Last weekend, Troop 21 was supposed to take a backpacking trip to Bell Mountain, but that was canceled due to a forecasted 7 degree low. We rescheduled the trip for this weekend hoping for better weather. The temperature was better, but there was snow on the ground. I looked all over for accumulation totals, and thought I figured out Farmington had 1.5 inches. I was wrong. When we turned off I-55 onto 67, the snow just covered the trees and ground. Still, it didn’t look like any more than two inches. By the time we got another 60 miles farther southwest near the trailhead, the snow was four to six inches deep. All the vehicles made it to the snowy trailhead fine. We started our four mile hike to the summit around 10:30 under heavy grey clouds. The four mile hike was on a gentle ridgeline with some easy ups and downs. The ridge doesn’t have any view in good weather, but we didn’t need views. The snow covered trees were absolutely beautiful. The green pines and cedars were especially pretty. I was leading our group of five scouts and four adults. The snow covered trail was surprisingly easy to follow. I didn’t have any issues finding the trail for the entire hike. About three hours after we started, we made it to the top of Bell Mountain. George, John Harrison, John Zucker, and I hiked off trail for a little bit to see a glade. This glade had a great view of the snow covered hills to the northwest. After admiring this vista for a while, we continued on ¼ of a mile to our glade campsite. We camped on the edge of the main glade on the summit of Bell. Our glade had an even better view over the Shut-In Creek valley, Lindsey Mountain and the forested ridges beyond stretching to the horizon. On the way up, the forest next to the trail had about four inches of snow, but when we were on top of the open mountain, there was six inches covering the area. We set up our tents on top of the snow. After the tents were up, we ate our lunch. I wanted to bushwhack the 700 vertical feet down to Shut-In Creek, but nobody else wanted to. Anyway, we ended up not going down there. We spent the afternoon relaxing in camp. Some of us gathered firewood and others explored the cliff below our camp. We even had a little snowball fight. In the middle of the afternoon, the clouds began breaking up and some blue sky came over us. Around 4, we fired up the stoves for hot chocolate and coffee. Closer to 5, we started boiling water for our freeze-dried dinners. We had Beef Teriyaki with Rice, Beef Stew, Mexican Chicken and Rice, and Lasagna. I also brought some Idahoan Mashed Potato packets. It all tasted great in the cold air. After dinner, we walked over to our fire site where we had collected our wood. Dr. Braude was able to start a great fire with a couple of Esbit tabs. That fire was awesome at night. There is nothing that warms you up as much as a warm fire on a cold night. John Zucker let his boot get a little too close to the fire and burned part of the leather. We went to bed around 9. I slept pretty good considering it was 19 degrees. I was warm enough in my sleeping bag. Last weekend I took my 0 degree bag, but that takes up half my pack and it weighs six lbs. My 15 degree bag is still heavier than my 20 degree and a liner, so I just took my 20 degree and a liner. I should have brought my full length Themarest, but I didn’t. I think I woke up around 7:30. It was a beautiful, sunny, blue sky day. We all had some hot chocolate before eating bagels and cream cheese. By the time tents were down and we were hiking, it was 9:30. The hike back out to our cars went faster than the hike in. The soft powdery snow of yesterday was replaced with hard, icy footprints that we had made yesterday. We made it back to the trailhead with a couple of little snowball fights. We got back to the trailhead a little before noon. On the way back, the two Johns and I tried to drive his Jeep up Johnson Mountain, but the Forest Service has closed the 4wd drive road to the top to protect the ecosystem. The next time we hike around Council Bluff Lake, we’ll bushwhack up from the lake to the top of the mountain. That’ll be a more scenic way than hiking up the gravel road. Mr. Harrison dropped me off at home around 2:10. It was a great backpacking trip to a beautiful wilderness area. The six inches of snow added challenge and beauty to the already scenic area. The panorama above is the glade that was a little off the trail. The panorama below is the great view from our campsite. You can click on both of them to see them larger. Me on the summit
tom
2/8/2010 09:57:03 am
John's adventure reminded me of a similar experience. One of my compadres had forgotten his hay, and suspected that his ears were frostbitten. So he laid down by the fire. Singed hair can jumpstart even the near- dead !! 3/2/2010 05:28:18 am
Ben-That trip looked amazing. We hiked last year on Bell Mountain in the snow but definitely not that much. No many people get to see that wilderness in that condition. Nice job. jm Comments are closed.
|
AuthorMy name is Ben. I love to read, hike, backpack, mountain bike, rock climb, and mountain bike race. Since there are so many great hikes in Missouri, I decided to make a website to describe them. The Mountain BikeI ride a 2010 Specialized Rockhopper Expert 29er. I've upgraded all the original parts, went 1x9 and dropped 5lbs from the stock bike.
My Road BikeI have Willier Izoard for road riding and racing.
My CX BikeI ride a 2010 Specialized Tricross
2010 Race ResultsRiver Trails Mountain Bike Challenge (Kansas)
1st Junior 15-18 Tilles Park Crit 5th Juniors 10-18 Delmarvelous Crit 5th Juniors 15-18 Greensfelder Challenge 1st Juniors 15-18 Rhett's Run 2nd Juniors 15-18 2009 Mtb. Race Results
ICCC Castlewood Race 5th Beginner 19 and under Greensfelder Classic 5th Beginner 19 and under Burning at the Bluff 3rd in Burnin Virgins Category Archives
January 2012
Categories
All
|