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| Hiking | 7.50 Miles |
3,052 AEG |
| | Hiking | 7.50 Miles | 5 Hrs 20 Mns | | 1.50 mph |
| 3,052 ft AEG | 20 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | This is a great loop! And just enough winter right now to look pretty without conditions being sketchy or annoying.
I left the car at ~7:40am. Patchy snow begins on the Vault Mine trail around 6000 feet, with a couple crusty inches on shaded and north-facing aspects. Other orientations are either snow free or slippery slush. Nothing too tricky, but I was glad to have a trekking pole and my high-top gore-tex ultra raptors rather than the low-top mesh ones. I had descended this trail a few years ago and it is MUCH easier going up.
At Agua Caliente, the footsteps of all previous hikers turned left so I broke trail through a few inches of untracked snow to the saddle. From there, the trail to Bearpaw rock and up to Pete was surprisingly obvious in the inch or so of remaining snow. Actually, the cairns near the summit were the most confusing part; they didn't necessarily seem to align with the most logical route. Took exactly one hour from the top of Vault Mine to the summit. Found another unopenable glass jar summit register.  It was a gorgeous day with spectacular views all around!
After a quick midmorning PB&J, I retraced my steps and then headed southeast on Agua Caliente. Such a pretty trail! The snow was deeper (4-6)" on north-facing sections and the footprints of previous hikers were helpful. A quick descent on Carrie Nation, and I was back to the car at 1pm. It was a quiet day overall; I saw a total of 7 other hikers until I was back within spitting distance of the parking lot. |
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