EISPIRATEN

Yep, the fence stops on the left just out of frame, we just walked our bikes around that side and ducked under some branches. On the way back out it has a motion sensor for cars and just opened up for us.

Thanks for the detailed report and photos, bummer you had weather issues but it still looks like quite a trip!

It could be done as an overnight if you wanted, there is no water at the saddle of course, but it would actually be a pretty nice place to camp with flat ground, shade, and nice views all right there.

Dima, I was originally going to do this on Friday when I knew you were busy, then I moved it at the last minute to Saturday to catch up on a little more sleep. I figured it would be hot and kind of unpleasant, so I didn't want to invite you into a trap to suffer with me! The heat ended up not being ...

Sun setting on the way up to Smith Mountain saddle



Nightlife






GPS track of route

Sun coming up on Smith Mountain wmermaidregister01.jpg Nice views from the Smith Mountain summit wmermaidregister02.jpg First rattlesnake of the day wmermaidregister03.jpg Bear Creek and West For Bear Creek junction, much drier than last time (first photo of my trip report from last time) wmermaidre...

Dima and I had plans for something interesting this weekend, but unfortunately had to put them off over concerns about heat. So instead I decided to go out by myself and finally return to West Mermaid/Peak 4654 by a known route in order to actually reach it this time and place a summit register. My ...

Since I'm moving I have to do some downsizing, including getting rid of my much loved beater, Scooty Puff . I was hoping to take it with me, but don't actually need two cars in my new location and the monthly parking costs would be too much to be worth it. My prospective buyer fell through and I fig...

Sounds like a fun trip, I'd definitely be interested in hearing about it!

That's my excuse too.

Looking up to the biggest section of climbing from the saddle between Devils and Chileno cogs4177-09.jpg Looking along the ridge towards Twin Peaks and 5014 from our turnaround point cogs4177-10.jpg West into Devil's Canyon cogs4177-11.jpg Southeast down into Chileno Canyon cogs4177-12.jpg East to t...

Cogswell Dam cogs4177-01.jpg cogs4177-02.jpg cogs4177-03.jpg Stashing bikes to start the hiking portion cogs4177-04.jpg One of these things along the gully we were going up cogs4177-05.jpg Representative terrain for the day cogs4177-06.jpg Looking back south at the dam cogs4177-07.jpg Panorama from ...

I'm still trying to find a good alternate route to West Mermaid/Peak 4654 in order to place a register. I could go the same way as last time, but that isn't nearly as fun! My planned route two weeks ago from Windy Gap didn't get anywhere close and while this one certainly got closer, it too was cut ...

Where the trail crossed the Devil's Canyon spring it was quite damp and green, I don't remember seeing if there was any actual flow or just saturated ground though. I was impressed with the height of the falls, they would be pretty spectacular with more flow, though it would make it very hard to get...

I'll definitely check out some parts of the AT, though I think the more interesting sections are further south and further north!

Wow, great footage! Cool to get two in one shot.

Luckily it never rained on us besides a very short drizzle, and the snow was always cold enough that it didn't get us wet. The only thing consistently wet was shoes, socks, and pants from ankle to knee depending on the ground saturation and rivers we crossed that day. Having separate camp shoes (cro...

My wife got a job in the DC area that is too good to pass up, so we'll be moving towards the end of August. We plan on being there a year or two while she does some resume building, then moving back west. Got a few more hikes I want to do before then, so time to hit the trails! If anyone has suggest...

Sean - Yeah, I didn't see the lower fall in Devil's Canyon because I dropped in above and only went north, looks pretty cool from your pictures though. More water in both canyons would have made it more exciting I suppose, but it also would have made things slippery and less safe, so I'm kind of gla...

Snake friend number two devils11.jpg A steep fall in Skull Canyon requiring a minor bypass devils12.jpg More terrain in Skull Canyon devils13.jpg Another section of upper Skull Canyon, I was able to climb this because it was dry, there was a dirt slope to the right with a rope placed to assist if de...

Looking east from the parking area devils01.jpg Steep drop into Devil's Canyon devils02.jpg Down in Devil's Canyon looking north devils03.jpg Hitting a wall in the drainage east of Devil's Canyon devils04.jpg Heading up Devil's Canyon devils05.jpg High quality photo of fish! devils06.jpg The first p...

The original goal of this trip was to find an alternate route from the west to West Mermaid Peak/Peak 4654 after my first visit in March in order to place a summit register. The western side was new to me and while it looked doable on the map, I wasn't sure and figured I'd just go out and see what h...

Sean, I'm pretty sure most rental agencies have "no dirt road" clauses specifically because of the Dalton, it can be pretty rough on vehicles! I know there are places that rent specifically for that trip though. We also saw one guy biking the road on our trip to our drop off point! tekewin...

Yes, the distinction between brown and grizzly is sort of arbitrary and they are technically the same species, but according to Alaskans the inland bears are grizzlies. We found prints and/or bear poo pretty much every day, some pretty fresh (looked to be a day or two old), as well as places where t...

Good job to both of you and good teamwork to avoid a potentially more serious situation. Summer is definitely upon us!

Our ride back to Fairbanks

A look back during the climb brooksrange21.jpg Another nice campsite brooksrange22.jpg brooksrange23.jpg brooksrange24.jpg Weird and cool plants brooksrange25.jpg Majestic mountains, majestic socks brooksrange26.jpg Cool ice brooksrange27.jpg Terrain the last couple days brooksrange28.jpg Final camp...

A nice campsite, flat and dry ground was hard to find, often the only spots were sand/gravel bars along the rivers brooksrange11.jpg Triangles! brooksrange12.jpg Cool lichen brooksrange13.jpg Some early flowers here and there among the complex mix of ground cover brooksrange14.jpg Occasionally inste...

First day of hiking, the best weather all trip! brooksrange01.jpg Saw signs of bears every day, usually much fresher than these prints! brooksrange02.jpg brooksrange03.jpg Going over an icy pass the first evening brooksrange04.jpg Campsite the first night brooksrange05.jpg And waking up to fresh sno...

Got back yesterday from an 8 day trip in Gates of the Arctic up in Alaska. Not going to write up a detailed trip report, but will give a general overview with some highlight pictures. Here is a little background on the area itself since I knew basically nothing about this before I started planning f...