After hearing Carson talking about going to Mary’s Peak for a couple of weeks, Julie and I decided it was a good day to head up and go for a hike. We didn’t leave our house until about 1:30 pm or so since the morning was filled with taking care of chores, and I decided to throw the snowboard and boots in at the very last minute just in case there was any residual snow patches lingering.
We arrived at the parking area an hour or so after we left the house, and it didn’t look like there was much snow around. We decided to head to the top without the board in tow, and a bit later arrived at the top. Walking over to the far side, I could tell there was a patch that still went, so we agreed to head back to the car and come back up to get some turns in.
The weather was surprisingly cool, and clouds shrouded the upper part of the Peak as we headed up for our second trip to the top. Carson was pretty excited to be out for an afternoon hike, as evidenced by his big smile in the photo below.
A few minutes later we made our way to the top and over to the snow patch. Carson was excited to play in the snow, and would have loved to ski, but we had returned his season rental to Berg’s at the end of April.
I handed Julie the camera and stepped into the bindings on my DIY split. I can’t remember the last time I snowboarded in shorts, but it seemed like this patch called for it and I set off. I rode down by Julie and continued on, enjoying the low angle slope and smooth snow. Surprisingly, the continued down quite a ways, and I worked my way down until it ran out.
At the bottom, I stepped out of my bindings and hiked up the grass along the snow patch back up to Julie and Carson who were hanging out up top.
At the top, I was able to convince Julie and Carson to let me go for another lap, so I quickly stepped back into my board and headed off again. I don’t know what it is, but sliding on snow is fun no matter where I’m at, be it a 5,000 foot 4o degree line or a 600 foot long 20 degree patch.
I milked the patch to the bottom again, and headed back up to Julie and Carson one more time. We met halfway this time, and took a different trail back down towards the car. I snapped a quick picture of Carson with my board next to a big ant hill, then loaded it up on the pack for the walk down. It was starting to get quite cold, and it was nice to crank the heat in the Subaru once we loaded up.
To cap off the day, we decided to head to American Dream Pizza in downtown for some good pie and a beer. Julie and I enjoyed a tasty Hazy High IPA while Carson had an Izze.
All things considered, it was a pretty good way to spend a few hours in the afternoon in late May. I’m already looking forward to heading back the next time the Peak is skiable.
