17 miles of hiking • 4750' elevation gain •
Awesome loop into a Winter Wonderland. Started at the Wyeth Campground, and took the 411 up towards North Lake, with the thought of possibly tagging Defiance. On the way, we hit snow around 3250', and it deepened to 3-4" by 4000'. Plus, rather than climb through the clouds, they just seemed to thicken all but eliminating the prospect of decent views. So we decided to loop across the Greenpoint Ridge (418) and Plateau Cutoff (412) trails over to Gorton Creek (408) and Nick Eaton (447) to make a mega loop out of it rather than just an in/out. The plateau was flocked beautifully, with snow between 4-8" deep and sticking to everything. Nick Eaton Ridge was awesome and the hiking was easy. After the punishing descent, we veered east on Ridge Cutoff, thinking of taking a look at Indian Point but it too turned out to be entirely shrouded in fog. Continuing downard on Gorton Creek, we cut about two miles off the trip with a plunge downhill (800' in 0.2 miles!) to the Gorge (400) trail - yeeehaw! The 400 through here was surprisingly pleasant, with hardly any freeway noise and a few nice views of Wind Mountain, into the gorge, and up towards Indian Point. Just an awesome day in the woods!
Comments
Karl
December 30, 2014
We definitely saw some large bootprints heading south on Green Point trail, yeah! I bet yours were mixed in there. Oh man, so close! We'd hoped for better views too, originally thinking of just going straight up to Defiance, but in the end not even bothering to drop down to Indian Point. Still, it was a beautiful day in the forest. The flocking was just magnificent. Between you, Pablo, and Nat, you've sure got me interested in doing that Deadwood Direct route one of these days, and checking out those views!
acorn woodpecker
December 29, 2014
Looks like we just missed one another by a couple hours on either Nick Eaton Ridge or Gorton Creek Trail. You all must have seen my bootprints as well as the other set of large bootprints going the same direction. Just the right amount of snow without needing snowshoes. Wished there were more views, but the day was mostly dry. I had intended to attempt Greenpoint but bailed on that idea after views failed to materialize. I ended up getting some by going out to Deadwood and Indian Points. That was a good choice! Glad you all made the most of your outing, too!