said it looked so nicely groomed…who does it? I quipped that we it is usually us that “plows” the trail breaking trail! Shortly after that a woman with a dog passed up and we soon met her coming back down. This trail is not only a very popular with human hikers but canines too as is evidenced by all the ‘yellow’ snow, especially for the first mile or so.

I geared up with face mask, down vest and double long johns on top. It wasn’t long before I needed to stop to take off the precip which was on top of all of that. The nightmare with snowshoeing is also wearing too much. The snow at the beginning was hard packed and showing signs of heavy snowshoe use but as we got higher, the snow got softer and deeper and only a few had been as far as we turned around last week. From that point on, it was apparent that one person had broken trail all the way to the top AND that individual gets our sincere thanks because he/she knew exactly where the trail is. With so much snow it is very easy to get disoriented and lose your bearings, as we frequently do.
It now was getting colder…seemed more like 23° again and as we neared the summit, we could hear the wild wind blowing up above. Just below we decided it would be a good idea to stop and layer up...it was going to be wicked windy up there.

Finally up at the top and our instincts were correct…the wind was roaring. We did not linger long and stayed just long enough take a few pics…then we were out of there. Lunch time was approaching and we headed for a more sheltered clump of trees to eat.

On the way down we were quite surprised to meet a woman just minutes away from the top and then a short way further down we met a guy also heading up. So many love and use this steep trail…it is a great one. Neither snow nor cold keeps any avid hiker away.

Left home 8:45Started up 9:10Got to top 12:40 (3 hours, 30 minutes up)
Turned around 12:45
Got to truck 3:10 (2 hours, 25 minutes down)
Total miles hiked 8 miles
Total hiking time 6 hours