Today my buddy TBPDPTI and I climbed Washburn Ridge Peak in the Hoffman Notch Wilderness Area. On paper, it was a pretty easy day. 6 miles round trip, 2000’ elevation gain, about 5 hours car-to-car. On the ground, it felt like a long and grueling day.
We parked on Blue Ridge Road shortly after 7am. There was enough snow to warrant us wearing snowshoes right from the beginning. The trail was nice enough as we meandered our way southward for around a mile and a half. Around 1400 feet, we thought the woods looked pretty agreeable so we jumped right into the woods. The summit was a mile away as the crow flies.
The woods were very open but extremely steep. Unforgivingly steep. It was tough going as we broke trail in roughly a foot of snow, fighting for every foot of vertical. Despite the tight contour lines, we only found one cliff to skirt. It took us about an hour to go the first half-mile off-trail. On the plus side, when we stopped to rest we could just turn around enjoy the unique views of Hornet Cobbles, Blue Ridge West & Texas Ridge.
As the contour lines got more spaced out, the woods transitioned from mostly deciduous to evergreen. We were always able to find a good path, however, so there was no spruce-swimming. Finally made our way to the small summit after about 3 hours of hiking.
It was great following our tracks on the descent. The whole thing felt like one big controlled fall as we plunged down the mountainside in the soft snow. Felt good to get back to the trail and start walking back to the car. The last stretch of the Hoffman Notch Trail really dragged. Back to the car after about 5 hours of hiking. Challenging little day in the woods!