Larch Mountain Trail - major storm damage (Jan 3, 2009)

[fettster]

Turn back! Moi? I was on my way back down from the summit of Whitney (14,496') when I found someone to take my photo. It's really a pretty easy hike/climb - 22 miles RT - the altitude kinda takes your breath away, though :-)Don

I was referring to "Above the bridge, no tracks at all were visible. We called it a day and headed back".

[Don Nelsen]

Turn back! Moi? I was on my way back down from the summit of Whitney (14,496') when I found someone to take my photo. It's really a pretty easy hike/climb - 22 miles RT - the altitude kinda takes your breath away, though :-)Don

I was referring to "Above the bridge, no tracks at all were visible. We called it a day and headed back".

Ha! - communication breakdown - mea culpa. Our plan was to go to Nesika and check it out with all the snow but we both had things we needed to do and turned back about fifty yards above the metal bridge. With no tracks and no postholes, it was easier going too. Too bad about the schedule - I'm looking foreward to the next big storm - I love snowshoeing in the gorge.

dn

[-Q-]

For comparison, here is a shot from the metal bridge on December 11...

[hikerMan]

It is indeed the Keeler Needles from the trail at about 14,100' near the summit of Mt. Whitney. Summer of '00. Have you been up there?

dn[/quote]

Don:
I summitted Whitney on September 11, 2000, solo trip. I have 45 State highpoints.
John

[Don Nelsen]

It is indeed the Keeler Needles from the trail at about 14,100' near the summit of Mt. Whitney. Summer of '00. Have you been up there?

dn

Don:
I summitted Whitney on September 11, 2000, solo trip. I have 45 State highpoints.
John[/quote]

Wow! 45 HP's is impressive - you have me beat by 41. Also, quite the coincidence about Whitney - I was up there Aug. 20th of 2000 so we were only a few days apart.

Don

[AlexanderSupertramp]

FYI.....I decided to give the Multnomah / Wahkeena loop a try today. Luckily, there was a nice path to follow up the Multnomah side compliments of Don and others. That was really the worst area as far as snow/ice/downed trees etc. I started at Wahkeena and the going was passable but required proper equipment up through the whole fairy falls area. Microspikes, trekking poles and waterproof trail runners did just fine. There were several ankle deep creek crossings to negotiate. Once up top things cleared up and were only patchy snow-wise along the top ridge area. Lot's of mudslide and downed tree activity, nothing like the Multnomah creek area though. It was a bit odd along the top portion heading towards Multnomah. I had that whole "I'm being watched" feeling. I'm not very familiar with scat and snow print varieties, but there were numerous samples of all sorts in this area. Like alot! As I rounded one of the final bends approaching the Multnomah creek, I encountered a deer that got his in the not so distant past, right on the trail. There were two lower leg portions left on the trail that still had meat, skin, and blood on them. I started whistling loudly at this point. The trail got snowy again here, then met up with the mess Don had described at the beginning of this post.

Adam