Street and Nye (or StreetnNye)

Order in ranking, Street number 31, Nye number 45.
 
The same weekend that I climbed Rocky Ridge Peak, I also climbed Street and Nye.  Unlike the day before (Rocky) when I hiked up and out with the whole group of us camping, this time it was back to the Dynamic Duo, as Steph and I set out together for our own hike.

Signing in.

Neither Street nor Nye has much of a view from the summit, so we figured the other women might not be interested in spending the day with us; especially considering we were trying to get them hooked on the hiking the 46.  They went off to hike Phelps instead, which has a fantastic view.

Steph and I set out around 8 – not fantastically early, but certainly not a late start either.  The trailhead to Street and Nye can be reached a few ways – we walked towards the Loj, and took the path marked “Mount Jo”; alternatively, you can head out past the parking station attendant booth, and take the path there marked “Mount Jo”.  The two paths do meet up eventually, at the register.

From there, you follow the path as it leads around the Lake, eventually splitting off from the Mount Jo path, and another Old Nye Ski Trail.  Shortly after this, there’s a large sign stating that the trail is no longer maintained nor marked past this point.  It should be noted that the trail is quite easy to follow, mostly.

I say mostly because when you get to the large river crossing, there are paths that lead from the trail down to the river bank.  We took the first one, assuming it to the trail, and crossed the river only to lose the trail on the other side.  (After much back and forth – both along the banks and back across the river – did we finally pull out the compass and use it while reading the guide book, realizing that we had crossed before the river swings north and needed to go back and get on the trail again.)  To save you this time and trouble, it’s important to note that a) there are two false paths to the river before the true trail leads down, and b) the true trail and river crossing are marked with cairns on both sides of the river.  If you don’t see a cairn on your side or the opposite side, don’t cross!

 

Follow these across the river.

We pulled out our river shoes to cross – I had already fallen once on the rocks and bashed my knee good, and the water was just deep enough to give me pause about walking (again) in wet boots.  The water was surprisingly not that cold – it actually felt quite nice on our feet. 

Abandoned cans, all rusty and un-usable.

From there, the trail was easily discernible as it led along the river bank, past a large meadow (and later on a beaver dam) eventually reaching the abandoned lumber camp.  Here we decided to leave a few things – it had been cold when we started out, and we had worn long pants at the beginning of our hike, so we left our pants, and water shoes, with a note stating that we had gone to Street/Nye and would be back later on that day for our belongings.  (And yes, they were still there when we got back.)

Street and Nye have a great hike up – it’s not too demanding (even the steep section is – compared to Basin, Haystack and Giant – not that bad). One thing that did surprise us – everything we’d read and Street and Nye talked about the steep bit before the trail splits for the two summits.  While there is a steep bit before the split, there’s also a not so steep section after the steep section but before the split.  So basically - once you hit the steep section, you're just over half-way to the split.  You're going to go through a section of what looks like deadwood, and things are going to look like you're coming to something summit-y, and then you'll go around a corner and....there's still path in front of you.  

I can almost....reach....

We went to Street first, as we figured get the further one out of the way.  It was fairly flat for a short bit, then it got a little steep as we wound our way up.  It's good to note that there are several paths, as people have meander their way to the summit - try to stick to the one that is the most defined to avoid trampling the surroundings too much.  I think it took us maybe 40 minutes to hit the summit - not too long, really.  Once we got there, I sat to treat a blister that was forming (duct tape over a band-aid easily solves this problem), while Steph took a few photos from the lookouts.

We quickly headed back to the split, and up Nye; it was a very quick 10 minute walk over to the Nye.  There was some gentle up and down, but the real problem was grabby branches from the bushes lining the path.

Great day for a rocky beach....

Once we hit Nye, took a few photos (of us, and the couple that we had been following to and from Street), we headed back to the split for some lunch.  There's a nice clearing with plenty of shady places to sit at the split, which was great on a bright, sunny day.  We chatted with a few hikers (there were lots out - we met over 30 hikers, which surprised us as neither summit has a view) and then headed out - making a push to hit the lumber camp and retrieve our gear (which we hoped was still there - it was.)

We took a break by the river crossing - sitting and sunning on the rocks, and drying our feet after dipping them in water.  From there we pushed on towards the trail register, and then to the Info Centre to pick up our patch (Street and Nye share a patch.) 

Total climbing time: 7 hours and 40 minutes

Left trailhead at: 8:15, returned at 3:55

Summitted Street at 12:25 (left summit at 12:31) summitted Nye at 1:08