Verstovia Hike

Foggy early, becoming mostly sunny. Calm winds and temperatures in the 40s.

With plans to meet up with Jason B. at 7am, I was up much earlier than I have been recently.

When I woke, I could see pink skies through the trees to the east. By the time I was out where I could see better, the color had faded.

Patchy fog partially obscured the mountains when I headed out. The skies must not have cleared too much before dawn, as my car window had only a light dew that had just barely started to freeze.

I had a good conversation with Jason. It included an update on some preliminary results from last summer’s sampling, and a bit about their plans for next summer.

With a call at 8:30am and promising weather, I decided to do my walk and talk, but go further up the trail than I have previously.

I started shortly after 8am, and made it to the viewpoint in 26 minutes. I was carrying a pack and stopped to shed layers, so the time seemed like progress. (I didn’t need to do much talking, or I would have taken a little longer.)

After a brief break, I continued up. I wasn’t yet sure whether I would go up to Picnic Rock, but I had microspikes, just in case.

My pace going up was not fast. I made it to the second viewpoint after 54 minutes. After a break there, the day was still young, and I was feeling okay, so I pushed on.

I made the ridgeline at 1 hour 21 minutes. While resting there, I was passed by someone hiking up. He seemed to be moving at a decent pace.

My final break was at the changing tree (which is basically the last big tree before the trail exits the forest) which I reached after being on the trail for 1 hour 47 minutes. Compacted, icy snow was on the trail from shortly before the changing tree, and during my break, I put the microspikes on.

Once out of the trees, there was much more snow. Also plenty of evidence that previous hikers had done some post holing. Fortunately for me, this slope was still in the shade, and had set up overnight. With the microspikes, I had no problem walking on top of it.

I didn’t make note of the time I reached Picnic Rock, but based on photos, it would have been within a minute or so of 2 hours.

The fellow who had passed me was getting ready to start back down. I asked him how long it had taken him to get to Picnic Rock. He said about an hour or hour and five minutes, but that was with a couple of breaks. I said that sounded fast. He said it was leg day.

Maybe if I keep my efforts up, I’ll get to where I can make it up to Picnic Rock in an hour. In a hypothetical scenario where I had legs in their present condition and a much upgraded lungs/heart, getting to Picnic Rock would probably be tough on my legs. In the actual world, my cardio vascular conditioning is definitely the limiting factor.

After a brief walk around the summit area to check out the views, I settled in to relax.

I had the place to myself with minimal wind and warm sun.

Once my call was done I shed layers, laying the sweat soaked ones out on the rocks to dry. I enjoyed the warm sun on my skin and set myself up so I could comfortably lean back facing the sun and just be there.

It was a timeless experience, but the math tells me I was probably up there for over an hour.

Before I packed up to head down, I took another walk around the summit area. This time I started post-holing more. The sun and warm air had started to soften the surface layer and it no longer supported my weight as consistently.

I was interested to see many ptarmigan tracks where they had walking between patches of trees.

One set of tracks looked different to me. It probably was from a ptarmigan, but didn’t look like the others.

I spent a few minutes observing lichens and bryophytes on the exposed rock then got ready to go down the hill.

With hopes of seeing a ptarmigan, I walked down the ridgeline rather than the trail.

I saw many more tracks (from both ravens and ptarmigan), but no ptarmigan.

I went down to where I could see the trees I call The Hikers. As I suspected based on what I could see from in town, one of them has died. I don’t know how much longer it will be before it breaks off.

Rather than walk back up to where I had left the trail, I side-hilled over to where I could meet up with the trail.

It was not easy going. Between the trees (which probably kept the snow from cooling enough to set up hard) and the sun which had come around and started to warm the surface, I was punching through much more often.

A strenuous dozen minutes later, I was back at the changing tree. Mostly none the worse for wear (though maybe a knee or hip will tell me otherwise tomorrow).

Along my side quest route, I noticed deer tracks in a couple different places. I was somewhat surprised one (or more) would be up so high this time of year. However, it’s been a low snow year, and there are plenty of exposed shrubs to browse on.

I made better time heading down, taking just over an hour from the changing tree to the trailhead.

Along the way I heard a Pacific Wren singing. It reminded me that I’ve heard a few birds sing over the past week or two, but only when the sun was shining. Today’s wren song seemed strong, but it only sang once.

I was definitely feeling some fatigue in my legs as I headed down. However it was not so bad that my legs felt shaky. Time will tell if they are sore.

All in, I was on the mountain for over 5 hours. Given my relatively early start, I made it home before mid-afternoon. It’s the first time I have been to Picnic Rock during the winter season in a long time. Off the top of my head, I suspect the last time was Christmas Bird Count in January 2010.

I considered going out for sunset just to confirm it’s now setting behind Kruzof Island (which I think probably started a few days ago). However, it dropped behind clouds before setting, so I didn’t go out again.

My iNaturalist Observations for Today