We spent part of the day heading up to Tombstone Pass. I had never been there and it was great to see snow in May, old snow but cold nonetheless. We attempted to head up to Iron Mountain, but the snow on the road there stopped our progress.
We decided to head over to Pipe Rock, it was a pretty awesome sight...Hiking up to the rock was very easy and quick from the logging road, and we had a nice time roaming around. We couldn't climb the rock, but I can imagine the view was spectacular.
The rest of the day we hiked around on Seth's Dad's property, checking all the sights that are always enjoyable.
I love going up to the other houses that were built by hippies on Mike's property. When Seth and I were done partying in the woods, we had Mike tell us stories about the people who built the homes, and also tell us the story of how he built his house. It was really cool, and I had a great night, listening to my good friend's Dad talk about his life.
The next morning, Alex, Seth's older brother, showed up and we headed off to the Moose Lake trail. I have posted some videos I took on the hike to Moose Lake, and the eventual getting there. It was a lot farther then we thought when Seth and I tried to get to Moose Lake last year, but after crossing a few ridges we made it to the log jammed, yet very beautiful, Moose Lake.
We set up camp, and I started a fire, relishing in our victory of arriving to our destination. We were a little worried about the rest of our seven bro army making it when out of no where Nate Standridge comes through the woods into the camp site. I was so happy to see him since I had not hung out with Nate since my wedding...He came with his dog, Cyrus, and we all had a great time catching up on life.
After a few more hours, we all started wondering when the rest would show. Dan Kohler, Joel Kinunen, and Lee Alworth were suppose to show up, but it was starting to get later and later. Nate and I headed down the trail a bit and in Moose Creek the crew were heading up scaling the creek side. We had all made it! It felt great to have all the guys together rocking Moose Butthole!
The next morning, Joel brought out some topographic and Google Earth maps that showed the area surrounding Moose Lake. After pondering the way out, Nate and I decided we would hike straight up the mountain side and meet up with the logging road, and then walk back to the vehicles. Everyone else thought it was as good as anything else, and that it might even shave a few minutes of the hike by not having to go up and down these steep hillsides. Heading out on the first slope was an intense climb up almost vertical mountain side terrain. The only thing keeping me from tumbling back down the mountain were the strong rooted sword fern and maple trees littered along the terrain to grab on for support. Not long in the climb, Alex decided to head along the creek instead of trail blaze the mountain to the road, and we lost sight of him in our trek to the top. After an hour and forty-five minutes we hiked two and a half miles to the logging road, ascending one thousand feet! Alex was already at the vehicles, and had been for over twenty minutes! I guess vertical climbing a mountain with almost fifty pounds on your back isn't going to be a speedy trip! Joel sent me the maps and it is great to see the way we hiked around the area. I am so glad I got to hang with some very good friends, and I hope we can make a more regular thing of this...
moose lake looks awesome!
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