Mailbox Peak 5/20/2017

Carl and Mark by the mailbox
Carl and Mark by the mailbox

Why is this mountain named Mailbox Peak?  See photo above, on the summit.

Even the old guy made it:

The old guy made it
The old guy made it

And believe me, this is a tough one.  Other than Low Mountain, which was painful due to the intense bushwhacking, this is the toughest hike I have done.

We went up the Old Trail, which, as you can see from the track below, is pretty much straight up the mountain, and then down the new trail, which is a bit less steep.

But at the point where the old and the new trails meet up and become one, you go a bit farther and hit a sheer wall of rocks you have to get up:

That isn't even the summit
That isn’t even the summit

Now when I got to this point, I thought the summit was the top of the rocks.  Nope – not at all.  If you see the trees on the left at the top, they obscure the actual summit.  When you get up this section, there is another, steeper section left.  Oh my!

In spite of the steepness and ruggedness of this hike it is very popular on a weekend with fairly nice weather:

Crowded Mailbox Peak
Crowded Mailbox Peak

Not much of a view today but we did get to see a bunch of dogs:

Golden on the summit
Golden on the summit

The slight clearing in the above photo was the best view from the summit.

Here is the track:

https://adventures.garmin.com/en-US/by/djhiker/mailbox-peak-5-20-2017#.WSDMCdy1upo

Awesome hike, but my legs might be just a tad sore in the morning.