Mt. St. Benedict / McKay Lake - April 24th 2022

 I wanted to do a hike and the day turned out beautiful so I convinced Coen and Sam to come along. I had been saving this hike for when Sam was ready because I've done it before, about 4 years ago, and its a wonderful hike. I had planned on 4 hours and in hindsight I should've planned a bit longer knowing that Sam and Coen aren't the fastest hikers (sorry babe!)

With that plan we hit the road at 12 (I wanted to go earlier but eh...) and started the hike around 12:45. I had planned on driving up the Murdo Creek FSR to shave off a nice chunk of logging road slog but when I drove past it I saw a sign saying it was closed at 4pm. Knowing we wouldn't be back by then and not wanting to get locked in we decided to not take the risk and start from the main road.

The first 15 minutes was a pleasant switchbacked trail before hitting the logging road. Then the next 45 minutes was a hot unpleasant slog. Made worse by some sidewinders blasting up past us that we had to jump off the road to avoid. There was a cool waterfall on the way up and a ton of running water for Jebby though. We made it to the trail to McKay Lake around an hour in and before long we hit snow and a lot of it. We made our way through and passed a few hikers and before long we were at the lake.

The lake was gorgeous and still mostly iced over and covered in a ton of snow, I'm talking 1.5m+. We looked at where we had to go, the time, our fitness and held a vote. Sam and Coen said no so we decided to just eat lunch and head down. Honestly I was second guessing it as well, mostly just because I think we could've used more time. Another lesson I need to take to heart, start early!!

We headed down without much note back to the car. Then we decided to detour to McDonald Falls, Davis Lake and Cascade falls on the way back. Beautiful day!!

McKay Lake, St. Benedict peak in background, this is where we ate lunch

Me on the trail

Logging road views looking W/SW