Been wanting to get up to the Polallie lookout for a while, so I decided to give it a shot Sunday after catching a great view of Mt. Daniel while turning down the Cooper River Rd. Drove up to the Pete Lk. TH and set out around 8:30. The Pete Lk. trail meets the Tired Ck. trail at 1.4 miles. From there the (Tired Ck.) trail gets very overgrown for a short distance, no fun the morning after a downpour. If my shoes hadn't already been soaked from the previous days Teanaway trip I probably would have bailed there, but I pressed on and the trail soon opened up a little more. Glimpses of Lemah/Chimney Rock start here. 0.6 miles from the Pete Lk trail you hit an old road. Go east towards Tired creek and pick up the trail again at the marker right next to the creek.
From there it switchbacks uphill steadily to the Tired Ck. basin, with occasional views of peaks (peeks of peaks?) through the trees. Snow free all the way to the basin, but then the trail is soon buried in several feet of snow. Went straight uphill once I lost the trail and walked all the way down the ridge to the lookout, but it's easier for now to just go cross country through the basin in the snow. Was surprised to pick up some tracks (?) up towards the lookout and was soon up there. Trees prevented clear views in places but good views of much of the crest in this area can be found. Clouds were starting to build in and I didn't want to get soaked again so I headed on down the trail. Surprisingly, ran into one other person going up on my way down, I don't think this trail gets a lot of use. I figured about 11 miles r.t., ~2700' elevation.
Awesome pictures!
The last time I was on Polallie Ridge was June of 2005. No snow at the lookout then, or anywhere along the ridge for that matter.
Bear's breast was also free of snow during that trip, to my recollection.
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