Cold Pisgah Morning

The weather peeps said Oakridge 33-50 degrees with fog early and some sun; Eugene was 26-45 with same fog and sun combo. Alpine Trail was a good idea, but driving an hour longer for just a tad more solitude? – no, Pisgah was carbon karma rational destination.

Started from the West TH (the BIG one) around 7:00am with headlamp and enough clothes layers to stay warm – I never took off an upper layer, and only around noon did I remove my outer SkyGoat fleece mittens. My car was the only one in the lot, and two were parked at the pay station.

At the top, that pre-dawn golden hour light to the east was perfectly timed.

I mostly rambled around the hill with side trips up and down the hill. Early morning was very cold for the Willamette Valley, but it warmed up eventually – oddly there was more sun the earliest time. The relief map atop Pisgah told the story.

Ice structures were from the ground to the trees and everywhere in-between.

Coming around the east side of the hill the first time in the early morning thick fog first a deer made too much noise and I could barely make out its shape in the fog.

Then a bit lower down the hill, a PIsgah coyote was hunting off in the meadow. I took a couple of pictures and then started yelling and throwing rocks (it was far away, my rocks didn’t get half way). It just turned around and looked at me, then went right back to hunting … a couple minutes later – there was a partner hunting together – the two ambling through the meadow was magical.

Once the sun came out, all the birds were seeking the sun-bathing perch

I took the lesser ‘wilderness’ hike driving less, but the time spent was no less wild with deer, coyotes and song birds of all sizes and songs.

The Route

From the West TH up Tr 1 to the top; down Tr 12 to 2 and down to 4 and back to the top. Down the Southside to Tr 3 and back around to Tr 4 to the gravel road and back to the top. Down the easterly fork to Tr 3 and back to West TH via Quarry Road.

Human traffic was none until after 0900. All three times at the top, nobody there but me. Trail conditions were frozen good early but then as frost melted, Tr 3 was sticky oozy mud in places.

Data Geek Cellar

• Shoes: Altra Lone TIMP
• Pack: Gossamer Gear GRIT (Full day hike kit)
• Upper Layers: tech base layer. DryFit med layer, and SkyGOAT fleece
• Upper shell: none
• Trekking Poles: Gossamer Gear
• Approximate Times: 07:00 – 2:00
• Carbon ratio: 1 hours (1.5 hours driving: 7 hours hiking); YTD = 13.5 hours banked
• Miles hiked YTD: 54.4
• Notes:
  • Photos: high
  • Speed: moderate (too many photos and time watching coyotes)
  • Difficulty: moderate
  • Weather: 25-45 foggy below; sun not until ~1pm

All Trails was materially different again