Rolling The Dice at Grandjean Once Again. 4-12-14

Rolling the dice at Grandjean for an early season overnight hike has become somewhat of a tradition for us. For the second year running we headed out of Boise later in the day and got to Grandjean road just before 4pm.  The initial plan was to drive to the trail head and hike to Baron creek as we had done last year.  I hadn't been up there yet this year, and although I knew there was more snow this year than last, we still had to try.  When we arrived at the road, we found there were still patches of deep snow, alternating with dry ground and muddy ruts.  That meant the end of the road for the Suby and the beginning of the walk for us from the pullout on Hwy 21.

This was the condition of the road right of Hwy 21.

We pretty much figured there was no way we were going to make it all the way to Baron Creek, let alone the trailhead, so we changed plans and aimed for one of the camp grounds along the road.  65 degrees and occasional westerly gusts.

At a mile and a half in we found this nice little area along the river to camp.  We could have walked further but we were happy with what we found and saw little reason to continue.

We got to test out the new tent.  REI Quarter Dome 2.  Very nice!

It was a beautiful night and warmer than we thought it would be.

Ruts in the road before the bridge.

All in all it was a good early season teaser and we tested some new gear that worked great.  Maybe next year we'll bring snowshoes just in case...

Granola out