Miller River Road 3.23.10

With the nice weather predicted for today I was excited to get out and start subtracting some peaks off my list. I went to Preston to pick up Bruce only to realize that he PM'd that he wouldn't be able to make it. I intended on a pretty stout off trail day and it lessened my enthusiasm to being solo. I pressed on making good time to my parking spot at the start of the West Miller River Road despite nearly falling asleep. After a 10 minute power nap I was recharged and ready to go. I have a strong dislike for the WMRR because of the rough slippery nature of it. I knew I wasn't going to be spending too much time on it so that lessened my angst. The plans was to leave the road at around 1600' just after the fresh rockslide . On the map it is just after where the the creek used to flow. I gave some thought of emulating the Quartz Mt report I had read recently and using the gully itself. I had read two reports of using the ridge and both made it sound steep but uneventful. I found the initial portion steep but mostly open. Upon reaching some mossy slabs I wove my way through them and began to see this efficient route was much more than expected. I pushed on for a short ways before I started to feel like a solo trip was not a wise choice. I traversed back towards the gully and was able to catch a glimpse higher up and it seems like it would work. I gave some thought of dropping into the gully but it was nearly 100' below me. I decided that the day would be better spent doing some chores at home. As I descended it became clear to me that I had made a wise choice. The moss on the steep slopes is not well mated with the slabs making for some unnerving descending. Thankfully I made it back to the road and stopped long enough to soak up some sun and eat my lunch. After making it back to the car I decided to see how far I could drive up the Miller River Road and surprising to me I could drive all the way to the end.




Approx 2 miles 800' of climb