Review for
Poot Peak Hiking Trail
This is a difficult, slick, rocky ascent of 2,600 ft. Poot Peak.
(Sheldon has never shared the boys' and my ambition to climb the "Chocolate Drop" mountain across the bay?! So on Sunday, July 14, when he was invited on an all-day Ling Cod fishing charter, Ken invited us to scale the Peak after church. This hike review from lonelyplanet.com provides some fun commentary, so I'll just add my italic parenthesis :)
The
trailhead begins at the Halibut Cove Lagoon.
A moderate 2.6-mile
climb along the China Poot Lake Trail
takes you to a campsite on the
lake.
(Gorgeous fireweed blooms among the ferns... and devil's club on the trail.
Clayton found recent sign of a hungry bear on the base of this tree!)
(We'll stop in at the lake campsite on the way home...
right now we're on a mission to get closer to the mountain!)
From there, the trail to the peak diverges
after the Wosnesenski
River Trail junction.
(A more rapid rise in elevation...
a look back over the lake is a welcome breather!)
(A mama spruce hen was reluctant to leave her nest near the trail)
For a little over a mile you'll clamber upward
through thinning
forest...
(Snowball fight!)
(It's AMAZING... steep!!)
...until you reach the Summit Spur,
where the route climbs even more
precipitously...
...to the mountain's lower summit - 2,100 ft. in elevation.
From
here, reaching the very top involves scaling
a shifting wall of scree, a
feat that should be attempted
only by those with some rock-climbing
experience.
(Hee, hee! My boys were so patient with their panting mother, stopping quite frequently by now with the excuse to take more photos of the incredible views! Screaming leg muscles and annoying mosquitoes couldn't deter me from the TOP.)
(WOOWEE!! WE MADE IT - SUMMIT!!! 3.5 hr. hike UP)
(A breathtaking view down the back side)
(A glimpse over the face... in between the mountain goat hair!)
(Great is the Lord and highly to be praised!)
(Brandon took some amazing panorama shots on his phone.
Single click to expand.)
Single click to expand.)
(Part of something SO much BIGGER!)
In wet weather, it should be avoided altogether.
(Yea... now we get to go down?!)
(Yea... now we get to go down?!)
(A lovely bed to rest a minute)
(1,000 diamonds shimmer on the lake.)
(NOW we get to stop at the campsite! :)
(Only 2.5 hrs. to hike back DOWN!)
Getting
from the lake to the summit and back
will likely take the better part of
a day.
(We left the Homer harbor at 1 p.m. and returned by 10 p.m.
What a GORGEOUS day and AMAZING experience with my boys!)
Comments