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Friday, May 29, 2015

Eastern Belknap Loop

Just over a year ago, Tim and I did this exact same loop.. in white out conditions with rain and fog. Today was the complete opposite and I loved getting to see all the views we missed last time. I started on the Boulder Loop Trail heading up Mt Major which was a first for me. I enjoyed it! Some nice scrambles. Amazingly, I had the Mt Major summit to myself. That has to be a rarity on a beautiful day! I continued on and over to Straightback South. Here I picked up the Quarry Spur Trail, and hit my biggest snag of the day. There was a large blowdown I had to navigate over/around and I lost the trail. I'm not sure how, but I did.. and I panicked briefly before just starting to head up. I figured eventually I'd hit the Dave Roberts Quarry Trail. Which I did thankfully.. though it seemed to take forever, felt like hours. I have never been so grateful to see a blaze or trail! Looking back at my tracks it was a very brief portion of the trail! I somehow missed the North Straightback sign, but did pass over it. I also somehow missed the East Quarry sign because before I knew it, I was on West Quarry! There are a lot of ups and downs on this side of the loop with some more technical steep pitches, and it was rather humid today, so I was super sweaty.. but I was so enamored with all the views we hadn't seen last time, it made it all worthwhile. Over Rand and onto Klem and then some open ledges with more views and a lovely breeze. From Klem I picked up the Klem-Mack Loop over to Mack, then the Red trail to Anna. Belknap Range Trail back to Straightback South and the Brook Trail back to the car. What a great day! It was muggy and buggy, but the views were so well worth it! Amazingly I saw not a single soul until my descent on Brook Trail at the end of the day.

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