Krummholz hell: toughest 1/4 mile I ever hiked

[CORed]

I went on a hiking/fishing trip in the Loch Lomond area yesterday, and visited the two small lakes above it (still some ice in these lakes, BTW). I went up via a pretty well-worn social trail along the south shore of the lake and up the headwall above it to the other two lakes. The fishing was nothing to write home about. I had one strike all day, but it was a gorgeous day, though a bit windy, and it is a spectacular location.

I decided to see if I could find a route down the north side of the drainage. The lack of any social trail was a bit troubling. This is a pretty well-traveled area, and if there was a good route I would have expected a trail. Nonetheless i pushed on. I found a reasonable class 2 route off the headwall back to Loch Lomond, very steep in some places but pretty stable. From there I could see an area of open terrain extending about 2/3 of the way down the north shore of the lake. I figured I could find a way the rest of the way to the dam and cross back over to the road down.

The north shore of Lock Lomond has some of the biggest, densest stands of Subalpine Fir krummholz I've ever encountered, with a few areas of 4-5 foot tall willows interspersed. At the end of the open area I had spotted, I was unable to find a good route through. I followed several promising breaks that all dead ended in a short distance. Finally I decided I would just have to push through. Of course, once you're in the stuff, there is no way to tell where the breaks (if any) are. I could see enough of the surrounding mountains to keep me going in the right direction, but local navigation was pretty much impossible. In most of it, I couldn't even see the ground -- I just had to feel my way long and try to avoid stepping into a hole. About 2/3 of the way through, I encountered a section of willows with a stream of flowing water about 40 or 50 feet across running through them, apparently a snow-melt stream coming off of the James Peak ridge. I over-topped my boots a couple of times.

At one point, I fell backwards into a deep squat, knees fully bent, and couldn't stand up from it. My knees were just too flexed to stand up using my leg muscles, and the surrounding trees were too flexible too allow me to pull myself up with my arms. Finally I just fell back into a sitting position, straightened my legs out, rested a few minutes to get my breath back, and was then able to get my feet under me and get up. I was thinking while down that there was no way anybody was going to find me in this stuff. Somebody might stumble onto my skeletal remains in a few years. Eventually (1/2 hour? hour? I didn't keep track. It felt like days, but the sun was still up.), I broke out into the open, found my way to the dam, and took the easy hike of a mile or two back to my vehicle. I will probably go back to Loch Lomond, as it is a spectacularly beautiful area pretty close to where I live, well worth the trip even if the fish aren't biting, but I think I will avoid the north (James Peak side) shore.