Pine Creek

We woke up to blue skies, with the morning sunlight shining on Waverly Mountain. The first two miles of our hike were along Pine Creek Trail, a well-maintained, flat trail beside Pine Creek that crossed in and out of meadows and forest. This might have been the most beautiful and relaxing two miles of hiking of my life. Along the way, we passed our second all female high school-aged group (with the exception of two male leaders), this one on horseback. We suspect they may have been deaf-mutes - they were friendly enough, but seemed not to notice when we asked questions like "what group are you with?"

Our loop continued on South Pine Creek Trail. Shortly after turning onto South Pine Creek Trail, we crossed knee-deep Pine Creek. The current was going pretty strong and the water was freezing cold, so we decided to set up a line across the river to transport our packs. This was probably completely unnecessary, but sort of fun.

After crossing Pine Creek (10,700'), the trail continued up to a ridge of Mt. Harvard (12,000') over 1 mile. This was probably the steepest climb I've ever done, although we took it pretty slowly so it wasn't that bad. Once we crossed over the ridge line, the trail forked in two directions, both of which quickly disappeared. The next few miles of the mostly non-existent South Pine Creek Trail passed through a secluded valley of Mt. Harvard. From here until the crossing the next ridge the following day, we saw no people, no trail, and a lot of non-human poop. This was my first experience with serious off-trail navigation - the idea was pretty scary at first, but the valley was sparsely wooded, so orienteering was easy given the constant visibility of recognizable creeks, peaks, and lakes.

Bottom line: Pine Creek Trail is likely the most scenic trail I have ever hiked on. Don't hike South Pine Creek Trail without a good Trails Illustrated map and a little bit of orienteering knowledge. [Picasa]