Glen Boulder short-cut

Anybody ever made a short-cut from Glen Boulder trail directly west over to the Davis Path at Slide Peak? Wondering if the trails are above treeline at this point and thus an "easy" bushwhack so one can avoid having to ascend a further 400-500 ft before dropping down on Davis Path again to get to Isolation.

I'm adventurous but lazy - an unfortunate combination.

It would be easily doable, but it is alot of summit grass and your footprints will kill it. I looked last time I was up there, thinking if I could find enough rocks close enough I could rock hop over. But, too much grass and would be pretty damaging.

Andrew -

There are none that I know of. However ... one time coming back from a trip to Isolation I convinced myself I was too tired to regain the elevation. I found that I was able to (mostly) rock-hop across the tundra to the Glen Boulder following the contour. Probably shouldn't admit to this on public forum, though.

Very often I rock-hop above tree-line to explore the beautiful alpine zone. I don't have a map in front of me so I don't know how much distance you're talking about, but rock hoping on level ground could be more work than climbing 500' on that trail. You could get "stuck" and be forced to either turn around or crunch the alpine flora, and I know you're not capable of such heinous pillage.

Happy Trails

forestnome said:

I don't have a map in front of me so I don't know how much distance you're talking about, but rock hoping on level ground could be more work than climbing 500' on that trail.

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Very true! Many tired hikers trying to get to Madison Hut from Pinkham by the Osgood Trail are tempted to take the Parapet Trail to avoid the 500 foot climb over the summit. Those who survive regret their decision

forestnome said:

...but rock hoping on level ground could be more work than climbing 500' on that trail...

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Rock hopping is also hard on the feet and can be hard on other parts of the body if you fall, which is more likely to occur late in a long hike.

In the winter with adequate snow cover it would be a whole different story.

Mohamed Ellozy said:

Very true! Many tired hikers trying to get to Madison Hut from Pinkham by the Osgood Trail are tempted to take the Parapet Trail to avoid the 500 foot climb over the summit. Those who survive regret their decision

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AMEN!!!

Orsonab said:

Wondering if the trails are above treeline at this point and thus an "easy" bushwhack so one can avoid having to ascend a further 400-500 ft before dropping down on Davis Path again to get to Isolation.

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I believe they are above treeline but am not sure. There are probably scattered sections of krummholz. I was considering this myself during my trip to Isolation, but ended up staying on-trail there.

Off-trail travel above treeline is not recommended unless you know what is OK and not OK to step on. (and certainly not recommended as a convenient shortcut -- IMHO if you are going somewhere off-trail you should be going to there rather than through there) Rocks and most lichens are OK. Somebody at WMNF or one of the natural heritage programs should put together a list/scale like the electrochemical series, with rocks/lichens (most resilient) at one end, and diapensia and dwarf cinquefoil at/near the other end. I suspect the low fir/spruce/birch trees above treeline are fairly resilient. Grasses/sedges less so but I've heard they're resilient as well. Few plants are resilient to repetitive trampling.

If I recall correctly, most of this area is gravelly open sections with lots of diapensia cushions & various other plants (lapland rosebay, dwarf rattlesnake-root) that are on the more fragile end of the scale.

Stepping on summit grass will kill it? Seriously? Due to the climate up there, that has to be the hardiest stuff on the planet.

Jasonst said:

Stepping on summit grass will kill it? Seriously? Due to the climate up there, that has to be the hardiest stuff on the planet.

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Seriously.

The plants know how to deal with extreme of winds, snow/ice, temperature, etc., but not being stepped on.

Your footprints will compact the soil, and remain in some places for several years. Compacting the soil makes it very hard for the plants' roots to get nutrients. Obviously, you won't see it die before your very eyes, but it will happen.

I suppose rock hopping should be out of the question too since we wouldn't want to damage the fragile lichen. Dang.

Jasonst said:

I suppose rock hopping should be out of the question too since we wouldn't want to damage the fragile lichen. Dang.

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I rock hop off trail -

lichen is like rats - not cute or cuddly - its ok to kill it.

how about this for trail clearing -


in all seriousness - i think the short-cut would be a longcut being harder!

krummholz - isn't that they german guy's name in hogan heros?

Jasonst said:

I suppose rock hopping should be out of the question too since we wouldn't want to damage the fragile lichen. Dang.

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There are some summits where the stewards and/or signs ask you to always stay on trail, or at least in a marked or roped area.

I tend to obey them, as these are probably the places where it is most necessary.

Jasonst said:

Stepping on summit grass will kill it? Seriously? Due to the climate up there, that has to be the hardiest stuff on the planet.

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As Tom Rankin said, definitely. This is an important enough point that I'll join in the dogpile. The plants can take huge temperature swings but have not evolved to be resistant to crushing and soil compaction. Tread lightly, stay on durable surfaces, and leave no trace.

actually some lichens are rare (though I probably couldn't recognize those)...

...but my understanding is the "crunchy" lichen which gets broken up when you step on it, is sort of like the brooms in the Sorceror's Apprentice, you're just spreading around lichen spores. The non-crunchy lichen like map lichen (see upper left of this diapensia photo) is attached well enough to the rocks that you'd practically have to scrape it off with a chisel to damage it.

the effects of foot traffic on alpine ecology are a complicated issue (I'm not an expert here but this is just some food for thought)... if you just stepped onto a blade of grass (or sedges/rushes which sort of look the same) & pressed it against smooth rock or small soil particles, I'm guessing that probably wouldn't do any significant damage. If your boots scrape the grass against rock/soil or tear it, however, you could damage the individual blade; how much stress that puts on the plant itself would be unclear. Or you could step on the lower part of the grass near the base which is probably more prone to damage.

As far as individual plants go, most are common enough that an occasional loss of individual plants is not an issue. Sometimes there are very small colonies of plants (<1 sq m) where loss of an individual can make a difference -- dwarf cinquefoil nearly got decimated because of overuse on the Crawford Path, and I seem to remember hearing about several species which were extricated from the heavily-traveled Franconia Ridge. Other times the detrimental effect of foot traffic isn't damage to a particular plant but rather erosion (go to the summit of North Carter sometime) or initiation of further weather damage (if you damage one section of a diapensia cushion, it creates a spot where wind/weather can enter and cause further damage long after you're gone) or allow competition from other plants which do better in disturbed soil (go to the summit of Hale, see the fireweed & mint).

Do what you're comfortable with, but it'd be nice if we all understood the impact we have...

You ever see a healthy area of grass and summit plants, with a clear dead spot smack dab in the middle in the outline of a footprint? I have...there's no returning that spot to it former state.

I don't mean to sound crunchy here, but the walking across the tundra plants and the long term effects are pretty clearly laid out.

dug said:

You ever see a healthy area of grass and summit plants, with a clear dead spot smack dab in the middle in the outline of a footprint? I have...there's no returning that spot to it former state.

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which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Onestep

These posts tend to always go here - someone asks about something a bit off trail and everyone comes out the woodwork about saving the plants,lichen and the krummakrap.

in 1000 years, there will still be plenty lichen left, no matter how many people take the boot spur shortcut.


mother of mercy........................

giggy said:

These posts tend to always go here - someone asks about something a bit off trail and everyone comes out the woodwork about saving the plants,lichen and the krummakrap.

in 1000 years, there will still be plenty lichen left, no matter how many people take the boot spur shortcut.


mother of mercy........................

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Typical American response.... Not sure if you were trying to toss everyone under the boss, or just some of us. I stand by my response, that walking on summit grasses will kill them. If you want to...go ahead. What do you care, right? Many of us remember what the trails looked like before they were beat to ****. Sorry if we want to try to minimize our impact.

dug said:

You ever see a healthy area of grass and summit plants, with a clear dead spot smack dab in the middle in the outline of a footprint? I have...there's no returning that spot to it former state.

I don't mean to sound crunchy here, but the walking across the tundra plants and the long term effects are pretty clearly laid out.

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You do not sound crunchy - you sound correct.