Why do fisherman's trails go straight up? August 2016.
"The Minotaur Lake and Labyrinth Mountain trail is an old fisherman's trail," Karen said. I know what that means. No switchbacks. An insanely steep scramble.
Turns out the US Forest-Service widened the trail in places and built a few switchbacks. Thank you. The trail is still extremely steep. Gotta gain elevation.
Above Minotaur Lake we met Xuilan, a Chinese-American woman. She hikes alone each week. Her boyfriend doesn't like hiking. With a master degree, she works for Microsoft as a software engineer. She was fun and cheerful. Xuilan joined us.
Next was climbing Labyrinth Mountain. No trail. Climbing a steep rockslide of boulders. Which way to go? Karen led. With difficulty, we arrived at a high ridge.
"Where is the summit of Labryinth Mountain?" I asked. I gasped when Karen pointed. Holy shit! Sheer dropoffs on all sides. How will I get down?
"I'm good right here on this ridge," I told them. "You go ahead. I'll take photos."
Photos
Lake Minotaur and surrounding mountains.
Karen (red shirt) and Xuilan atop Labyrinth Mountain, 6,376-feet elevation.
Glacier Peak. "The last time Glacier Peak erupted, it blasted silica east," a geologist told me. "Silica is inert like glass. Local mountains in its path have bands of granite and silica."
See the bands of light and dark on Labyrinth Mountain? Dark granite and light silica.
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7 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Why do they go straight up ??? Shortest distance between two points
Seriously though, I've tended to wonder myself why trails to good fishing spots where one is going to spend the day parked on ones keester , tend to take the most direct , but brutal route.
wolf041
Level 7
Mar 24, 2022
1
Great story and beautiful pictures. Is there a drought up there? I was expecting snow on the ground this time of the year?
19dacar52
Level 7
Mar 13, 2022
1
Thank you. The hike was in August 2016. Just added it to the headline. Will see how long it lasts.
Agnostic.com has a website glitch that deletes numbers and words. I cannot write a year without it being deleted. I wrote "US Forest Service" and "Service" was deleted.
It routinely deletes from posts written and numeral numbers, and words. For example, "up, dog, pup, daughter, girl, service, kid," etc.
It's maddening. For two years, I have clicked on "Contact Us" and reported the problem. They haven't fixed it. They don't even reply.
@LiterateHiker Thank you. I see the date now. I only mentioned it because the wet season down here has become shorter over the years. We used to get rain spread out from late fall to early spring. Now we seem to get all of our rain in a couple of weeks most years. The storms are not as intense as they used to be either. I was wondering if you have noticed a change in the weather patterns up there as well.
Due to the climate crisis, we get drought, extended high heat, and more intense wildfires during summer and fall.
@LiterateHiker In 2017 there was a wildfire here that was very scary. There were high winds from the north. There were power lines downed by tree limbs throughout the county. I remember going outside at 2 in the morning and seeing an orange glow to the north and it just got brighter as the night wore on. We decided to leave and went to our daughter's west of our house. We did not loose our house but a lot of people did... Then in 2019 it happened again.. We had to evacuate again but our house was spared again. That fire lasted over two weeks, the air quality was terrible as well.
I enjoy Nick Zentner's geology lecture's on the whole geologic past of this area.
silverotter11
Level 9
Mar 13, 2022
1
Glad "Nick on the Rocks" show is on youtube. I don't have cable TV. Never did.
You write really well.
mischl
Level 8
Mar 13, 2022
1
Thank you!
Half-Irish, I'm a born storyteller.
@LiterateHiker My best buddy is a great story teller, but not such a good writer. It appears they are two different talents.
Beautiful pictures. You have a knack for taking pictures.
xenoview
Level 8
Mar 13, 2022
2
Thank you, dear. I've been posting hiking stories to cheer people up.
News is horrible with Russia invading and bombing Ukraine.
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