I went up the Rock of Ages trail, which juts off just before Horsetail Falls. I had forgotten how slippery it was. I took the side trail that goes to the top of Horsetail Falls and the other one that goes to hole-in-the-rock. The hole-in-the-rock was quite exposed and very windy. I was hoping I wouldn't be one of those people. And speaking of them, up at the top in the snow I ran into a large group of Mazamas sporting harnesses, quickdraws, 60m ropes and some cordelettes. I felt inadaquate with PB&J sandwiches and only a 30m twin rope for my tree rapells.
I turned around near 3500' as the trail was under a foot of snow and no blazes to be found. Instead of trying and getting lost going the normal route down to Triple Falls, I retraced steps back down to the Devil's Backbone. It was uber slippy (as Bear Grylls says) and I was lucky not to break my ass. But as usual my knees got beaten down by the downhill hiking, why even bother training?
At the Devil's Backbone I brewed up a Mountain House meal with our new MSR Reactor. It had 2 cups of water boiling in the time it took me to call Ingrid and let her know I bailed on the longer route. Perfect location for some salty goodness.
