It seems like it is getting late in the year to do Teanaway hikes, but not much snow has fallen yet, so what the heck? JimR and I decided to hike to Medra Pass, an old favorite that we hadn't done in awhile.
From the parking area, we walked across a sturdy bridge over the Teanaway river and into the peaceful canyon of Medra Creek, which the path follows for several miles. Most fall color was gone from the plants and a wintery brown prevailed. But the trail still sported a sprinkling of golden larch needles, though the larches themselves were bare.
I love the way this trail eases you into the quite substantial climb to the pass. The first mile is almost level, then the gradient gradually, almost sneakily increases-- until you suddenly you are gasping for air and that the trail is climbing at a crazy steep angle and you didn't quite know where it started doing that.
As we climbed, fall turned into winter, with a thin layer of crusty frozen snow covering the path. The temperature dropped below freezing but there was little wind, so things were not too uncomfortable. Nearing the pass, the views opened up and a snow-dusted Mt Stuart came into view. We lingered briefly at the summit, then headed down at a quick pace, try to stay ahead of a rapidly approaching sunset.
On the way back we encountered a strange sight: two gray flying squirrels laying in a heap right on the trail. Were the dead? In hibernation and fell off a tree somehow? Mid-air collision? Why hadn't we seen this on the way up?
The trail is in much better shape than I remember (I think it has received some heavy maintenance work recently), which is both good and bad. It is good to a have a nice trail to hike on, but the bad part is that it is attracting horse and motorcycle use (legal here). Best to hike here when snow still lingers at the pass and some uncut blowdowns on the path to keep the traffic down.
Stats: 8 miles RT 2300' gain. Did the hike in my "Cotton Kills" Target brand jeans. Am still alive, in fact not even maimed for life. Strange.
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