Neil
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- Apr 26, 2004
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One of the biggest parts of trip planning seems to be checking the weather forecast and the words “flood warning” caught my eye on Monday. Normally I heed these warnings but Tuesday’s hike was special because I was going with “Fair Weather”, Soft J Julie. So, instead of packing rain gear I made sure I had plenty of sun screen, my sunglasses and a sun visor. As we drove down the highway watching the sky get brighter and brighter with the odd blue patch showing we decided to do Marshall from Upper Works. We would go up the Herbert brook path and down via Indian pass.
Imagine our consternation when we arrived at UW and at the exact second when I opened my door it started raining, hard and unrelentingly. Not much we could do but venture out into it. It rained all the way to Flowed Lands. We opted for the high water bridge and daintily kept our feet as dry as possible. There sure was an awful lot of water on the trail and flowing across it. In and around Calamity Pond the entire area was swamped. When we got to the LT we talked to a guy who had planned a 6 day campout but was already fed up on day 2 and was all packed up, ready to leave. He said something about a hot shower….
After watching the rain and getting chilly we hoofed it to the start of Herbert Brook. I’ve been in that area 4 or 5 times before but only in winter so I got to discover this pleasant little section of trail as we rose and fell.
We were wondering what the brook would be like and agreed that if we didn’t like the looks of any crossings we would simply bushwhack to the next one. The beginning of the trail is quite ingrown with spruce or balsam and our clothing greedily sucked up some more water. Then the trail widened and walking alongside the tumult was a truly beautiful and unforgettable experience. There was a lot of water moving very quickly and it wasn’t even steep yet.
As the trail climbs it goes in and out of the streambed, crossing and re-crossing it 9 or 10 times. The first crossing definitely gave us pause but turned out to be not all that bad. I don’t think we ever had to step into anything deeper than mid-shin to get across. The hiking poles were excellent probes and stabilizers. Eventually the rain stopped. The second crossing was a little hairy but slightly upstream the water was fairly slack and that went OK, too. Then we hit a third crossing which was a very obvious no-go so we started bushwhacking up the left bank. There we found a faint but unmistakeable herd trail. It was quite steep, thick and wet and the ground was very soggy but lucky for us there was no shortage of blowdown so we wormed our way through it for a few hundred vertical feet until we spotted the trail on the other side and saw we had a good crossing place. Gradually the crossings got easier and easier and once past the dam the brook and the trail were one of the same. Of course by now neither of us cared when we stepped into mid-shin deep water. I post-holed right up to my knee in some very stinky muck. (In fact, I enjoyed it so much on the way up that I stepped into the exact same hole on the way down.).
The volume of water in the trail decreased steadily until we were near the summit. It was fascinating to turn around and watch the brook grow and grow as we descended. We decided to return by Herbert Brook instead of Indian Pass because of the bird in the hand theory. (Perhaps Mavs can post that picture of Ashley trying to cross the stream that descends towards IP).
We had lots of fun on the return trip walking into the flow and taking pictures. We crossed the brook 9 times. The steep bushwhack/herd trail section was a lot tougher to descend than it was to climb. There was one tricky crossing and I forgot that we had done it higher up in the slacker water. When I put my foot in it was swept out from under me. Good thing for poles! I found it was easier to walk directly into the current which brought me up to the easier point of crossing.
We got back to the LT and it started pouring again. We took a well deserved break, ate some food and changed into dry clothes. (They have his and hers LT’s at Flowed lands. The hers doesn’t have a floor though.). There seemed to be a lot more water on the trail and we waded right through it. After putting on a new set of dry clothing we sat down in the car and both of us let out a contended sighed of relief.
Julie is now at 44 peaks. She certainly earned this one!
Her next: Blake from the slide.
As we descended the brook we kept saying that we should get some pictures but the camera was in a waterproof bag deep in my pack which had a pack cover over it etc. etc.
Finally we disciplined ourselves and stopped and dug the thing out. So here are the PICTURES
Imagine our consternation when we arrived at UW and at the exact second when I opened my door it started raining, hard and unrelentingly. Not much we could do but venture out into it. It rained all the way to Flowed Lands. We opted for the high water bridge and daintily kept our feet as dry as possible. There sure was an awful lot of water on the trail and flowing across it. In and around Calamity Pond the entire area was swamped. When we got to the LT we talked to a guy who had planned a 6 day campout but was already fed up on day 2 and was all packed up, ready to leave. He said something about a hot shower….
After watching the rain and getting chilly we hoofed it to the start of Herbert Brook. I’ve been in that area 4 or 5 times before but only in winter so I got to discover this pleasant little section of trail as we rose and fell.
We were wondering what the brook would be like and agreed that if we didn’t like the looks of any crossings we would simply bushwhack to the next one. The beginning of the trail is quite ingrown with spruce or balsam and our clothing greedily sucked up some more water. Then the trail widened and walking alongside the tumult was a truly beautiful and unforgettable experience. There was a lot of water moving very quickly and it wasn’t even steep yet.
As the trail climbs it goes in and out of the streambed, crossing and re-crossing it 9 or 10 times. The first crossing definitely gave us pause but turned out to be not all that bad. I don’t think we ever had to step into anything deeper than mid-shin to get across. The hiking poles were excellent probes and stabilizers. Eventually the rain stopped. The second crossing was a little hairy but slightly upstream the water was fairly slack and that went OK, too. Then we hit a third crossing which was a very obvious no-go so we started bushwhacking up the left bank. There we found a faint but unmistakeable herd trail. It was quite steep, thick and wet and the ground was very soggy but lucky for us there was no shortage of blowdown so we wormed our way through it for a few hundred vertical feet until we spotted the trail on the other side and saw we had a good crossing place. Gradually the crossings got easier and easier and once past the dam the brook and the trail were one of the same. Of course by now neither of us cared when we stepped into mid-shin deep water. I post-holed right up to my knee in some very stinky muck. (In fact, I enjoyed it so much on the way up that I stepped into the exact same hole on the way down.).
The volume of water in the trail decreased steadily until we were near the summit. It was fascinating to turn around and watch the brook grow and grow as we descended. We decided to return by Herbert Brook instead of Indian Pass because of the bird in the hand theory. (Perhaps Mavs can post that picture of Ashley trying to cross the stream that descends towards IP).
We had lots of fun on the return trip walking into the flow and taking pictures. We crossed the brook 9 times. The steep bushwhack/herd trail section was a lot tougher to descend than it was to climb. There was one tricky crossing and I forgot that we had done it higher up in the slacker water. When I put my foot in it was swept out from under me. Good thing for poles! I found it was easier to walk directly into the current which brought me up to the easier point of crossing.
We got back to the LT and it started pouring again. We took a well deserved break, ate some food and changed into dry clothes. (They have his and hers LT’s at Flowed lands. The hers doesn’t have a floor though.). There seemed to be a lot more water on the trail and we waded right through it. After putting on a new set of dry clothing we sat down in the car and both of us let out a contended sighed of relief.
Julie is now at 44 peaks. She certainly earned this one!
Her next: Blake from the slide.
As we descended the brook we kept saying that we should get some pictures but the camera was in a waterproof bag deep in my pack which had a pack cover over it etc. etc.
Finally we disciplined ourselves and stopped and dug the thing out. So here are the PICTURES
The flowed lands must have really been flowing, and I can just imagine the Calamity Brook area!! Actually, it really looks quite beautiful. I take it you stayed warm enough that it really was fun?
