Parked at Lowe Creek Road 6030 at the Money Creek Bridge where there's a gate. A new gate but there's parking for maybe a dozen rigs in an informal spot there. There was one truck there today.
I wasn't exactly sure where to head up because all the TR's didn't indicate a gate in them. Eger to just head up I mistakenly took first left turn, then consulted the GPS and headed back to the road after a 30 minute side trip. A road walk it was.... Not bad, nice day.
The turn you need to take is on a slight corner before the road heads downward. It's all grassy (see pic).
The trail is an old road, naturalized by time.
Without snow I followed the path of least resistance, the old road to the quarries.
The first quarry has some sort of log thingy there. Looked like a fallen bridge then with further inspection some sort of mining thing? Anyone know what this is?
There's some water at the first quarry. Some friends were there to greet me. So many, so cool. I took a few dozen pics....
Old roads....
At the second quarry a couple of piles of bear scat. I didn't think too much about them so I walked closer to the rock face then returned to count 21 piles of bear poop. This time I looked around for you know what. That's lots of scat in a small area. I really didn't spend much time there.
I headed up at the end of a faded road/trail. Steep rough country if bagging Palmer is your plan. No more trail work here. Both sides of the ridge drop off steeply. Care must be taken as I almost stepped into nothingness thinking there was earth beneath the brush. A close call. I did well with the drop offs on either side, I'm not a huge fan of exposure. What was really getting me was the brush on my legs. Forgot the tall gaiters, epic mistake here. The trail is obscure, a faint boot path in places. Was really digging it as the brush was digging into me. At 6:30pm, 3,175 feet I opted to turn around. The time and my scratched up legs telling me it'll be here to be climbed another day.
On the descent care was taken to remain on route and to not get too close to edges above the quarry as they might collapse like a cornice. Was digging the views, beautiful country along route 2.
I didn't waste much time on the descent although I did check out some stuff I missed at the first quarry down the hill.
Back at the road I was on auto pilot wishing I brought a bike. I was at my car soon enough.
11.5 miles
2335 gain
6 1/2 hours rt (lots of stops)
Bugs, not bad a few mosquitoes. No ticks.
Ice axe for steep duff/ walking stick.
Gps
Somebody went to a lot of trouble to get rocks down from way up there on the mountain. It must have been more than gravel. Any idea what was so valuable?
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