Mt Washington Attempt

There is, what is called by the rangers, the Magic Forest, sitting just below Mt. Washington in the west-central part of the park.  It is a spectacular Bristlecone grove.  I have been wanting to get up there for a while now.  There is a road that goes from Spring Valley (west side of park) up the west side of Mt. Washington.  This road is not recommended unless you have four-wheel drive, have been up the road before, and a strong constitution. 

My dilemma...getting up to the grove.  After consulting my topo and a co-worker, I decided to drive up Snake Creek Canyon, hike to the ridge line dividing Snake Creek from Big Wash, then hike the ridge line to the grove, and why not, while I'm up there, scurry up Mt. Washington too.  See map with planned route below.



I hurried to get my chores done in the morning, then took off.  It had been over a year since I was up Snake and I had forgotten how pretty it is up there.  I started my hike, hit the ridge line, and started to bushwhack west.  A view looking north into Granite Basin.

At the saddle, about to leave the trail, looking southeast into Big Wash.

My view from where I stopped for lunch, looking back the way I came.  This is looking east, along the ridge line I was following. 

Looking north to Pyramid, Wheeler, and Jeff Davis Peaks.

When I finally stopped for lunch, I was absolutely exhausted.  I was really sweaty, had been rained on and was a bit damp, and the sky was threatening to storm worse.  Looking west, it seemed like I still had a really long way to go to reach Mt. Washington.  I'm not exactly sure how far I went, I'll need to look at a 7.5 minute topo to try and figure that out.  I did, however, eat my lunch in a truly magnificent Bristlecone grove.  Again, don't know if I reached the Magic Forest, but it was grand all the same.

Looking south across Big Wash to what I think is Lincoln Peak?  See how nasty the sky is looking?

A very, very, very zoomed in view of the trail head where my car is.  The trail head is at 8250ft and by my best estimate from my topo, I had lunch at 10,700ft.

There was some spectacular thunder as I was making my way down and some really cold rain.  I made it safely back to my car, and had thought about doing a short hike part-way up to Johnson Lake, but the sky was telling me it wasn't finished so I called it a day.  I got home, tired, dirty beyond all reason, bummed I didn't make it to the peak, but determined to try again.  Next time, I'm going up the road with an LE ranger, or someone with a truck.

During the walk down, I stumbled upon this little cave/crawl space.  Not the best picture, but I had fun, despite it was limestone and it chewed my skin up pretty bad.

I wish I was a better photographer so I could better capture the beauty of this park.  Hmm...maybe a winter project?