Opening pic
Sunday we took advantage of the fantastic weather & headed up to Silverstar.
We decided on a loop that would also take in the tops of Sturgeon & Pyramid rocks. From Grouse Vista we headed West on the Tarbell trail to the Rock Creek Bridge. A couple of us did a quick off trail thrash around to see if we could get a photo of the Falls below the Bridge but soon realized it would take more time than the others would be willing to wait:^).. This is just the short top part of the falls.
We had actually been loosing elevation to this point & so it was now that the climbing actually started for the day, as we continued on the the Tarbell junction with the old road that is labelled trail 180C. This is an unapologetic straight up steep climb on an old rocky road! We started running into snow at about 3700'.
When we reached the South end of Sturgeon Rock we left the trail & climbed up onto the Rock making our way over to the high point at the North end.
Until we climbed up onto the Rock we had been sheltered from the winds but up here they were brutal! I did tag the Summit but came back down from the high point on my butt not trusting myself to stand up & keep my balance in the wind!
We hung out for a few minutes but then headed on back down to the trail. From here it was 100% snow cover up to Silverstar.
As we approached Silverstar things got busy, quite a few people on the Summit. The Wind was howling here too but at least you could shelter from it behind the Rocks.
After a lazy lunch we packed up for the trip down, instead of taking the trail out we hiked over to Star 2 then just made our way down the top of the Ridgeline first on snow & then through beargrass to Pyramid Rock.
We went up & over Pyramid Rock.
Clambering around on Pyramid Rock!
After Pyramid Rock we rejoined the regular trail back down to Grouse Vista.
Here is a 2 minute Summary Video :^)..
http://api.smugmug.com/services/embed/2 ... 34_nj8jrjk
With the side trips we had 8.75 miles & 3750' of EG logged.
Here are a few more pics from the day.
