NH_Mtn_Hiker
New member
The Plan
After several emails back and forth 7summits, Skimom, and myself decided we would hike up Adams, as opposed to Washington, from Lowe's Store. This was due, in part to the gals perception that Washington was too difficult, but mainly because the parking was cheaper.
Lowe's Path
We started up Lowe's Path just before 9:30am. The trail was nice and easy, though a bit muddy here and there. 7summits mentioned something about I should have brought gators. I thought, "what am I suppose to do, throw them in the mud and walk across them hoping they don't bite my leg off". I thing she's been watching too many movies. About 1.5 miles up the trail we encountered a large blowdown across the trail. After some time debating how to overcome this obstacle we decided to venture off trail and go around the right side of the tree. So with compass and map in hand we bravely bushwhacked around the tree. It was at this time I discovered my compass was malfunctioning. The needle seemed to be stuck, no matter which way I turned the compass the needle pointed in the same direction. Fortunately, Skimom spotted the trail off to our left saving us from being hopelessly lost. Note: This is a great example why you should never go off trail alone.
Too many Tourists
By the time we reached the first major trail junction we had encountered a half-dozen or so touristy looking hikers coming down the trail dressed in the latest synthetic fashions with their sleeping bags, pads, and ice axes strapped to their packs. I'll bet if they could have found stoves and kitchen sinks small enough they'd have brought them as well. Anyways, according to the map the King Ravine Trail crossed over to the Airline Trail and then it was only about .75 miles to the summit.
Topless
The King Ravine Trail started off fairly easy and much to our liking was clearly less traveled. After a mile or so the trail got steeper and the Skimom decided it was time to stop and delayer a bit. I was climbing a nearby rock to take some pics of our surroundings when I noticed Skimom attempting to remove her top shirt. However, she had both her top and bottom layers in her hands as she pulled the shirt over her head. She claimed it was an accident. All I can say is I'm glad there were no children around to see it. Fortunately though, my camera was there ...unfortunately David Metsky says I can't post the topless picture here. I guess Abster isn't the only female hiker that hikes topless.
Gossip
Along our journey we passed the time with numerous philosophical and scientific discussions including: Why dogs shouldn't be leashed while hiking, the link between trail running and E.D., and we debated whether or not Moses was traveling "Ultralight" when he led the Israelites across the Red Sea. We also discussed the positive and negative attributes of many of the other VFTT and ROT hikers we know including Dr. Wu and Doug Paul. Positive attributes seemed to be very limited in most cases. The discussions continued as we reached the Chemin des Dames Trail "Ladies Way". The topic of yet another discussion.
Despair
From the Junction with the Chemin des Dames Trail it was only .9 miles to the Airline Trail. Little did we realize it would be the most difficult .9 miles of trail we had ever hiked. Not only would we would be breaking trail from this point on, none of us had ever hiked this trail before. It only took us a couple hundred yards to lose the trail on the elevated section. After finally deciding to backtrack we discovered the Ice Cave Route which rejoins the King Ravine Trail just beyond the elevated section. We decided to give the Ice caves a try which would have been a lot of fun had we not been carrying winter packs. This short section of trail went something like this: Approach cave entrance, take pack off, shove pack down into cave, climb down into cave, shove pack out other side, try to climb out of cave, shove pack out further, climb out of cave, put pack on, walk 15 feet around a bend to next cave and repeat. By the time we reached the base of the headwall we were totally exhausted. Skimom decided it was appropriate to tell us of a woman who brought a newb co-worker into King Ravine only to be benighted with just one bivy sack. I also learned I was the only one of the three of us that had a bivy sack. Since I knew my bivy sack would only hold two people, who would use it and who would be left out in the cold? It was a difficult decision. One that would have been much easier if only HikerAmiga had been there.
Salvation
We spent hours climbing over and under boulders the size of Hummers or larger, and knocking snow off them to avoid the crevices between the rocks, some of which were eight feet or deeper. Finally we reached the Airline Trail. There was much rejoicing. It had taken nearly 6 1/2 hours to reach this point, half of which was just the last .9 miles. We had no intentions of summiting Adams at this point. We just wanted to go to a party! We considered going down the Airline Trail but settled on Gulfside to Thunderstorm Junction then down Lowe's Path. Lowe's Path was icy and I took a nice tumble down it (about a 9.6) and Skimom took a few smaller falls. Nothing that would stop us from getting to the party. 7summits seemed much steadier on her feet, probably due to her lower center of gravity. Upon reaching Lowe's Store 7summits and I dumped Skimom off then we went to a very exclusive private party. Skimom found her way there later.
Pics
Are here.
FWIW
Here, have some green circles. Distribute them wherever you like.
After several emails back and forth 7summits, Skimom, and myself decided we would hike up Adams, as opposed to Washington, from Lowe's Store. This was due, in part to the gals perception that Washington was too difficult, but mainly because the parking was cheaper.
Lowe's Path
We started up Lowe's Path just before 9:30am. The trail was nice and easy, though a bit muddy here and there. 7summits mentioned something about I should have brought gators. I thought, "what am I suppose to do, throw them in the mud and walk across them hoping they don't bite my leg off". I thing she's been watching too many movies. About 1.5 miles up the trail we encountered a large blowdown across the trail. After some time debating how to overcome this obstacle we decided to venture off trail and go around the right side of the tree. So with compass and map in hand we bravely bushwhacked around the tree. It was at this time I discovered my compass was malfunctioning. The needle seemed to be stuck, no matter which way I turned the compass the needle pointed in the same direction. Fortunately, Skimom spotted the trail off to our left saving us from being hopelessly lost. Note: This is a great example why you should never go off trail alone.
Too many Tourists
By the time we reached the first major trail junction we had encountered a half-dozen or so touristy looking hikers coming down the trail dressed in the latest synthetic fashions with their sleeping bags, pads, and ice axes strapped to their packs. I'll bet if they could have found stoves and kitchen sinks small enough they'd have brought them as well. Anyways, according to the map the King Ravine Trail crossed over to the Airline Trail and then it was only about .75 miles to the summit.
Topless
The King Ravine Trail started off fairly easy and much to our liking was clearly less traveled. After a mile or so the trail got steeper and the Skimom decided it was time to stop and delayer a bit. I was climbing a nearby rock to take some pics of our surroundings when I noticed Skimom attempting to remove her top shirt. However, she had both her top and bottom layers in her hands as she pulled the shirt over her head. She claimed it was an accident. All I can say is I'm glad there were no children around to see it. Fortunately though, my camera was there ...unfortunately David Metsky says I can't post the topless picture here. I guess Abster isn't the only female hiker that hikes topless.
Gossip
Along our journey we passed the time with numerous philosophical and scientific discussions including: Why dogs shouldn't be leashed while hiking, the link between trail running and E.D., and we debated whether or not Moses was traveling "Ultralight" when he led the Israelites across the Red Sea. We also discussed the positive and negative attributes of many of the other VFTT and ROT hikers we know including Dr. Wu and Doug Paul. Positive attributes seemed to be very limited in most cases. The discussions continued as we reached the Chemin des Dames Trail "Ladies Way". The topic of yet another discussion.
Despair
From the Junction with the Chemin des Dames Trail it was only .9 miles to the Airline Trail. Little did we realize it would be the most difficult .9 miles of trail we had ever hiked. Not only would we would be breaking trail from this point on, none of us had ever hiked this trail before. It only took us a couple hundred yards to lose the trail on the elevated section. After finally deciding to backtrack we discovered the Ice Cave Route which rejoins the King Ravine Trail just beyond the elevated section. We decided to give the Ice caves a try which would have been a lot of fun had we not been carrying winter packs. This short section of trail went something like this: Approach cave entrance, take pack off, shove pack down into cave, climb down into cave, shove pack out other side, try to climb out of cave, shove pack out further, climb out of cave, put pack on, walk 15 feet around a bend to next cave and repeat. By the time we reached the base of the headwall we were totally exhausted. Skimom decided it was appropriate to tell us of a woman who brought a newb co-worker into King Ravine only to be benighted with just one bivy sack. I also learned I was the only one of the three of us that had a bivy sack. Since I knew my bivy sack would only hold two people, who would use it and who would be left out in the cold? It was a difficult decision. One that would have been much easier if only HikerAmiga had been there.
Salvation
We spent hours climbing over and under boulders the size of Hummers or larger, and knocking snow off them to avoid the crevices between the rocks, some of which were eight feet or deeper. Finally we reached the Airline Trail. There was much rejoicing. It had taken nearly 6 1/2 hours to reach this point, half of which was just the last .9 miles. We had no intentions of summiting Adams at this point. We just wanted to go to a party! We considered going down the Airline Trail but settled on Gulfside to Thunderstorm Junction then down Lowe's Path. Lowe's Path was icy and I took a nice tumble down it (about a 9.6) and Skimom took a few smaller falls. Nothing that would stop us from getting to the party. 7summits seemed much steadier on her feet, probably due to her lower center of gravity. Upon reaching Lowe's Store 7summits and I dumped Skimom off then we went to a very exclusive private party. Skimom found her way there later.
Pics
Are here.
FWIW
Here, have some green circles. Distribute them wherever you like.
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