We hiked a short section of the Pinnell Mountain Trail, a 27 mile one way trail off the Steese Highway from Eagle Summit at mile marker 107.3 to Twelvemile Summit at mile marker 85.5. The Pinnell Mountain National Recreation Trail is located in the Steese National Conservation Area managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which traverses a number of ridges. We opted to start at the higher of the two endpoints, Eagle Summit, at about 3600 ft and originally intended to hike 5 miles to the highest point on the trail, Porcupine Dome at 4915 ft. The first half mile of trail at Eagle Summit ascends 600 feet. Unfortunately the weather was reminiscent of the west coast of Scotland (think Isle of Skye) with dense fog, high winds and cool temps (about 45 F), making for visibility of less than 50 yards. We donned Gore-Tex parkas, hiking boots and gators and intrepidly set off into the roiling mist, heading upwards towards points unseen and unknown.
View of the tundra at Twelvemile Summit on our drive to the trailhead
At the Eagle Summit trailhead, the fog was moving in as we started the hike. The valley below was still visible but not for long
The trail is not particularly well used, meaning the primary method of locating where to go is via rock cairns, which are placed about 100 yards apart. Given our limited visibility this was a fun challenge, but typically you could pick out enough of a trail through the rocks to head in the general direction before noticing the next cairn through the fog. We hiked up and over a number of knolls through the alpine tundra, and slogged through many boggy sections where some amount of erosion control by the BLM was evident.
Mike checking out a side trail to an overlook
One of the trail markers used to designate the route through the tundra
The outline of a trail marker can be seen in the distance
We hiked only about 2 miles each way, opting to turn around due to zero chance of views and wet gloves thanks to the heavy, laden mist. We actually really enjoyed hiking this trail in these spooky, otherworldly conditions, which provided a good test of our route finding skills. While we likely missed fantastic views, sometimes the experience itself is the payoff, and I wouldn’t trade this misty mountain hop for a sun filled frolic.
Mike stretches out his arms in the fog to make himself more visible for this photo. We were about 25 yards apart for this photo
The tundra has short vegetation and is sprinkled with rocky areas
The tundra has many lichen, a favorite and staple food of the caribou. Lichen breaks down rocks which adds nutrients and soil back to the tundra
