I wish now that I had thought too write these in real time, but thankfully not too many days have passed so I haven't forgotten how I was feeling.
In late November, we had attempted Pierce to keep the streak of "Pierce in All 12 Months" alive. We didn't have high hopes, and that was good because we only made it half way. There was no denying that it was one of the toughest hikes I had ever had, and it was good that we called it a day. Thankfully, no ill effects. I just could not handle the strain on my body that the hills provided, and that was to be expected.
We waited another month to try again, and what a huge difference that made. We managed Pierce just fine the day after Christmas (it is tradition to hike Pierce on Boxing Day!) I felt cautions, but good, and was delighted to be back on my feet. And with ZERO pee stops!!
So off we went on New Years Eve to visit Moriah. We have been up Moriah twice before, in May of '19 and April of '21. We were happy to catch a beautiful day for a winter season effort!
Clocking in at just a hair over 9 miles, I was hoping the distance wouldn't do me in.
There were several cars at the "parking lot" so we parked by the power lines. We always feel weird parking at the trailhead because it is somebodies back yard.
Anyway. Spikes on from the get go and off we went. The sun was shining, the conditions were as good as they could be, and we actually made very short work of this one. The steep sections were quite easy in the conditions, as micro spikes made for speedy and safe travel. We found that we prefer this trail in winter conditions!
We got some lovely views from the overlook that I believe is Mt Surprise.
It truly was a picture perfect winter day. We definitely reflected on the overall great conditions we had ion 2021. From the start (Pierce and Eisenhower on NY Day 2021, where it was a bluebird day with NO wind) to this day, we experienced more good days than we could have hoped for.
Not to mention the fact that we finished the 48 this year, saw some new peaks, we were able to see and hike with friends again, with a better feeling of safety (from covid. at least for a few months since omicron came rolling in. good timing though, omicron was going super strong while we were mostly off the grid while I recovered.)
At the summit it inexplicably got cloudy and cold, but that's the way it goes!!
We made great time on the way down, and managed to chase down and pass some smokers that we met on the way up as they descended. We made sure to call Evan and let him know we had seen Darlene (only he knows what this means, but it will make Eric laugh when he reads it...)
somehow, we managed to PR this mountain by 19 minutes despite my relative lack of fitness!
I would definitely credit the super conditions for this, perhaps more than my sneaky super speed.
So, we checked Moriah off for December, for Winter, and for this round of the 48.
Overall a very fun day. Moriah, traditionally, is not my favorite (the last mile goes ON and ON and ON) but this was a great day for it, and we enjoyed our final hike of 2021 tremendously. We grabbed a hot chocolate for the ride home, and moseyed off into 2022.
Stats:
Miles: 9.2
Elevation: 3809
Time: 4:21:27
Fun: 8.5
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