Plateau and Sugarloaf

October 10, 2019

Since we could not hike the Devil's path traverse due to a trail closure, we decided to hike a loop up to the path to get a feel of this terrain. I led a hike to hit Plateau and Sugarloaf in a group of six. We struck out from the Roaring Kill trailhead and started up the gently climbing trail. Lots of interesting rocks formations were found along the way, including an old quary site which provided for many photo opportunities. We came to a lookout and a bit of trail confusion. It looked like the trail continued down past the lookout, but Marcel declared that was a no-go. Next Lynne took point and took us down a well defined path which petered out. Then I asserted my expert leadership, saw two marked trails leaving from the last marker, and followed the blue markers back up the trail... the way we had come earlier. Fortunately I recognized one of the photogenic rocks fairly quickly, and we turned around for the third time. Fourth time a charm, we got on the right trail and this took us down below the lookout and across a stream.

Exploring the funky rocks.

The trail steepened after we reached the ridge and several fun scrambling parts were found on the way up Plateau. We passed a fantastic lookout, made note to come back here, and pushed on to the non-fantastic summit. At least this one was marked with a tiny cairn and a disk nailed to a twig. We returned to the lookout for a long lunch break and met another friendly group here and chatted for a while.

Summit of Plateau.

The climb up Sugarloaf had Lynne worried as she had read something about this being nicknamed "Suicide gully" or something of that nature. The scrambling was a hoot, and I am not sure what Lynne was scared about as she scampered up each obstacle like a monkey, all the time sporting a big smile on her face. We found a great lookout just before the summit, though this was human made by clear cutting a section of forest. Since someone had chosen to leave a trace here, we figured we would enjoy it and sat down for second lunch in some unforcasted warm sunshine.

Steep descent off of Plateau.

Packing up, had us walking through the woods again where the summit came and went with no sign nor trace and then we were descending fairly steeply down towards Twin. The trail here was blocked off with some ribbon and we turned down to the valley. We came to a pretty multi-tiered waterfall where the trail crossed the stream at the top. We head off trail here to scramble down and explore the various cascades, and not wanting to climb back up, we bushwhacked from the bottom, contouring along, and climbing a bit to avoid some nasty brush until we picked up the trail again. Almost immediately after that we came across Dibble's Quarry and this was a hoot with a castle like structure built out of the stone and many arm chairs and benches to sit down in. We stopped for one last extended break here and chatted with a couple of no fixed address who had been living the van life for the last fourteen months. A short hike down from here with nothing to note except for a suddenly appearing chipmunk that caused an impressive squawk out of Judy. We arrived at the parking area after eight and a half hours on the go.

Pretty waterfall.

Marcel proclaiming on his throne.

[Home] [CAT35] [Main] [Prev] [Next]