Capturing the Art of Nature
Mt Mulligan and Anif Peak
Our second hike for the summer, though we got soaked in the wet shrubs and plants, we made it to both summits. We enjoyed most of the hike though it was much steeper than we preferred considering the wet vegetation.
Category
Serendipitous Discoveries
2013
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We had originally planned this hike for the week prior but that day was forecast for rain and so we delayed it a week. Today was also forecast for 40% chance of showers so we were quite concerned about starting out. Fortunately, by the time we were parking our truck way up the slope, the weather seemed stable enough to set out. The first section of the hike was over clear-cut with minimal vegetation and we made good time but soon we were into the first of many large fields of ripe blueberries. Now the berries were huge and ripe and tasted great but they were close packed and dripping wet from the cloud mists we were walking through. It didn’t take long for us to be quite soaked.
The route up to the summit of Mulligan was quite steep in places and we had to work around walls of rock. We were clambering up steep sections grabbing branches and small plants to pull ourselves up the damp slope. It was actually quite arduous work as we couldn’t see the ground most of the time and we had to avoid steeping into an unseen hole. Slowly we gained elevation and came upon a wide cleft just below the top ridge. Here Geoff spotted some interesting rocks and formations that led to much speculation as to the source of the rocks. After walking along the cleft we found a path up the final slope to the ridge, we had to push through a few thick clumps of trees to break through but we were soon looking down on the trail we had made enjoying the satisfaction of reaching the first summit. Unfortunately the views were not that good thanks to the clouds that were engulfing us.
After regaining our breath we continued along the ridge heading for Anif Peak. Our GPS track was not that detailed and showed the general direction so we started down the slope to the saddle point between the two peaks. Unfortunately we were trying to find a path that wasn’t too steep but we ended up heading too far from the ridge and got into some very steep and slippery terrain. It slowed us down as were continuously slipping and a bad fall could see one slide for quite some distance. After descending what seemed a long ways we felt we had drifted too far from the ridge and so we decided to head a bit back up slope to our left and regain the ridge. Here we found the slope less steep and we were soon at the saddle point between the two peaks. We hadn’t actually gone that far but the steepness sure made it seem like a long ways.
At the saddle we found a small pond with a spongy moss covered section that required a bit of time to explore. It was quite pretty and I gathered a few photos of the pond with the various trees in the background. After a bit of a rest we started up the slope to Anif. This time we tried to stay closer to the ridge line hoping it would be less steep. We made some gains but then encountered a bit of a wall and so we drifted right, we went further than needed as on our return we were able to stay closer to the ridge. But after scrambling up the steep wet slope grabbing roots and shrubs we were able to make it to a flat section here we stopped to eat lunch. We had gotten quite wet, cold and tired by this point and the clouds were thick around us and we weren’t sure we could continue the hike to the second summit.
We took our time to eat lunch and enjoy the warmth of the stove and heated soup. Soon we felt more energized and a bit warmer even though we had forgotten to load part of our lunch into our packs from the cooler. The clouds had also parted a bit more and so we felt less intimidated by the slope before us, I was actually able to get glimpses of our truck far below on the slope of Mulligan. We looked over the route on our GPS and determined that we had only around 180m elevation to gain and were only 750m from the summit, so we packed up and pushed on over the next section.
The way forward came in chucks of very steep sections followed by wide gaps where we could regain our breath and plan the assault on the next wall. After around 4 of these small ridges we reached a wider one with a higher wall just below the final sub-peak and the start of the top ridge line. Geoff wanted to go up the right side of the wall I the left. But after more study we went left and soon we had reached the top ridge and a gap between the main peak to the south and the sub-peak before us. We walked between the two rises as the one between us and the summit was a sheer cliff face and we had to find a way around it. Fortunately the far side of the ridge had a gentle slope up to the top and we had a short walk along the ridge to the summit of Anif.
We stayed for 20 minutes or so on the summit hoping for the clouds to clear enough so that we could enjoy a nice view of Sky Pilot but we never did get a glimpse of it. We did get brief views of Mt. Habrich to our South West and could even make out the top of the Chief far below to the north-west. Done with waiting we started back down the path we came up looking for a few simpler spots down the steep sections. We followed a bit straighter path on the way down to the saddle point, generally closer to the ridge line but even here I went for a bit of a slide at one steep area. Fortunately it was in a heather field and I was able to grab a few plants before gaining any speed on the way to the next flat section.
Back to the saddle we stopped to look over the small pond a bit more and walked around the far side of it. Here we found some deep foot prints from a bear, and the print wasn’t all that old. We then started on down the slope from the saddle to the end of the old road. This slope was much like the upper part that we were descending earlier but this was more open and we had to wade through 2 to 3 foot high mountains plants as we very slowly picked our way down to a pile of logs I saw below which I assumed would be at the end of the old road. The ground was very uneven and had many logs strewn across it all of which were hidden from view thanks to the deep vegetation. Geoff stepped into a hole several times on our decent.
It was very slow going over this section of the hike and it seemed to be a long distance but it was actually quite short just somewhat treacherous due to the hidden ground. Once we reached the pile of logs we indeed did find a clear path along the old road. This proven easily walkable and we made fast time along the old road back to the truck. This hike was quite a challenge for us. Being wet, we got quite cold when we stopped but generally I wasn’t uncomfortable, Geoff’s boots were full of water from early on which made for walking a bit less enjoyable but he managed to continue. We also encountered some equipment problems en-route. It was only about a kilometer along that the zipper on my fly broke and I enjoyed extra ventilation for the balance of the hike. I also broke the chain on my spikes which connected the spike plate to the rubber support on top of my boot. After this broke the front spike plate was constantly slipping to the side of my boot making it useless for gripping and I had to watch it and adjust constantly. It had gotten so bad that I could no longer trust it to function and it was likely worse than not having anything. After a bit of thought, I was able to tie it in place with my shoelace and once that was done the plate was more stable than it normally would be, so that problem was solved. At the end of the hike Geoff discovered that he had also snapped a support on one of his spikes but it was a back plate and hadn’t caused him any problems on the hike. My camera also got a bit wet in the brush and made for a bit softer set of images but at least they turned out fairly well.
So we accomplished both peaks and pushed ourselves to attain some steep slopes both climbing and descending. Likely we would have picked a different hike had we expected the steepness but in the end we mastered some new skills I guess. Though the weather gave us less view than we could have enjoyed we still had a good day and felt it was worth the effort.