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<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>After leaving the cars (with some regret, engendered by the overwhelming creepiness of the scenery) we marched for a couple miles along Bessemer Road, a logging road closed to motorized traffic. But, apparently not closed to serial killers\u2026 at least, that was our conclusion upon discovering two perfectly preserved, laceless leather boots in the middle of the road. Filled with moss (and no feet\u2026 we checked). This truly was BOOTalicious. Or perhaps they belonged to Big Foot? Had a moonshiner heard the authorities and run from his still for hills? Hilarious \/ terrifying.<\/p>\n From there, the road continued until it intersected with a creek, which we promptly crossed. We knew that the best trail peeled off soon after the creek\u2026 but where? No proper trails to be found here, let\u2019s poke around in the trees a bit more\u2026.<\/p>\n \u201cHey,\u201d Chris said, \u201cIs this a toy? A Tonka truck?\u201d He rooted about in the rotting leaves and revealed an oddly-shaped piece of tan plastic.<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d I said, \u201cIt looks like an old chainsaw! What does it say?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTakes multiple fuel sources\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d I agreed, \u201cboth the souls of damned and the innocent. Very versatile.\u201d<\/p>\n He said, \u201cI guess the souls go in here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYep. That\u2019s the SoulHole.\u201d And thus, a hashtag was born. #SoulHole. You are welcome.<\/p>\n There was a trailhead near the SoulHole, but it went impossibly steeply up a slick, muddy face. No way could that be the intended trail, but just to be sure let\u2019s check the GPS\u2026 yep, Gaia shows the intersection a bit farther over\u2026 here we so. (Little did we realize, dear reader, that the proper trail is indeed marked by the SoulHole, defended perfectly by that steep muddy incline\u2026 by far the steepest section of the entire trail. The tall trees interfered with our GPS reliability\u2026 and thus we began the day off-route.)<\/p>\n Up we went, into a silent world of old-growth stumps, beautiful needle carpet underfoot, enchanting ferns\u2026 and, soon enough, no discernible trail. It looked like the proper way up was on climber\u2019s right, but a steep creek filled with alders blocked our path. The solution: Climb higher, and bear right ASAP. Thus, the seduction of the unknown, an imaginary route that never materialized, and terrain that grew ever steeper. The creek became a cataract, and eventually cliffed out. There was no way but to go LEFT towards a different trail that appeared on our maps.<\/p>\n Fine. Or, not. We needed to cross a couloir full of alders and cold water\u2026 only to find a dense thicket of alders on the other side, flanking steep, wet, slippery granite. And if the alders were not bad enough, the mud here was severe. Mud? More like quicksand. More like Lindsay Graham puckering up to the Orange Goon on a Saturday Night: It really SUCKED. At one point, while trying to clamber up a dripping-wet grantie face, I felt my foot begin to sink. I looked down\u2026 and there it went, my boot disappearing beneath a layer of brown ooze, resisting my desperate tugging to get it out again. I instantly thought of Ross Perot, and said, \u201cHey Guys! You know that sucking sound you hear? It\u2019s not our jobs going to Mexico\u2026.\u201d Eventually the muck did give up the booty, so to speak. Each of us found our way up independently, always in hollering distance of the others, though shrouded in cloying fog.<\/p>\n Our reward? An abandoned road, littered with more alders, apparently not touched by human influence in decades. But, passable. In fact, we soon found an intersecting trail that would, eventually, come close to linking up with the intended route. My mantra became, \u201cAll trails lead to the summit.\u201d In large sections of the upper mountain, the trail was actually in great shape, and took us through charming second-growth forests with soft dirt underfoot. This part of the hike was fun.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>