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| A warmer, wetter day than the previous ones |
Ever since the first ski of the year I have wanted to ski all the way out to the Franklin Bridge, eight miles from the trailhead and about three miles past the end of the grooming. On the 28th I thought I might make it out to the bridge. When I started skiing, however, I realized that this would not be the day to ski that far. The weather was a little warmer and the snow was a little slower, and I knew it would be a lot more work in the sticky snow than I cared to put forth. I decided pretty quickly that I would ski the Wallman Trail. These would be the perfect conditions for me—the snow would be slower, giving me the chance to ski down the far side of the loop. I figured I could still walk the steep sections I couldn't ski but by the end of the day, I never had to take off my skis.
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| Mountain lion track crossing the trail |
I took the trails down near the creek initially to test the snow off the main track. It was certainly slower, but I love skiing those creek trails and enjoyed myself thoroughly. Back on the main track, I headed up the trail for a short time before turning off the trail onto the Wallman cutoff, Trail 29.2. There were some recent ski tracks under the fresh snow and the going was pretty easy. When I made it to the Wallman Trail, 29.1, I found it was less tracked. People had been up the trail, but it had been some time. Eventually, the tracks were completely snowed in and I was breaking trail, following the occasional animal track here and there. As the trail steepened I followed what seemed to be a large canine or feline track. It was difficult to tell until I came upon a spot under some trees where the snow had been partially blocked from filling in the tracks and the animal had crossed the trail from the downhill to uphill side. Here, a couple tracks made it clear that it was pretty fresh mountain lion tracks. Once it crossed the trail it never followed or crossed the trail again. A little further above, I crossed fresh moose tracks as well. It felt quite wild.
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| Top of the climb on the Wallman Trail |
I worked my way through the couple switchbacks and the final climb to the highpoint in the trail. I had hiked the trail that summer with Carrie and we had stopped at the top for a lunch break, and on this day I decided to do the same. It was certainly warmer than the previous days and quite wet. My hat was dripping water from the bill from just before lunch until the end of the ski. After enjoying a nice lunch sandwich and some water, I stepped back into my skis and began the descent into Spring Gulch. I was a little worried and cautious about the descent. I am not the most graceful when it comes to cross country ski descents, but I felt quite comfortable the whole way down. The snow was the perfect consistency for my abilities, and I was gliding down the mountain while maintaining some control. The switchbacks themselves were steep and slow going, and I came across a steep section right above Kench Meadow where the trail was blocked by snow-strained brush. In this location I had to side step down through the worst past the brush until I could ski again.
At Kench Meadow the decline lessened and the snow began sticking to my skis. Between the meadow and the Trail 517/Trail 517.1 junction I had to stop a few times to knock snow off the bottom of the skis. It was more annoying than anything and I struggled through this section until reaching Trail 517.1. This trail had been tracked earlier in the day and I had a much better time skiing the last stretch back to the main stem trail. From there I made it easily back to the trailhead.
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