Mount Catherine — Sunday, Jun. 20, 2021

The service road up to the "parking lot" is snow free but there are patches of snow on the road as I continued on. I didn't venture too much farther down FS 9070 before I turned around and parked in front of the trailhead. Two other hikers were starting their ascent as I parked around 0915hrs. 

The snow started right away for about 100 yards or so up the river bed and then after that the trail is clear and visible. It's very rocky for the first half mile and then it becomes a gentle incline soft with pine needles and moist soil. This was my third time hiking Mount Catherine. 

I ran into a couple of fallen trees but neither really caused any major issues. There is one small snow patch to get over prior to reaching the constant snow on the upper reaches of Mount Catherine. Around 4,600 feet, expect a lot of snow that is fast melting. The snow that is in the suns rays is becoming soft and I post-holed knee deep coming down in one section. 

I was intending on catching the two hikers that started up as I pulled in but I never found them. I did, however follow their fresh boot prints about as far as I could manage. It didn't appear that neither one of them were using hiking poles or traction devices but I optioned for at least hiking poles. at 4,600 feet, the trail is off and on. It's mostly visible, and since I'm not an expert on route finding, I was really contemplating on turning around. I stood on a snow field staring at Granite Mountain for about 10 minutes going back and forth on if I should continue on or not. I optioned to press on. 

The hair was standing up on the back of my neck and I could feel some anxiety of getting lost or turned around as I navigated the snow covered floor of the forest. I clutched my hand held GPS wondering if it was going to malfunction or run out of batteries. My heart was beating out of my chest. I should turn around. No, keep pressing on. I'm .35 miles from the summit. Keep going. No, this is ridicules. I'm going to get lost. 

But alas, I kept moving forward. I was able to climb up a small slope of ice and snow with a few kick steps which put me on the visible trail again. It wasn't long and the trail disappeared under a blanket of soft melting snow. 

I suppose I could've made the summit but fear of not being able to find my way back got the best of me. Maybe I watch too many episodes of "I Shouldn't be Alive" or maybe I have anxiety of becoming a statistic or the newest search and rescue mission. Whatever the case may be, I turned around and started my slow descent down using my handheld GPS to guide me through the land navigation course I just came through. And on my way back, I passed another hiker heading up. He seemed confident enough as he traveled on and I thought for a split second to maybe turn back around and follow him up so at least I wasn't going at it alone. 

The part that had me all in knots was fairly easy to navigate using the GPS. I did have a moment where I was unsure where to go and I could feel myself about to panic but I just closely zoomed in on my line on the GPS and it guided me right out. Maybe I need to be more confident in my hiking abilities and trust my gear. I found my way back without any issues and made it back to the ol' Dodge Ram 4x4. 

I've posted a link to my Youtube channel for your viewing enjoyment.