Lush flowers on Jumping Pound Mountain
Dazzling display of flowers on slopes of Jumping Pound Mountain
We did a car shuttle between Dawson trailhead and the Jumping Pound Summit trailhead, starting up the summit trail around 10:30. We saw deer on the morning drive. We reached the summit for lunch, sheltered from a warm but strong wind by some krumholz.
Jumping Pound Mountain summit
Lunch on Jumping Pound Mountain summit
After lunch we carried on down the ridge and dropped to the pass between Jumping Pound Mountain and Cox Hill, then regained the lost elevation to Cox Hill summit, for another break.
Break on Cox Hill summit
Our two fastest hikers, Bruce and Ray, volunteered to scoot ahead down the 1,000 metre descent of Cox Hill to Dawson and do the car shuttle while the rest enjoyed a leisurely walk. Unfortunately, this trail is now in apalling condition due to severe erosion caused by heavy mountain bike traffic. (On the subject of traffic, the traffic in this area was terrific--there were 10 cars at the remote summit parking area on this midweek day.)
We stepped off the trail at Dawson by 5 p.m., the very moment that our volunteers appeared with the cars, having gotten far enough ahead of us to drive the 28 km of winding forestry road and get back to Dawson in the time it took us to descend.
Participants: Margo, Yolande, Cristina, Bruce, Ray, Christine, Susan on her first Ramblers hike--Welcome!, and Carl, coordinator and scribe.