In the morning (15-March-2011), I had some business to tend to which took until nearly noon to complete. It was a beautiful sunny day which was simply screaming out for a hike to a high place. Considering the lateness of the day, my options were somewhat limited. In the end, I opted to hike the Crawford Path to Mt. Pierce. There are no water crossings to consider, and it's overall just a no-nonsense trail which provides quick and easy transport to the Presidential Range.
There was one thing that made this trek to Mt. Pierce a bit different for me. At several points along the trail, I was entertained by the work of some talented person who had etched various cartoon-like faces in the snow banks adjacent to the trail. Some might consider this as graffiti, however I found it entertaining! Since I lack any talent for drawing, I'm easily impressed by those folks who can perform what I consider to be artful "magic" with just a few stokes of a pencil (or a trekking pole, in this particular case).
And so, below is a collage of but a few of the many cartoon faces that entertained me on my trek to Mt. Pierce.
Besides enjoying the trailside "art show", I also enjoyed taking photos of the same vistas that all of us do when we visit Mt. Pierce. I'll just bore you with a few photos as shown below.
And besides snapshots of mountain vistas, I (of course) took the obligatory photo of a Gray Jay along the way.
Oh! And this was my first time this particular season to see snow fleas (a.k.a. springtails). Spring is indeed near!
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11 comments:
Excellent report, John! You certainly made the most of a half-day. Interesting to see art galleries provided by both fellow hikers and Mother Nature.
Steve
Those "boring" vistas never get old ;) Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the reply, Steve.
Regarding your comment about the two "art galleries", Mother Nature rules the roost! She will soon wipe away the hiker's gallery of cartoon art, but Her masterpieces will endure! :)
Owen . . . you are so right about that! There are some vistas which seem to never get "boring". The vistas from Mt. Pierce rank way up there on the "non-boring list". Hmmm! Yet another list!? :)
Thanks for that pic of the "snow fleas". We saw those last year at this time on our way to Stairs, and have wondered since what they were.
Glad you liked photo of the snow flea "jamboree"! Those little guys are pretty amazing.
As you'd probably suspect, there's lots of stuff available on the Internet about them. Here is but one of many links: http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/eek/critter/insect/snowflea.htm
Great report and pictures- glad to see there are still some gorgeous winter scenes above tree line- and yes...the bugs, one of the few UNPLEASANT harbingers of spring...
Marty . . . thanks for the reply! And yes, regarding the upcoming bug-season, it will soon be time for "itch-hiking"! :)
We were up there the same day as you, a bit earlier and bare booted to the junction, too, and continued over to Ike. Not sure who made them, but the faces were fun!
Our trip report here: http://nh48.wordpress.com/
Thanks Summerset for posting a comment! Very much appreciated!
It's neat that you also got to enjoy the gallery of cartoon art! And wow! Wasn't the weather just simply delightful on that day?! I viewed your terrific report at http://nh48.wordpress.com/. Excellent narrative and photos!
Speaking of photos, now that I see your faces on your report, I recall seeing you guys and saying "hi" as we passed each other near the base of Mt. Pierce. Sorry I didn't make some time to engage you in conversation. With getting such a late start, I was obsessed with reaching the top of Pierce as quickly as I could in order to sit and enjoy the views and sunny sky!
John
Not a problem - just glad you were able to get up there and enjoy the trail, the art and the views!
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