We can see Council Mountain from our house.
- October 22, 2020
- Team: Julie, Tuesday Dave
- Peak: Council Mountain, 8126'
- 7.7 miles, 2270' gain, 6:20 car-to-car, Class 1 and a bit of 2
Note: click images to see a larger version in a new window
| Today's outing was sandwiched between motor vehicle excitements. The first piece of bread was this morning, as we were driving the winding and bumpy dirt road to No Business Saddle. Suddenly we were staring at the grill of a fully-loaded log truck, going much too fast, as it came ripping around a blind corner on the wrong (our) side of the road. | |
After our pulses returned to normal, we eventually found our trailhead and got walking. Cold. The first part of the trail is pretty shady and didn't offer much in the way of photography. So we were pretty excited to get out into the sunshine. Cameras out! |
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The trail gains elevation at a steady rate, so we were soon ready for a break. Puffies on- even in the sun! |
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The views kept coming as the forest thinned out. |
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Lest you get the idea that it was getting warmer with all that sunshine, the slight tint to the foreground here is frost. Mixed with a few flakes of snow and perhaps a little graupel. |
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A couple hours in and we can finally see our peak. Julie thought it looked an awful long way away. |
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The trail by now has done most of its gain. Time for some ridgewalking. But the trails (there are many now) wander around a bit, and the best route is not shown on the map. We did a little extra elevation on the one we chose. |
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But soon enough, we were on the final ridge. We had come through the saddle just right of center here. |
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There's Dave on top, taking advantage of the photography opportunities. And of course, Ruby went with him to be in front. |
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Julie is almost there. |
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Summit. |
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The views from Council are pretty spectacular, especially on a day with such clear air. As one example, there's Thompson Peak and Williams Peak in the Sawtooths. 75 miles away. Yep, them is clear air. But there was also a breeze. A cold breeze. And we were in the 80s here just a couple weeks ago. |
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So with a lack of acclimatization to the cold, and despite warm gloves and puffies on again, etc., we had to head down. |
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| Still lots to look at. Snow patch on our peak. Can you see Julie? |  |
We found a slightly better route for our return. Back at the rig, it had not warmed enough to melt the snow crystals on the ground. It might be time to switch the cold beers for hot toddies. |
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| Then about that sandwich.... on the way home, there were two guys standing in the road on a blind corner waving their arms. Julie postulated they had hit a cow. But as Dave eased us around the corner, we saw why the guy had blood on his face. They had rolled a rental UTV, and it was laying on its side. Dave and I helped right the rig, then as we followed them down the mountain we ate their dust for a couple miles. | |
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| Map |  |
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