peak_bgr
New member
All I can say is finally; I got these two peaks out of the way. I only say that because I’ve been humming and hawing about it for a couple winters. The fact is I really hate walking the Lake Road, and I already did once this winter in its entirety-that felt like enough. Actually this was the first time I hiked it at night, so it felt a little different.
Nancy and I got rolling pretty early on this one-a 5:30am start, figuring we were going to have to break trail from the Nipple Top junction to Dial. We read trip reports and trail conditions that said Nipple Top from Elk Pass was broken but still very soft, and that a party had made it to Noonmark’s Shoulder. We had nothing on the conditions of the other sections of trail. With no information we packed to break trail; the wider and bigger snowshoes, extra water and food, earlier than normal start-the usual. We left the crampons in the car, knowing in our mind ice wouldn’t be an issue and couple less pounds couldn’t hurt. Of course the weight of the bigger snow shoes and extra water kind of killed that whole idea.
The road was obviously very hard packed by snowmobiles and the 2.5 miles to the cut over trail went by very quickly. We were surprised to see that the Leach trail looked to be very well broken, but narrow. It also ended up that the cutover trail was very hard and wide enough for even my wide stride. The loop to Indian Head and Fish Hawk Cliffs were also very hard packed. We were very curious about Colvin. It was packed but not traveled as of late. I should say lightly packed by what looks to be one group of no more than 2 people. It has a couple inches of fresh snow on it. I can’t even say if they reached the top much less Blake.
The trail was hard pack all the way to Elk Pass, by numerous groups and a couple bobcats; really, bobcats. We could tell by the similar tracks that a rabbit would make, and the half eaten bird lying just off the trail in the tracks; looked like we might have even spooked it.
The steep section from Elk Pass to Nipple Top was perfect. Very easy to climb, except for a couple spots where it was butt slid by previous climbers, those spots were very slippery. We had amazing views from the summit. We could see Mansfield and Camels Hump in Vermont clearly as well as Lyon Mountain.
We were very happy to see, at the junction, that someone had been through to Dial at least part way. It wasn’t hard pack but sinking a couple inches is better than 12. Part way over it looked as though a group had set up camp, and this group has serious sanitary issues. I don’t mind a little yellow snow here and there, but there was piss everywhere, my estimate at least 20 places in this small area, with no courtesy to bury it or cover it up. There was even vomit along side the trail. Someone has even pissed right on the summit of Nipple Top, this is not necessary. Don’t get me wrong I appreciate the effort of breaking the trail but I do not appreciate the lack of respect to others that use it.
All right enough pissing and moaning-no pun intended. We got to Dial on a totally broken trail in just over an hour. The views again stellar. The trip down was also broken and hard packed, but very long. It seemed to take forever, and the climb up to the burnt shoulder, painful. This was actually my first time on the shoulder since the burn, it sure made for some nice views, and Sawteeth from there-wow.
So, hike down and out to the car was uneventful, it felt great to get the snowshoes off. We were in the car 8 hours and 45 minutes after we left them.
Nancy and I got rolling pretty early on this one-a 5:30am start, figuring we were going to have to break trail from the Nipple Top junction to Dial. We read trip reports and trail conditions that said Nipple Top from Elk Pass was broken but still very soft, and that a party had made it to Noonmark’s Shoulder. We had nothing on the conditions of the other sections of trail. With no information we packed to break trail; the wider and bigger snowshoes, extra water and food, earlier than normal start-the usual. We left the crampons in the car, knowing in our mind ice wouldn’t be an issue and couple less pounds couldn’t hurt. Of course the weight of the bigger snow shoes and extra water kind of killed that whole idea.
The road was obviously very hard packed by snowmobiles and the 2.5 miles to the cut over trail went by very quickly. We were surprised to see that the Leach trail looked to be very well broken, but narrow. It also ended up that the cutover trail was very hard and wide enough for even my wide stride. The loop to Indian Head and Fish Hawk Cliffs were also very hard packed. We were very curious about Colvin. It was packed but not traveled as of late. I should say lightly packed by what looks to be one group of no more than 2 people. It has a couple inches of fresh snow on it. I can’t even say if they reached the top much less Blake.
The trail was hard pack all the way to Elk Pass, by numerous groups and a couple bobcats; really, bobcats. We could tell by the similar tracks that a rabbit would make, and the half eaten bird lying just off the trail in the tracks; looked like we might have even spooked it.
The steep section from Elk Pass to Nipple Top was perfect. Very easy to climb, except for a couple spots where it was butt slid by previous climbers, those spots were very slippery. We had amazing views from the summit. We could see Mansfield and Camels Hump in Vermont clearly as well as Lyon Mountain.
We were very happy to see, at the junction, that someone had been through to Dial at least part way. It wasn’t hard pack but sinking a couple inches is better than 12. Part way over it looked as though a group had set up camp, and this group has serious sanitary issues. I don’t mind a little yellow snow here and there, but there was piss everywhere, my estimate at least 20 places in this small area, with no courtesy to bury it or cover it up. There was even vomit along side the trail. Someone has even pissed right on the summit of Nipple Top, this is not necessary. Don’t get me wrong I appreciate the effort of breaking the trail but I do not appreciate the lack of respect to others that use it.
All right enough pissing and moaning-no pun intended. We got to Dial on a totally broken trail in just over an hour. The views again stellar. The trip down was also broken and hard packed, but very long. It seemed to take forever, and the climb up to the burnt shoulder, painful. This was actually my first time on the shoulder since the burn, it sure made for some nice views, and Sawteeth from there-wow.
So, hike down and out to the car was uneventful, it felt great to get the snowshoes off. We were in the car 8 hours and 45 minutes after we left them.
