Thrift Peak in Feb.

Stout surprised me by saying that he wanted to finish the hike of Thrift Peak with me, this past week! We had an attempt last year which led to getting lost in the woods and he panicking! Later he thanked me for getting him out and back home to his family, alive, although we got home 5 hours later that the scheduled time! I agreed to his suggestion and we headed south on Highway #22 in an unusually mild morning of Feb. 

This time I had my shiny GPSMAP 64® with me and despite the stupidity and negativity that Stout was emitting(!) I was hopeful to make the summit. We parked at the same exact spot that we had parked the last time, which led to the unsuccessful hike and getting lost(!) and followed the trail. The only difference this time was the fact that we had a clearer understanding of our area by using the GPS. Stout was trying to use an App he had installed on his phone and a silly little compass he had purchased but he didn't have a grasp of the App and the stupid compass was not working and eventually fell apart! Following the GPS we finally got on the actual trail and headed up on a steep trail but after a little while the strong wind hit us and when I say strong, I really mean strong! Neither of us are small guys. Stout must be at least 200 Lbs and I think I'm something around 175 Lbs but we were barely able to hold ourselves! A few meters up someone had made a shelter. Stout hunched over and started begging me(!) to go back down! He was worried to face the dark and get lost again! I thought he was right and it was not worth the risk and agreed to go back. It was almost 12:00 and we had about 3.6 Km to hike to reach the summit which would have taken anything from 1.5 to 2 hours depending the status of the trail, the exposure we would have to face and wind. 

Hill of Bob Creek Wildland where Thrift Peak is located. I like the blue sky in this photo

Our walk back to the parking spot didn't have anything special. We took a few pictures and we were just make sure that we are taking the same route that we had taken in the morning. 

We reached the car at about 15:46 and considering the hike had been started at 08:06, approximately, we finished our hike after 07:06 hours. We made a decision to go back and make it to the summit one later, soon! 

(Photo, top: Stout is dragging himself up in the strong wind, getting help from the hiking poles. We ended our hike somewhere close this spot)