The Bucky Direct

 


August 6th

Feeling the need for quick elevation gain during a busy weekend, Kriss and I grabbed our packs and our Doberman Tessa and headed to a local spot for some training.  The drive is short until we get to the rough 4WD road after which it’s another 15 minutes of bumping and weaving to the reservoir. 

This hike is one of those little known or traveled routes which provides solitude during our exertion.  There really isn’t a trail, but we’ve been here before and generally know the way.  Our warmup consists of 15 minutes walking along the edge and then through the woods to the base of a steep couloir while gaining maybe 100 ft.  Then the real fun begins as we head straight up the center of the couloir, which is mostly devoid of trees, to the shoulder of Mt. Bancroft slightly higher than where the normal route from Loch Lamond arrives.  It’s a leg burner, especially with weight on one’s back and gains us another 1,200 ft towards our goal.  We stop for a drink and snack in the sun.

Wanting at least 1,500 ft today, we continued up the ridge to an intermediate high point at 12,462 ft.  It was really a nice morning, and we rested a bit while enjoying the view.  For me, any day spent above treeline is a great day. 




Reminding each other that I had a big dead Ponderosa Pine to cut down back at home, we headed back down the ridge then the steep couloir and finally out to the car.  Our reward for the morning effort was finding a couple of edible puffball mushrooms while logging another 1,710 ft of gain and 2.3 miles of training round trip.



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