Trip Report
Alpine Scramble - Malcolm & Johnson Mountains
Quick out and back trip with the clockwise loop. Trail mostly a boot path/climbers trail after you cross the Johnson Medra Trail junction. Clear views and round trip of 5hrs 20 minutes for 12.1 miles and 4.9k feet of cumulative elevation gain
Ananth Maniam (ஆனந்த் மணியம்)
- Sat, Oct 20, 2018
- Alpine Scramble - Malcolm & Johnson Mountains
- Malcolm & Johnson Mountains
- Scrambling
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Road in great condition. Most of the parking lots are filled with RV's and vehicles of hunters. So try to accomodate all hikers into smaller # of cars to avoid the "oh you mountaineers" image.
Started at the TH at 7.55AM. Decided to do an out and back trip on the clockwise loop. We were surprised to see Larches, as we were out three weekends in a row and finally landed on this trail which had both fall colours and larches.
In about a mile- you hit the trail junction where you keep right to do the counter clock wise route/ or the route which takes you to Koppen and Bills peak. We kept left to do Johnson Peak first. Small streams and foot bridges take us into a nice trail. We were also able to see all the burnt trees from last year
Till here , the trail is mostly flat with some ups and downs. We hit the switch backs where you gain some quick elevation. from here watch out for the faint boot path which takes you to Johnson Peak. Do note that, there is no obvious markings for it or a clear trail (look out for GPS tracks in Peakbagger). This is where we hit our first sunlight which was warm
The only scramble section was about 30 feet in length. We quickly traversed to the summit by 9.15 AM (2.25 hrs to the first summit). I made a quick call to my family back in India (9.45PM) to show them how beautiful the mountains are and also some larches.
We quickly dropped the elevation and followed our boot tracks back to the trail junction. From here you hit another trail junction. One which takes you to a valley and other the other which takes you to Malcolm mountain. Keep right at this junction. There is a boot path which is clearly visible, which takes you to Malcomn. I made the mistake of going down to valley for 3 minutes before realizing it and made it back to the trail.
Once at this junction, you will cross some secret stashes of hunters and clear climbers trail which takes you all the way out to Malcom. Made in 3.5 hrs from the Trail Head. 10 minutes in the summit, with pictures and warming ourselves in the SUN. we take a brisk pace with mild jogging, some trail running and some fast packed hiking to complete the 6 miles of downhill in 1.5 hrs.
