Acorn Trail

My nephew Dustin called last week and said he was going up the Acorn Trail on Saturday. I said, you'd better have ice axe and crampons! (I thought I was really warning him of something!) He said, yeah, I've got 'em... where do I park? So I told him, and then on Saturday morning I went out and thought I'd meet him on the trail for fun. But he was running a little late and after I went about a half mile up I had to turn around because I didn't have ice axe and crampons! It's still pretty deep up there. I finally saw him just as he was parking down below the "private road" sign and got to say hi and that I was jealous. He and a friend were planning on going up to Dawson to build an igloo and spend the night.

My first thought when seeing this track was Mountain Lion! It's a pretty big track. I was out in the morning when cougar like to eat breakfast, so I was a little nervous and considered turning back since I was solo. Then I noticed the toe nails (read = big dog). A cougar track is also a little wider at the top of the pad behind the toes. So, on I went.

Snow is patchy at the beginning but makes it hard to follow the trail if you don't know where it is.

The trail is pretty well covered from about a half mile up. There was no way to continue without crampons. I decided I need to add those to my equipment list. I don't know if one can be a "real" mountain man without them. In fact, I'm pretty sure. Craigslist, here I come.

252-16=236