Sat, Aug 31 2013 - Molar Pass to North Molar Pass (View Original Event Details)
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Wow! What an incredible day! Needless to say, this was a great trip. We started out at the Mosquito Creek trailhead by hiking the excellent trail towards South Molar Pass. We reached the campground in 1 hour 10 min. We stopped here briefly but kept hiking to the trail junction for the two Molar passes. Here we took the right fork and kept hiking to Molar Pass. We reached the pass and decided to hike up a bit further for our lunch break.
The weather was solid and the views were amazing. Our goal for the day was to hike from South Molar Pass over to North Molar Pass and out. I only had my guidebook and I don't have much experience with Mike Potter's descriptions. Turns out the route finding was easy and I put the book away. We hiked up pleasant terrain to the base of a steep boulder slope. There were tiny tarns that made the area even more scenic. From the base of the boulder slope, we had to scramble to the top near a pinnacle as described by Potter. Two of our members even scrambled the pinnacle for better views. The rest of us continued up the ridge to our highpoint marked by a cairn at 2770m. Here we stopped to soak up the 360 degree views. Glaciers, mountains, high alpine valleys, lakes, were all around us. It was a great spot to be.
We did however have to complete the rest of the route down to North Molar Pass. Here Potter describes it as "mostly easy slopes". Well, it was mostly easy depending on your comfort level. A bit of easy rated scrambling here. There were a couple pinnacles which needed to by bypassed on loose rock. All of us did a good job descending to the pass with only one incident. From North Molar Pass, we felt great to have completed the off-trail route between the passes.
We did not linger too long here, and quickly hiked down the excellent trail past Mosquito Lake and through beautiful open alpine meadows to tree line and below. Our hike out was good albeit a long one. Once back at the parking area/road, it was a solid 26km day! Very little was said during our final 3-4km as it seemed all were tired.
All in all, a grand day out! I think it is safe to say, all enjoyed the trip today. I cannot think of any better hike/route. This was so beautiful. I recommend this to all. Thanks to Mary for stepping up and driving. Hope to see everyone soon. Cheers! Jeff