April 30, 2005, Mount McGee

It was a bit cooler ths morning with a high cloud cover which made for a pleasant day. A low pressure system was predicated for this evening. Saturday was the trout opener on the eastside and as we drove by Crowley Lake there were hundreds of boats.  It was a great day for drinking beer in a boat and getting a sunburn.

We drove up McGee Creek road and the snowpack stopped us after about a mile.  No problem,we'll just skin up the road to the campground and head for Mt. Baldwin - WRONG.  After  a half mile of skinning we hit dry pavement and had to holster the skis.  Jens,Annette and Elaine chose to head for an easterly gully up Mount McGee.  Bryan,Carol,Jill and I decided to follow the road around the ridge. Well the road was meltd out and after an hour of walking, my right foot informed me that we were on a ski tour not a hike outing.Mt. Baldwin was still in the distance and would have to wait for the road to melt out.  

We did a climbing traverse through the sagebrush and gained a ridge and snow with a north facing gully.  We decided to skin towards the gully leading to the summit of McGee.  After another hour, we were back to the summit gully.  Bryan and Carol headed for the summit while Jill and I sprawled out and enjoyed the views and lunch.  Our motivation to revisit the summit, we skied a week ago was low, more like non-existant.  So we did the logical action, we pulled the skins and rode the corn down to the camper.  It wasn't a big vertical day but we did cover a lot of ground on our boots for a ski tour.  When we arrived at the camper, the sunshower that we left on the dash was quite warm.  It was time for a shower next to the camper on the road. It sure felt great to be clean again and relax in the sun with a cold one. Time to get back to Buttermilk for a group dinner before the approaching weather front arrives.  Zap