Carol convinced seven of her cohorts to hike Bridge
Mountain. Our research indicated a 6 mile round trip with 600 feet of
(net) elevation gain. We joked that the 600' "net" could be 1,000'
up and 400' down. We had the right concept; we were a tad short on the magnitude!
For reasons described below, we were forced to turn around without reaching
"the bridge". Nonetheless, the output of my trusty GPS to TopoUSA
software showed 1,782' of (round trip) climbing. Our turnaround point was
at the same elevation as the trailhead. Had we continued, we would have dropped
several hundred more feet before beginning the climb to the summit.
Just
getting to the trailhead required driving five miles on a rock strewn 4WD
road. The weather forecast said "possible rain showers" and we were
a little concerned about road wash out. However, Las Vegas gets an average
3 inches of rain per year, so we expected "slight misting". And,
since the trailhead started at about 6,500 feet, we were hoping we might get
to see snow instead of rain. Midway up the first climb we stopped to take
pictures of the frost on the trees. The frost crystals
looked like fuzz on the side of the rocks. It was beautiful.
As
we neared the high point on the trail (7,173'), the terrain changed to slick
rock. It looked like we were on the edge of the
world. About this time it started to hail and the hail
stones were staying on the ground. Again, we marveled at the beauty. Then
the hail turned to snow. The more intelligent members of our group decided
that we needed to start heading back. The more foolhardy wanted to go "just
a little farther" to locate the trail to the summit. That was a mistake
because while they were exploring, the snow began to accumulate
in earnest.
The
"no man left behind" code applies to hiking as well as to battle.
As the many waited for the few, the snow started getting deeper and deeper.
We began to lose the trail under the snow. We made
good use of the "track back" feature of our GPS's to lead us back
to the cars (along the edge of a cliff in an almost total whiteout!). We expected
the snow to stop as we went down in elevation. No such luck!. By the time
we got to the cars they were covered with four inches
of snow. And here we were, without our snow scrapers.
The
drive back to civilization was even more harrowing than the hike. The GOOD
news was that the snow covered the rocks and made a (comparatively) smooth
ride back. The BAD news was that it was all downhill with a rock wall on one
side and a 50 foot drop on the other. The only way to control the vehicle
going around the hairpin turns was to keep it under power in Low Range 1st
gear. The driver's instincts were crying "brake", but that would
have put us in an uncontrolled slide (off the cliff). Bob had 3 women riding
with him and not a word was spoken for the full 5 miles! Once we reached (snow
covered) pavement, a sigh of relief went up. We're grateful that the only
casualty of the day was Patty's broken walking stick.