woodland wanderings: Firescrew Mountain

The ERD happy to be on the trails again - even with his allergies :)

I needed to be on a mountain.

I didn't care what mountain as long as it had a view and the Trailsnh report didn't have the words 'no fall zone' in the description. I also didn't want to hike anyplace where full grown pines looked like stunted shrubs still deep in snow. I settled on Firescrew Mountain. I've been to Cardigan, twice...both times I was surrounded by fog and I never made it to the other side of the mountain.

The road leading to the parking area is a muddy mess. A squishy, slippery, deep-rutted mess. I did okay with my truck and the parking lot was filled with small cars, but a little caution would be wise.

I hiked the Manning trail. It's a beautiful, meandering trail, moderately steep after 2200 feet. There are soft, slippery, icy patches here and at about 2700 feet. It wasn't bad going up, but it was definitely a challenge getting down. I wore my Hillsound Trail Crampons, but with the wet snow and mushy ice, I don't think they helped much. I didn't posthole often but when I did, I went full-leg deep. I recommend caution when you get to the large glacial erratic, you can hear quite a lot of water running underneath the trail. With the warm weather you don't want to be the one that drops through.

Signage was very good, even toward the top. The cairns have popped out of the snow making the trail easy to follow. It was a beautiful day to be on a mountain. On the way down the ERD and I spent some time on the ledges, out of the wind, enjoying the views and basking in the much needed sun.

Happy spring...finally.