Marshall, Marshall, Marshall

Ah, success at last! Armed with some good karma from the Cat Power cds that I was listening to on the drive down, I met up with Mark and Louis who were staying at the LOJ for the weekend. They were going to Cascade so I decided I would rather have another go at Mt Marshall. The route was the same one I had planned with Ken (hopefully recovered soon). The trail up Cold Brook Pass was quite rough and eroded. The herd path to Mt Marshall was well marked with a cairn and it was (as all of them are) a delight. Easy to follow, mostly soft underfoot, a bit grown-over in places and some fun little rock scrambles too.

I had seen few people all morning but within ten minutes of reaching the top, three groups showed up. It became a 33 convention as for several of us this was 33 on the list of 46. Most were headed down the way I was going but one group were off to bushwack up to Iroquois and then out via Algonquin. They suggested I join up but I thought better of it.

The walk out was a long and tiring trudge down the Herbert Brook herd path then past Lake Colden and Avalanche Pass. Along the way I mistakenly got on the wrong trail and started back up towards Cold Brook Path before realising my mistake and doubling back to make sure I was going the right way. While Lake Colden and Avalanche Pass are scenic as heck the going is slow and rocky underfoot. That said, I scoped out some scenic leantos that would be great to stay at. I made it back to the car at around 7:30 after setting out at 9. A long day but well worth the effort.