So over Memorial day weekend Noah and I decided that our hike would be dubbed "The Hike to Heaven" or as I better put it, Noah's peace spot.
We left our camp ground around 8:00 Am and got to the Lake Serene trail head. After stretching out, which we both knew was a good/needed thing to do, we began. The you start by following an old road lined. We crossed a series of minor tributaries, which I wouldn't even consider that because one could simply jump over them with little problem. At 1.7 miles, just after leaving the old roadbed, come to a signed junction (elev. 1200 ft.). The Y turn was funny for us because we were greeted with an unfamiliar knocking and with a little looking, we found a woodpecker pounding away on a sign. Why they do things like that is beyond me. We had to decide at this point, do we go straight to Serene or do we do Bridal Veil Falls first?
Well Serene won, so we carried on. We kept on the main trail, dropping a little into a ravine which lead to a crossing of Bridal Veil Creek on a "well-built bridge" which means rock hopping, and then began climbing. The trail has a nasty tendency to use rocks, wood and roots as steps in the 23 total switch backs, which is no small feat by any means! While climbing the switch backs, we took a long sweep east - then a long sweep west - and gaining about 1300 feet in about 1.5 miles from the Creek. When we finally broke the tree line, the fun began. When you get to this point, you are able to turn and take in a stunning views of the valley below as well as out to Ragged Ridge and other peaks of the new "Wild Sky Wilderness".
We continued up the trail, stopping to take pictures of course. We passed the spot where I tried to fall of the mountain the year before(a combination of poor shoes and snow) and relived that scare with a friendly laugh and after a little more walking, we arrived in "Heaven".
Now one thing about Serene at this time of the year is that it is covered in ice. I would image that being tucked away in the mountains and surrounded on 3 sides and mostly in the front, doesn't leave very much time to melt the ice off but all the same, I think the ice makes it that much better.
While there, I got to teach Noah a bit about hiking in the snow. When going up, you always want to kick your feet in as far as you can if you don't have crampons or poles and while going down, you want to dig your heel in as far as you can because if you start to fall, all you do is pitch back and you land on your butt and are fine. That was fun. We had our lunch beneath the towering rocks above of Mount Index. Me and Noah both agreed that if something were to cause the rocks to slide and we were there, dying to the monolithic rocks would be a respectable way to go.
We decided to head back down because of the rain and time. Would have loved to stay but stuff is always there to do back at the bottom. We traversed the switch backs down and decided to take the Bridal Veil Fall trail. We expected the trail to be easy, only being 0.5 miles but BOY was it not!!!
Lots of stairs and traversing. We arrived at the falls and at this point, I had to put my jacket on because the falls were in full force, dousing the trail in water. After taking that in, it was a quick run down the trail and we arrived back at the trail head.
LETS DO IT!
Little wood pecker
After the Switch backs, just breaking the trees.
Not bad
The reason we are here.
Mount Index high above
I almost died here
Noah and I having a picture
Bridal Veil falls
And that is about it.
With this being the first post and all, there will be some issues. Let me know in the comments or on Face book on what should be changed or added! Suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!
Here's to more hikes and as we say on the mountain
Keep Calm and Climb On!
