Best time to hike The Subway

lostlandscapes

lostlandscapes

rope mule
Joined
Jan 17, 2012
Messages
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What are your feelings on doing it in the morning versus the afternoon? I've yet to start the Subway before 11, mostly because I appreciate how that puts the final climb in the shade. But one advantage I see is that it looks like there was a good deal of sunshine making it into the canyon bottom--perhaps a blessing for those of us who suffer from instant hypothermia?? ;) On the other hand, I imagine that hard light makes the photography aspect a bit more challenging. Thoughts?


Nick: mod note, I moved this topic to it's own thread as I felt it could be very useful to find down the road. Taken from this thread: http://backcountrypost.com/forum/index.php?threads/the-subway-may-2012.897/
 
lostlandscapes said:
What are your feelings on doing it in the morning versus the afternoon? I've yet to start the Subway before 11, mostly because I appreciate how that puts the final climb in the shade. But one advantage I see is that it looks like there was a good deal of sunshine making it into the canyon bottom--perhaps a blessing for those of us who suffer from instant hypothermia?? ;) On the other hand, I imagine that hard light makes the photography aspect a bit more challenging. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I went back and compared times on my 4 trips by looking at metadata of photos. Time of the year will also play a role. In August in the middle of the afternoon, the Subway was actually totally in the shade. Same for the October trip when we passed through it at 3:30. The other two trips in May and June, it was in sun at 1:30 and 2:06.

May 20, 2012
8:40 - Leave Wildcat
10:30 - Bottom of Russell Gulch
1:30 - Subway in full sun
2:45 - Bottom of Red Ledges
3:40 - Dino Tracks
Anyone remember when we finished?

October 15, 2011 (entered via tech Russell Gulch route)
10:15 - Leave Wildcat
2:15 - Bottom of Russell Gulch
2:57 - The North Pole
3:30 - Subway in total shade
4:00 - Bottom of Red Ledges
6:45 - Left Fork Trailhead

August 21, 2011
7:45 - Leave Wildcat
9:40 - Bottom of Russell Gulch
1:49 - Subway in full shade - whaaaa?!
2:35 - Bottom of Red Ledges
3:55 - Dino Tracks

June 19, 2011
9:00 - Leave Wildcat (bad nav factored in)
10:30 - Bottom of Russell Gulch
2:06 - Subway in full sun
2:52 - Bottom of Red Ledges
3:42 - Dino Tracks

I've gotten some decent shots with it in sun. Definitely a good idea to pack the ND filters. Climbing the hill in the shade is nice but getting back to SLC at midnight is the sucks. I guess if you're camping nearby that would be the way to do it. But I dunno.. we ran into a lot of people log jams the day we did it later in the day. That sucked. I think I'm still a fan of the early start. Just make sure and soak in the river before climbing that last hill. :)

Taken August 21, 2011 at 2:01 PM on a sunny day.


World's finest swimming hole by ibenick, on Flickr
 
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