Griffith & Charleston via Harris Springs Road

pics by Harlan W. S.
May 16, 2009

19 miles round trip, 4920’ accumulated elevation gain.

Kim, Ali and I decided on a conditioning hike that would avoid the still-snowy slopes of the lower South Loop Trail (SLT). I wanted to break in some heavy, waterproof mountaineering boots; Kim wanted to verify that approach shoes are very slippery on snow; and Ali wanted to test his theory that if you fall asleep near the summit of Charleston, you become covered with red mites.

GPS trace of the trip.	View E over Harris Peak (La Madre at R).	View W at top of meadow on Griffith.
Bridge Mt to SE.	Beyond the meadow, we stayed on the rocky N side of Griffith to avoid the snow.	Kim, with view E to LaMadre. Ali showed up a few minutes later, and drank a beer left in the register box.
Griffith to E as we hit the SLT.	Kim and Ali chug across an unavoidable snow field.	Next we followed the ridgeline, instead of the trail; the latter was designed by people on crack. If you look carefully at R, you’ll see my compadres
Charleston from ridgeline.	Once again, Kim and Ali at right.	They pick different paths near the snowfield.
NNW to Chaz.	Mummy is in back of me.	Kim on top. At this point, Ali was sleeping off the beer and feeding the mites.
One of a pleasant couple who had slogged up the SLT from Cathedral TH. The Sisters and Mack’s Peak in back.	View back SE.	Kim and Ali slog back across the snow on one of the many SLT undulations.
	Bridge, Rainbow and Wilson.	At this point Kim-- anxious to complete her study on approach shoes and snow-- tweaked her knee and began to walk a bit like Pa Kettle.
LaMadre in back; in front you can see our trail (once a road) back.	South over Lovell Canyon.