The last 2 miles of road is a bit rough, but one sedan has made it. With a large group, it's slow going. We didn't start hiking until ~9:45.
The trail to the former fire lookout site on Church Mountain is well established.
Very boring for the first ~3 miles.
First is road, then zigzag. I quickly lagged behind 3 guys.
Finally the trees open to a lovely meadow.
Here patches of glacier lilies and pasque flower, melting creek, some muddy patches.
Tons of corn lilies, very green.
The last bit is an easy scramble. Not loose rock. There's a cable, if you want to hang on.
However, one of us stopped here.
The view at the lookout site is tremendous.
The real Church Mountain is still to the west.
I didn't stop, and headed down north through snow to avoid the steep drop from the lookout site.
As I was putting on spikes and ice axe, Karsten came over and attempted Church Mt with me.
Here's the group, and them watching our attempt.
K is very sure on snow, just in his running shoes, and went ahead more numble than I can be.
We did see one guy coming back to the snow, but where the snow connects to the rock, the terrain looked loose and steep.
After consulting the track I downloaded, we decided to tackle from the ridge, at least it's solid rock.
Well, many ups and downs. Had to pick our ways. Sketchy at times.
We could see our group at the lookout site, and then they left.
I continued ~15 minutes after K gave up.
When I saw there was one more peak to climb (see the last photo), I needed another 30 minutes, I turned around.
It was getting too late, and and clouds were rolling in,
These photos were taken then, seeing what's still ahead of me, and the lookout site behind.
On the way back, I lost my way twice.
Eventually I found K waiting. Thank you.
The two of us now took the snow molt, then back on the ridge. Avoided the loose rock terrain, and some steep rock scrambles.
Back at the lookout site, Elvis was waiting for us. K stuffed the climbing pack into his pack. I should have left half of my pack here, to make myself more stable. Next time, I'll bring an extra bag for that purpose, just in case. 3 of us headed down quickly, with me trailing behind. On the way, caught up with S and her husband. Everyone else was waiting at the TH. Vera was taking a nap in the car. At least I wasn't the last one.
On the drive back, K told us his Danish military service (4 years) and training as an outdoor guide. Quite interesting. He still needs to bike home. I took the light rail. Got home ~7:30pm, not bad.
