sol-bright 2019

Shoulder season continues: wherein we have to do yardwork (there's only one tree in the front yard but SO many leaves) and errands (my MTB had a squeak) on Saturday but get out for a quick hike on Sunday.  With ski season purportedly just around the corner, it was time for our traditional Sol-Bright hike.

 Tradition

It was mid- to late-morning by the time we pulled in to the parking lot at Silver Lake (closed for the season, with the nordic center not yet open).  There were plenty of parking places still, although there were people milling about; by the time we finished up, it would be pretty busy with people strolling the boardwalk in their city shoes, slipping on the ice.  We could see a few people out on the lake playing pond hockey - no moose sightings, however.

 Wolverine Cirque looking a little thin, snow-wise

We started out going counter-clockwise on the boardwalk, then turned right towards Lake Solitude, then took the left fork so that we would be going up through Brighton and returning down through Solitude.  It was cool to start, especially in the shade, but we were already peeling off layers as we started the climb above the lake.  The sun was bright and it felt good.

 A rare hatless H photo

We passed a couple of groups of people but once we were above the frozen reservoir, we didn't see anyone else - until we got to the top of the Summit chair (RIP the wonderful old double chair that used to be there), where there were a couple of guys working.  I always forget how steep it is hiking up Liberty/Dynamite/etc.  It is STEEP.  But there had been several snowmobiles up and down before us so the footing was good: not slippery and no post-holing.

 Not much snow yet in the hills behind me 

We lingered up at the top for a few minutes, making our way around the corner to take a look at Wolverine Cirque.  You could see ski/board tracks all around but nothing recent; there had been rather more snow earlier in the week before the sun came back out.

 Honeycomb Canyon

For now, however, we were enjoying the sun.  We made our way down through the Solitude side, making really good time until we got into the trees after Lake Solitude.  Then the trail got quite icy and we had to pick our way carefully to as not to take a digger.  Some microspikes or Yaktrax would have helped.

Cheers for post-hike beers

When we got back to Silver Lake, we continued around the boardwalk, just to finish up the loop.  As is tradition, it was time for parking lot beers - with a toast to the upcoming ski season.  All hail Ullr!

Hike stats: 5.05 miles; moving: 1:55 time / 2.6 m.p.h; overall: 2;32 time / 2.0 .m.ph.; 1,340' of elevation