Marble Pass — Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020

First of all, massive shout out to C P for the trip reports from last year and the immense amount of work he put in to clear this trail last year. 

I went out for an afternoon adventure yesterday and got to the turnout spot on the highway around 2 PM. I was able to take a brief trail to the riverside, traverse down the side of the river about a tenth of a mile, cross (river height is knee deep at max depth) and find the first trail marker easily. 

I took some water shoes which were nice for the crossing. Got changed on the other side and got up the embankment where the first marker was. I struggled for a second after that to find the next marker, but then it was relatively easy to follow the markers the rest of the way up. There were some areas with new blow-downs since C P's reports and some of the markers were caught up in this, didn't cause too much difficulty or confusion with keeping the trail though.

Overall, especially once hitting the 'old trail' the trail was relatively easy to follow and in good shape. It's more of a boot path than a real trail, but it's definitely good enough to take you up there. 

I was able to get up to the gulch in C P's trip reports without any real issues. There were a few awkward tree obstacles that required some maneuvering but overall not too bad. Past the gulch that he has listed, there is a clear increase in brushiness, and the rope that he has installed is a really good addition, as the hillside is very narrow, pretty steep/slippery, and the dropoff into the gulch is severe. Rounding that corner, I continued to follow his path as things got a bit brushier, until ultimately his trail ended. I saw his pink marking tape and picked it up to continue on (forgot to replace, so C P if you're going back - let me know, I can replace at the TH). 

I pushed on through progressively higher brush, basically taking the path of least resistance rather than an ideal 'trail'. I marked my path with the pink marking tape, and used a stick that I had picked up to help clear a little of the brush, but ultimately I didn't have gloves or a machete, so this was a bit of a painful excursion. I eventually made it to another gulch, which I traversed up along the left side until hitting a plateau. I tried to find another good entry point, and eventually did cut up into the brush again, but I think this path choice could be vastly improved upon. I continued to push on for a while, but as it was 5:00 and my turn around time, I only had another 15 minutes or so in me until, surrounded by head-high brush, I called it off. I stopped in a small grove of trees, and sat down for a second, only to realize that the tree I was perched on, and one next to me, had significant bark removal and claw marks from some large animal (bear/cougar?). There was bear and cougar scat on the trail, but both were seemingly pretty old, as they were very dry and hard when poking with a stick. I left my little grove and one moment of rest quickly and made my way back down to my second gulch to have a breather and a quick snack break. 

I think it might be a bit easier to either work up this second gulch until making the ridgeline and then traversing along towards the pass, or staying below my 'plateau' and then moving along farther right until eventually going up towards the pass. My path didn't look impossible, but I am not certain it is the most preferable path.. at least until I look closer at topo maps for this last quarter/half mile. Looking at my Garmin GPS while I was up there, I was within a quarter/half mile and 400 vertical feet of elevation or so of the pass. 

Coming down was a breeze, my only recommendation would be to bring some heavy duty gear for the last portion of the trail, and bring trekking poles for the journey down. I'm hoping to make it to the pass to scout how a potential trip beyond might be, so I'll likely be back within the next few weeks for another cut at it with more gear (hopefully a machete, some gloves, and a friend to help).

Thanks again to C P for all of the hard work here last year, it wouldn't have been possible without you! I owe you a coffee or a drink.