Three of us wanted to reach the top of Mt Muller and also see the Kloshe Nanitch lookout so we combined both hikes into one. It took two cars with one parked at the unmarked Kloshe Nanitch trailhead and the other at our starting point at the trailhead to Mt Muller. The shape of our hike was a "T".
The trail from the Mt Muller trailhead starts out smooth and flat but just as you are wondering if you are on the correct trail it gets steep and stays that way until you reach the ridge "Jim's Junction" at 3,250'. We took a right at the ridge and hiked to Mt Muller at 3,684'. This was 2.3 miles. Mt Muller is practically right on the trail so no need to drop packs and scramble to the top. The ridge is not flat but a series of serious ups and downs. Then we headed back to "Jim's Junction" and kept going to Kloshe Nanitch. It was 3.7 miles to Kloshe Nanitch from "Jim's Junction". Be aware that this trail has not been hiked in ages. In fact there were sections where we could not see any sign of a trail and had to look for depressions in the grass/flowers, and salal. We stayed close together so no one would stray. Again, the ridge is not flat but a series of up and downs. On the slopes the flowers were in full bloom. In the forested sections of this trail you could see a trail but once out of the forest we bushwacked. We accidentally hiked up a road to North Point at 3,340' but found this is a privately owned area for telecommunications. We went back down the road and located the former lookout location. It is now a flat surface since the F.S. had to take down the structure due to vandalism. There is a clean bathroom and parking but we understand the road is out of commission. The hike down from the lookout to the trailhead is straight down about 3,000' over 3 miles so watch the knees. There are sections of switchbacks but it is a steep grade down.
My GAIA reported this hike covered 14.62 miles with an ascent of 3,998' and descent of 4,369' (TH elevation difference) with a moving time of 8 hours. We took infrequent breaks but still missed dinner.
We only saw one other person on the trail and she was quickly hiking the Mt Muller loop hike.
Comments