We started around 10:00 am and didn't complete the trip until 7:15-7:30pm, arriving in town around 10:30 pm. Probably 1-2 hours of that time was spent route finding when the trail seemed to disappear. There was snow for most of the trip until lower on the Taylor Lake trail.
At the start we were surrounded by the tourists going to the Rockpile but as soon as we turned off to the Consolation Lakes we saw only two people. Of course we saw no one until Taylor Lake, where there was a lone person camping. Just after crossing the Consolation Creek bridge, the trail searching began. Generally, if one looked for blazes on trees the route could be determined. At one point early on in the trip, where the trail heads down just beside a meadow, we spent about 15 minutes looking before determining that a yellow marker indeed was used to mark the trail direction. After that when we found these markers which were basically through meadow areas we knew we were in the right place.
There were three other areas where we spent a significant time looking for the trail. One was at a point where the trail is heading down and then all of a sudden makes a right hand turn with nothing to indicate this. Probably in the summer it would not be a problem, but with the snow cover it was. We finally found a blazed tree and found what appeared to be a track which was confirmed by additional blazes further along.
The second place was where the trail trends down to a creek with recent deadfall across it. We knew that we shouldn't follow the creek down, but where did the trail climb up? Finally, after finding a small cairn on a rock and further along some cut logs we were able to locate a blaze on a tree yet a little further along.
The last place was when we entered a meadow. We were unable to find the trail on the other side. We headed through an opening which extended to another smaller meadow but the trees began to close in. We thought the best way would be to head up to the larch area above. Lo and behold as we got up to this bench, there was what appeared to be the trail. We were able to follow this to the two prospectors cabins shown in Brenda's report a short while ago. Here we lost the trail until we arrived at the Panorama Ridge trail. We could not find any tracks or footprints from Brenda's group who had visited these cabins. The hike down to the parking lot was straight forward.
We did mark the trail at key points or where it was hard to find the trail, using an orange garbage bag cut into strips which was donated by one of our friends. On the whole the trail has some spectacular sections and some boring treed sections. Sections of it were quite pretty especially the high areas through the larches(the trail climbs to near 7500' in two sections). The meadows were also quite beautiful. As far as a future ski trip, I believe it will require a very early start what with the addition of the Moraine Lake road to be skiied as well as the intricate route finding along Panorama ridge. But it would be a good 'un as long as you get to Taylor Lake before dark.
Thanks to Michael and Christine for accompanying me on this challenging trip and for their help in route finding and trail breaking. Additional thanks to our friendsLisa for donating her orange garbage bag to the trail marking cause and her friend Glyn from New Zealand for upping our numbers to five for the Consolation Lakes trail. It looks like Glyn will join the club for the winter ski season. We were unable to get a waiver to Glen early enough so he could join the trip as Lisa's guest.
Unfortunately no pictures, because Christine's camera chose not to work.
Bob coordinator and scribe