Moriah: getting back

tagged:

Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest


(red line, map link)

DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3

Another cold morning for getting up and getting breakfast, but no fight was necessary with my now dry boots just to get them on my feet. I packed up and headed out. Turns out, my little pocket of fairly dry area was something special. The spaces I thought would be dry after a sunny day were still very soggy and no warmer than my sheltered area, especially on an overcast morning. I probably had the best spot.

120: water in a natural ditch
Water flow just below the dry camp.

123: meadow and aspens
The wide open meadow below is still very soggy.

125: aspen sticks and yellow trail
Trail covered in aspen leaves below the nude trees.

My shoes got soggy again, but the water stayed on the outside. I was looking for a couple flowers I'd missed photographing in the rain on the way up. There should be a couple of red and a purple.

126: pines growing up among aspen
Forest succession snapshot.

127: water and trees and cliffs
Hendrys Creek under the cliffs.

128: purple peas
The purple flowers are a silvery lupine.

129: Cliff and a note on bears
A tree Cliff carved also contains an important note... if bears ever decide to live here.

130: rose hips and yellow leaves
Woods' roses full of bright, plump hips weren't the red I was looking for. Tasted: blandly bad.

132: red flowers
One of the reds is a big clump of Bridges' penstemon.

I didn't catch the scarlet gilia on the way down, so the blurry rose hips will have to do for the other red. No rain on the way down either. Just an ever opening canyon under a partly cloudy sky. It turned into quite a nice day.

133: canyon levels
Many levels of canyon while it is still narrow.

134: rectangular openinings
What can be found up these rugged side canyons?

136: deep, horizontal crevices
A patch of different rocks lead to different erosion patterns.

There should be an intersection with a trail from the Black Horse area. I took some time to look for it, but couldn't see any sign. The wilderness map from the Forest Service shows this trail and then states there's no trails from that area. It is just a class 1 (minimally developed) trail. Most trails people hike on are class 3, but Hendrys Creek is technically class 2 even though it is old road and looked to have been cleared in the last couple years.

141: opening up rock walls
More space, more sun.

142: canyon and cloud
Wandering along.

146: grey bird
Townsend's solitaire.

147: back of a sign
Leaving the Mount Moriah Wilderness.

148: wilderness sign
Still amazed there's actually a wilderness sign here.

151: trail high on the edge of the creek
The trail beside the much lower creek.

156: opening canyon
Just a lovely day.

154: papery looking flowers on a thorny plant with lush leaves
Greasewoods are flowering in pinks and tans.

156: post with sections marked at the top
Interesting corner marker between claim sections.

Arriving back at the car, I even had enough time to get out the solar shower and have a clean up in the afternoon sun. I wouldn't mind further exploring this wilderness.

*the photo album*




©2023 Valerie Norton
Written 27 Dec 2023
location: Mount Moriah Wilderness

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