Wolfjaws Part 1

Woohoo! I love Spring--err--Winter hiking. Just a couple notes on our hike to the Wolf Jaws on Sunday. I signed us in around 7:20am--the parking lot had all of 5 cars--not a busy day, I guess. After making our final adjustments....Brian [insert evil and winking smiley here], we set off to the WolfJaws. Weather-wise, it was in the high 20's to lo 30's, cloudy with a light snow . Brian wanted to take the SouthSide Trail, over Johns Brook and up the slide---atleast that was the plan. Unfortunately, when we got to the Brook, there really was no safe place to cross---the water was just too high and too fast. So we lost about 45 minutes and ended up backtracking.

This is me in front of an old growth pine tree on the SouthSide Trail. Brian said it reminded him of the Grandmother Tree in the Pack Forest. If MacGuyver had brought some nylon rope, we could have figured out the diameter right there. Or he could have fashioned a measuring tape using twigs and pine needles. Totally possible. He can make just about anything!

Back to Yellow Trail....we followed it to the next sign-in box near the Interior Outpost (below). We're about 3.1 miles so far.

Thanks to this lovely bridge, we were able to cross Johns Brook and forge ahead.

View from the bridge
Not too far from the bridge--the fun begins! The hike to the lean-to was uneventful. This section had a gradual rocky incline, not too bad. Did a little rock-hopping and side stepping to avoid the mud. We crossed a little brook and encountered more snow than rocks and mud on the way to the lean-to. I figured it would be better to each lunch at the lean-to than to try to eat at the WolfJaws junction--wise choice. After a quick break of PBJ sun chips and hot chocolate, we met one of the two guys staying at the lean-to. He said it was pretty icy up there and there were some *technical* spots. Great. He made it to the summit, but his buddy didn't b/c he didn't have snowshoes or crampons. And he tried to snowboard down in some lower spots. All we had were microspikes and snowshoes.

Ok, so we made it to the Wolfjaw Notch. We were within a half mile of the summit to Lower Wolf Jaw and since it was closer, we did that one. That was the longest half mile I've ever been on! Holy Smokes it was icy and steep. I fell about 10 times, slipped, lost my grip and needed the assistance of an outstretched trekking pole more than once. I really had to worked for this one. After a few curse words, I made it to the summit. Yay! My 10th High Peak. There was no view to be had. We were in the clouds. Me and my guy---Mr. Black Balaclava and Mrs. Brown Beanie

I didn't want to spend too much time at the top because I knew it was going to be a nasty ride down to the junction.
I had to go down backwards several times so as not to break essential limbs (on my body, not the trees). I kept repeating what Peggy said going down Phelps "the trees are your friends, use them". I made a lot of friends on Sunday! I was actually wishing we had brought our crampons at this point. Note to self: the next time I'm near the WolfJaws, even on a 90 degree in August, I am going to bring my crampons!

The hike out and down the rest of the way again, was uneventful. And that's a good thing. I was never so happy to see the good ol' bootsucking mud on the trail back to the Garden. We stopped to feed a chippie, but he was playing shy--that's where this oopsy pic came from.

So I only got to go up Lower Wolf Jaw. That's ok, I'll be back to do Upper Wolf Jaw another day (hopefully with crampons). This adventure took us about 9 hours and 11.7 miles round-trip miles (including our backtracking, lunch and pit stops).