Have you ever noticed the small green signs on Hwy 1 naming and pointing to various mountains?
The sign pointing out Loder Peak has always intrigued me so on Saturday I set off for another solo day in the mountains to put a “face” to the Loder Peak sign.
The trail seemed pretty straightforward. Just head up and then up some more.
I parked at the Jura Creek parking lot (east of Exshaw on Hwy 1A) and fumbled around the parking lot area for about 10 minutes until I eventually found the trail, north of the parking lot. The parking lot was pretty much empty with a few hikers readying for the Jura Creek hike.
I decided not to wear spikes because there hasn’t been much snow lately and the mountain is pretty exposed. I didn’t want to ruin my Kahtoolas on the rock slabs. It wasn’t long before I could see hikers in the distance. We chatted for a few minutes before I forged ahead. They had been up before in the summer. One of them remarked that I looked like I was a runner. (That’s a first.)
Research told me there wasn’t much in the way of trail markers so I was surprised when I eventually saw a yellow ribbon confirming I was going in the right direction. One of the hikers told me it didn’t matter which way I went (over the rock slabs or on the trail) because it all led to the top.
I kept thinking – stick to the right – because friends said I don’t want to go left because I would cliff out. Mostly I went out of my way to avoid any snow. On the way down, I realized I went too right and missed the trail entirely. All the yellow ribbons that I missed were the evidence.
Reaching the summit of Doorjam mountain was anti-climatic. It was only when I was on my way to Loder Peak that I realized I had summited Doorjam. I could actually see the hikers that I had passed earlier on Doorjam. I waved but I don’t think they saw me.
The wind also decided to pick up once I started to head to Loder Peak. Up until that point it was pretty much blue skies and no wind. I had to stop a few times to hug the ground and catch my breath. At one point I took my glove off to adjust something and the wind caught it. Thankfully I managed to snag it before it was lost in the valley.
I was not surprised about the wind. It’s always windy here but it wasn’t windy enough to make me turn around. I knew I was very close to the summit so I just kept my head down and feet firmly on the ridge. I didn’t spend much time after summiting. I could barely hold my iPhone for a photo/video. It was time to get down.
I bumped into three other hikers too. The ones that I had met early in the trail had turned around. I saw them again on my way down. They mentioned that they could see me on top of Loder Peak. The run down was a little eventful as I second-guessed my route about five times.
Trails always look different when you approach from the other direction. I had downloaded the route on my iPhone and uploaded to my Garmin so I had to consult it a few times. All in all it was a great day. I can’t wait to summit again.
This is number two in Project 23 & Me.