Take it from someone with 10s of thousands of hiking miles behind them. Don't stand on wet wood unless you absolutely have to. Wet wood is like black ice along the grain and not much better against the grain. Unfortunately for us, the reason I wanted to go back the way we came is I knew we could cross the major creek without water shoes by using this series of downed logs. This is the same spot that Dawg recognized from the prior year as our crossing spot. With snow piled high on the logs, this is extremely dangerous. In this video, you'll see me on the way back after dropping my pack and returning for Andra's. I'm clearing the snow on the sides of the log, so that you can better see the edges, as I fear Andra will step on the snow too close to the edge thinking there is log underneath.
Having successfully crossed the creek, we now must find and stay on a trail we've never hiked on before. If you are think a GPS will help, it won't. Even with signal, the trails on the topo map go straight up the mountain when in reality the actual trail zigzags (switchbacks), up the mountain. This is because the map resolution is too low to show the actual path. In addition, GPS is only about as accurate as a tennis court, and the trails marked on the topo maps are +-250 feet. Combined, you can't use the GPS to track a trail accurately enough to be worth even trying.
As we start to climb away from the creek, I locate and stay on the trail. The snow is deeper here, and the storm isn't over yet.
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