EISPIRATEN

I'm getting out Tuesday at 7am with Illusive to Crystal Lake to head up to either Islip or Windy Gap/S. Hawkins. Anyone interested in joining?

I'm not sure on time constraints, but I was considering taking the Islip Ridge trail to MT Islip, heading over to MT Hawkins, then down to South MT Hawkins (bagging the two small peaks along the way), and taking the fire road back down to the Windy gap TH.

We can alternatly cut out the Islip ridge section by just ascending the Windy Gap TH to Islip, then to Mt Hawkins, then to South Hawkins, and down the fire road.

Lots of options, Could even just do south mt hawkins depending on time. I'm easy going with this kinda stuff.

The big loop which does everything should be close to 18 miles r/t.

think we'll hit any snow/ice?

MattCav wrote: ↑think we'll hit any snow/ice?

Nope it should be barren from looking at it atop smith mountain the ridges looked quite dry. There were a few patches in some of the canyons. It should be exempt from snow by Tuesday.

Also they closed the main road past the snack bar, that was open when there was 3ft of snow on the ground 2 weeks ago. The USFS guys said they couldn't manage the entire area just yet so it will stay closed until they can.

It just means if we want to take windy gap up we need to tack on another 0.5 miles to walk through the campgrounds.

Would love to join you guys, but work won't let me...

I highly, highly recommend what Illusive suggested. Take the Islip Ridge Trail up. I did it last week, and while there was a little snow up near the top of Islip, it was crazy how fast it's melting. Wouldn't be surprised if you don't hit much more than a couple north-facing patches (we had some fun around Little Jimmy).

It was pretty encouraging to see how well the area has recovered from the Curve Fire and this trail gives you incredible views westward over the range.

The Islip Ridge Trail was recently worked on (SGMTB) about a mile or so in, but after that you're on your own (in a good way ). Downed trees galore, and the trail will eventually just disappear, but the route up is simple enough. Just bring a map and take the ridge, pretty hard to get off track on this one. We got off to a late start, but I would have loved to extend the loop to include a couple Hawkins peaks.

Here are some shots:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wattifoto/ ... 481164556/

Note how the Hawkins Ridge was covered in snow in the morning and almost completely bare at day's end. Looks like these were taken months apart, but it was really just a few hours.



Have fun and let us know how it goes.

Mcpherson, that pic is crazy!

I am so jazzed to do this hike. I just need to find my camera in all of these moving boxes and I'll be all ready to go!