Smith Mountain

9 March 1991

By: David Eisenberg

Leaders: David Eisenberg, David Jensen

Attemping to meet the need for introductory hikes, we decided to take the opportunity to lead this excellent front range peak. Smith Mountain has the advantages of being close to the city with a moderate gain suitable to newcomers. The trail offers a taste of the best the HPS has to offer: the gentleness of the PCT with just a taste of firebreak and 2nd class rock to whet the appetite.

30 Hikers came out for this activity. 22 were Sierra Club members while 8 were newcomers. Quite a number of the 22 were on their first HPS hike.

Since this was a beginner's hike, we set the pace at 600' of gain per hour, planning on a summit lunch at noon. This allowed a late carpool meeting time of 8:00 with a departure from the trailhead at 9am.

There was only one slide due to the previous day's rain. The newcomers were fairly leery of it, but crossed it gingerly.

We reached the summit of Smith at 11:40, a bit ahead of schedule. To David Jensen's surprise, the register, which he had seen a scant 2 weeks before, was missing. We took a longish lunch, sharing various goodies before departing for the cars.

With luck, we now have several new peakbaggers for our section.