Anthill Rim near Wahtum (or suggest a better name)
Posted: May 27th, 2019, 1:53 pm
From the Wahtum TH, you can drop to the lake, or you can spiral out of the bowl on Anthill Trail until it reaches a ridgecrest, which the trail follows northbound. But what if you followed that ridge southbound offtrail? It soon becomes much steeper on one side than the other, so it's more like a rim. It looked promising. But I wanted Anthill to be my goal, not my starting point, so I identified what looked like the furthest extent of the interesting terrain and started there, exploring towards Anthill.
It was a miserable day for off-trail shenanigans. Was supposed to be dry in the morning, chance of showers pm. It started out breezy and misty, not really too bad for trail hiking, but bushwhacking got me soaked fast. At least it wasn't cold. Views were limited, but I did't mind too much. It added some challenge. After noon, things started to clear, and I could see around a bit more.
This was a fun route. Rocky beargrass meadows, snow, mature forest, some geological curiosities. Unfortunately, by the time I was nearly at Anthill, I lost interest. It was just plain bushwhacking, boring, soppy, and with my goal being just a trail that joined my ridgecrest, there wasn't enough motivation to continue. I don't greatly regret turning back early; there's no joy or glory in bushwhacking to a trail, unless the trail takes one to a subsequest* goal.
This would be a fantastic place for a backdoor trail for hikers who want to avoid the Wahtum experience. There's already a logging road for access (hasn't been active in a while) and the scenery is good enough to justify a trail on its own, even if it didn't go anywhere.
Incidentally, I see beargrass is in bloom roadside nearby, but not on my hike.
* That was a typo, but I'm leaving it. Subsequest seems like a perfectly cromulent word.
It was a miserable day for off-trail shenanigans. Was supposed to be dry in the morning, chance of showers pm. It started out breezy and misty, not really too bad for trail hiking, but bushwhacking got me soaked fast. At least it wasn't cold. Views were limited, but I did't mind too much. It added some challenge. After noon, things started to clear, and I could see around a bit more.
This was a fun route. Rocky beargrass meadows, snow, mature forest, some geological curiosities. Unfortunately, by the time I was nearly at Anthill, I lost interest. It was just plain bushwhacking, boring, soppy, and with my goal being just a trail that joined my ridgecrest, there wasn't enough motivation to continue. I don't greatly regret turning back early; there's no joy or glory in bushwhacking to a trail, unless the trail takes one to a subsequest* goal.
This would be a fantastic place for a backdoor trail for hikers who want to avoid the Wahtum experience. There's already a logging road for access (hasn't been active in a while) and the scenery is good enough to justify a trail on its own, even if it didn't go anywhere.
Incidentally, I see beargrass is in bloom roadside nearby, but not on my hike.
* That was a typo, but I'm leaving it. Subsequest seems like a perfectly cromulent word.