AZT Hike – Day 3, Sun Feb 19. Grass Shack Campsite to unknown Mica Mountain mountainside spot. Today’s hike – 7.8 miles; total hike miles – 30.5.
Backpacking trips, much like life, rarely go according to plan. But if they did, neither would be as much fun, eh?
Sooo….the plan was to hike up 3500′ (6 mi ) up to 8600′ over Mica Mountain, and descend 4600′ (7 mi ) to camp at Italian Springs Trailhead. Knowing there had been recent heavy snowfall, but not knowing how much remained, I had ice spikes to put on over my shoes.
At 6500′, snow started appearing, and at 7000′, the entire area was snow-covered at 4-5 inches. At 8000′, I reached Manning Camp (campground/ranger station that’s closed in winter) for lunch. I became a little concerned as snow depth was now 1-2 feet. My tools (in descending order of usefulness) were GPS hiking app; 1-2 sets of footprints most likely made yesterday; memory of the trail from 4 years ago; and paper maps. I did my best to walk in the footprints, but sometimes sunk to mid-shin or my knees. I also checked the “blue dot” on the GPS app every few minutes to be sure I was staying on course. I got lost a few times as the footprints ended or went down side trails, but I recovered.
My pace was way slower than normal, and I revised the plan as it was clear I wasn’t going to finish 13 miles. The plan became to get as far down the mountain as possible before dark and pitch the tent on the first flat snow-less patch of ground. At 5pm and 7000′ , I found a spot. A windy loud (but safe) night perched on the mountainside. Anxious, confident, concerned, prepared, a little scared, adventurous?….a little bit of everything. More later.
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