Green Mountain

Me on the Summit

As the semester winds down I have been trying to get out more and more.  Last Sunday I did a hike of Legault Mountain with a few friends but didn’t do a trip report since I have hiked that mountain several times now.  I had bought some new hiking boots at REI’s latest sale and I was eager to test them out.  The boots are Solomon Quest’s, and this is my first time buying this brand.  So far I highly recommend them.  They have a good fit with great ankle and arch support. 

Coyote

For today I was looking for a quick hike since Kristi was working a half day.  About 10pm last night I decided I needed to get out and found Green Mountain via Summit Post and made plans for a Friday morning hike.

Green Mountain is only about a 30 minute drive from my place, so I was in no hurry to leave this morning.  I hung about the apartment waiting for the temp to rise a bit and finally left around 9am.  I chose to take C470 to Alameda Parkway, follow the parkway to the east turning left at a stoplight. Turn northeast continuing what is still Alameda and park at the TH location off of Utah or Florida Ave.  I parked at the small lot off of Utah Ave, if I did it again I would head up to the Florida Ave lot which is much bigger and the loop trail works a lot better from there.

The online maps I found were sketchy at best so I was kind of on an exploratory hike today.  As I left the parking lot the trail was snow/ice covered and a bit slick.  Not worthy of traction, I just had to be mindful of my steps.  For my ascent route I took the John O. Haden Trail, which is easy to navigate with signs at each intersection.  The trail was mostly a single track, but it did widen in some areas.  There had been some bikers on the trail since the snowfall yesterday and a few footprints, but not much that I could see in the way of humans at the time.

Mount Morrison

Eventually the John O. Haden Trail connects to the Green Mountain Trail, which is more of a road.  This is on top of the flat summit ridge north of the radio tower.  From here it is a short rolling road walk to the true summit of Green Mountain.  The summit area is flat with a tiny rock cairn.  I found a large boulder which I think had a benchmark attached to it at one point, but is no longer there.

Longs Peak

With the temps around 30° and hardly any wind on the summit it was very pleasant.  I took the typical pictures then walked over to another high point on the ridge to check it out.  There wasn’t much on the other point than a larger cairn.  I started back along the trail, which is much more of a road on top.

For the descent I stayed on the Green Mountain Trail to see where it went.  I recommend if you take this route and parked at the lot off of Utah Ave to turn west when arriving at the John O. Haden Trail intersection.  I stayed on the main trail and it took me to the lot off of Florida Ave.  From there I connected on the trail that leads around the mountain till meeting back up with the Utah lot.

This was a great easy hike.  It reminded me of hiking Table Rock back in Boise, but with less elevation gain.  I made a loop, but this could be done from many ways.  I would love to do this as a full on snowshoe with about 8 inches of fresh powder sometime.  We are off to Idaho on Tuesday, so hopefully another trip report will come out of that. 

GPS Track

 Date: 11/22/2013

Starting Elevation: 6,094ft

Green Mountain Summit: 6,847ft

Total Gained Elevation: 753ft

Class: 1

Distance:  4.93 miles

Time: 1:58 moving, 15 stopped. 

Climbing Partner: Solo

Picture Link: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/115877356129727775322/albums/5949271236063874673