Colden
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May 4, 2024
Kat and I drove to the Loj for a relaxed 07:45 start on a drizzly morning. No problem finding parking on this day...
in fact the booth was not even open which is surprising for a Saturday in May. We scampered along to Marcy Dam and then
up towards Colden where we encountered a small section of flooded trail with floating boardwalks thanks to some recent
beaver activity. Though the summit of Colden was our goal, we had not yet decided on a route until we arrived at the
Avalanche/Arnold junction. As this was Katharina's first "real hike" since her unfortunate broken arm event,
I was letting her call the shots. After weighing the pros and cons of both options, she finally settled
on the Avalanche Pass route, surmising that if we could not make it to the top, at least we would have a nice hike
until the turn around point.
Starting out on a drizzly morning.
Our objective beckons.
Floating bridges across the new beaver pond.
As we hiked through the pass we encountered several sections of icy snowspine, so we spiked on and off repeatedly as
necessary until we hit Avalanche Lake. The sun started making an appearance here, which was unexpected, but well
appreciated as we clambered over the ladders, boulders, and hitch-ups around the perimeter of the lake. At the far end
we sat down for our first lunch with as we enjoyed the lovely lakeside view.
Avalanche pass snow spine.
This erratic is very erratically placed.
Our lunchtime view.
Climbing Colden via the south ridge was more or less snow free, and we could friction our way up the angled slabs with
little difficulty. There are a lot of new stairs along here which I do not remember from last time though. Kat
was slowing down, and at the 3500' marker we took a physical check as this was our point of no return for completing the
loop. She said she was good to continue though, so upwards we went.
I was hiking a bit ahead at one point and suddenly the bushes beside the trail
started shaking. For a moment I thought I was about to encounter a bear,
but it turned out it was only a woman as she completed a bypass in the woods around an area of slippery slab.
Isabelle introduced herself, and she joined forces with us
for the rest of the way up the mountain to the summit, where the three of us sat down to an extended second lunch
followed by a short nap in the warm sunshine.
Stair case mountaineering.
Kat and Isabelle enjoying the walk across the alpine zone.
Summit rock!
We said goodbye to our new companion and descended the north ridge where some serious snow spine was encountered.
Sections of meter deep post holes with crumbling
spine intermixed with long stretches of bare rock had us in and out of spikes continuously. We hoped the
trail would get better after Lake Arnold, but in fact it got worse, with
even more challenging spine intermixed with some
flooded areas, for some of which swimming might have been the appropriate way to tackle these had it been a little
warmer. Fortunately as we got below 1000m, the snow disappeared and the rest of the hike was fairly benign. At the
former dam of Marcy we began to encounter lots of people. The last hour of slogging was made to pass more quickly by
the numerous friendly conversations we had along the way with other mutually tired folk. Finally the parking lot
appeared, finishing our 11.5 hour day.
A spiny descent.
Colden from North Colden.
Somewhere in those murky depths lies a trail.
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