Saturday morning at sunrise Diane led 8 of us to Mt. Elsay. We arrived back at the parking lot for the sunset, just as Diane promised in her email to us.
Hello Everyone
The weather continues to hold and it looks as though we will have a great day on Saturday.
A few details on the hike:
The trip listing was not quite correct. The plan is to hike up to the trail junction just past the Brockton lookout, then complete a loop that goes behind Mt. Seymour, by Mt. Elsay and return to the junction. The loop does not go past Elsay Lake – it is at the end of a side trail. Whether we go up Mt. Elsay or along the side trail to the lake will depend on the time. I fully expect to go up Mt. Elsay but a trip to the lake might be a bit too much. We will make these decisions as we reach the appropriate junctions.
Please note that this is an exploratory hike – I have not done it before. I have no idea what the condition of the trail is but this hike is listed as challenging in the best conditions. I expect there will be times where we have to look for the trail and there may be some bushwacking. There will definitely be steep slopes (think of Second Peak) and there are a couple of boulder fields. This hike is described as difficult and long. I have found reports of between 8 and 12 hours to complete and distances from 15 to 20 kilometers. Elevation gain is listed at about 420m but cumulative is over 700m.
Please understand that this may be a very long day! Make make sure that you are prepared with lots of layers of clothing, food, water and a good headlamp that works. As far as I can tell, there is only one source of water along the trail and that is on the east side (there may be other small streams), so please bring enough. I hope to proceed at a moderate pace but it will be steady, so stamina not speed.
We will meet at the Old Buck Trailhead in time to depart at 7:00am. Sunset is 6:30 so we should have lots of time.
I think we have a great group to do this hike and am really looking forward to it.
Please let me know if you have any questions,
Diane
Thank you Diane Allison, as the British say the trip was brilliant!
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