It was March 13 and still week 9. It was bound to happen sooner or later. It was perhaps my inexperience, or maybe just bad luck, or just maybe it was the right thing to do under the circumstances. I came within 750 meters in distance and within 100m of vertical to the summit of Mt. Hardy when I decided to abandon and back track my way to the trail head. I followed what I thought was the main trail of the Mountains to Sea Trail but other than the blue blaze at the trail entrance, there were no other signs that this was the right trail. It seemed to follow the published track by KI4SVM in terms of direction but the expected feeder trail to the ridge line of Mt. Hardy did not turn out to be the right one. I followed what I thought was a lightly treaded trail to the right as expected. The tread got lighter and lighter until it vanished. It became a potential bushwhack as the summit is clearly visible from my vantage point. A bush whack at this point would eat up a lot of time and energy which put the subsequent two planned summits for the day in jeopardy. Also I could get lost in this vast wilderness and take the entire day to find my way back. I thought that the better part of valor and the more sensible one is to abandon, back track to the trail head and proceed to the other summits. I had 6 kilometers invested into the hike to be invested as exercise – live and summit hike Mt. Hardy another day.
This is a quote from Mountain Goat Joel Shannon KC4WZB “This is an easy hike to get confused on. I knew to look for the side trail to the summit, saw one, checked my GPS, it said I wasn't there yet so I kept going, just like many others had. Had to backtrack 0.10 mile, but got on the right track. There is no cell coverage at all on this summit. SMS did not work and without hunt and pounce, RBN, or APRS it might be a bust anyway. Several places to get off track on this one. K2JB Jimmy Dean Blair said this one was a summit that made him decide to not activate alone if there's not a really good trail. I barely got 4 contacts and had to come down in the pouring rain when I did this one. Several others have had a tough time on this one. Let me know if you want to do this one again and I would be glad to tag along. 73-KC4WZB”
The trail head across the street from Rough Butt Bald Overlook
Rough Butt Bald Overlook Parking -
One of the many small streams to cross along this trail
Another stream to cross
So close yet so far - I was within 750m and 100m of vertical at this point on the trail
Distant and nearby peaks as identified by Peakfinder
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