About an hour after the hike was over we got a text message from our first-time guest telling us how awesome the hike was, and how awesome Redline Guide Mike Maciel was. Oh, and that she’d be back. Being new to winter hiking, Mike decided the 4310-foot 4000-footer we call Mt Pierce would be a fine choice. We have to agree. And as it turned out, it was. Mike took some photos for us — which we turned into a compilation video, of course — and he also offered this brief written summary.
I woke up this morning and my weather app was showing me igloos. If you don’t happen to have the same app I do, that’s pretty cold, like double-digits-below-zero cold. Not a deal breaker by any stretch, but if pushing the start of the day just a bit will earn us a quick bounce back in the right direction and not compromise our plan I’m all for it. Our guest flew all the way out from the Midwest for her first winter 4K, the least we can do is not turn her into a popsicle in the parking lot. So we took our time and the temps “warmed up.” The higher summits forecast had said the winds would drop as well. We hit the window just right and found ourselves on top of Mt. Pierce with the summit to ourselves and no wind whatsoever. Our guest soaked in the lunar-like landscape, some time with a few gray jays, and great views.
After working our way back below treeline we stopped at the junction for a snack and some hot tea, then retraced our snowshoe tracks back out through the picturesque snowy woods. —Mike M.
Sounds like an incredible day. And the photos back it up.
Great job, Mike, and to our guest, way to go! Thanks for adventuring with Redline Guiding.