BlackSpruce
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“The Friendly Mountains are old. They seem wise, like aged folk wrapped in shawls of deep green, who having experienced aeons of geologic past now contemplate their life through mists of time. (...) They have lived through so many millenniums that they can afford to be tolerant of the little humans that swarm over them like ants. These ranges are venerable... It has been said that when men and mountains come together great things take place. Certainly large ideas are born, and great questions posed.”
Professor Balk*
Point Balk stands about 1,000 feet above Slant Rock and even though has all the appearance of a unattainable fortress turned out to be an easy reach for the three of us, Inge, Pete and I. I had not been able so far this year to attend to one of the trails I have been a stewards for a few years, namely the 2.8-mile Hopkins Trail to Marcy. Today I was lucky to have along for the fun of moving trees out the way two particularly efficient helpers and who soon realized how important the job is upon hearing from hikers we met how annoying it is to have to go over or under a tree when hiking to or from Marcy!
By 1:15 PM we had done what we could and were ready for some adventure, we left the Hopkins Trail very soon after the pretty bogs careful not to be drawn towards Little Marcy looming in the distance. We were able to gently curve in the direction of Point Balk all the while walking 95% of the time through a forest dotted by dark green mossy meadows. With the sun shining it was extremely pretty. We could not believe our good fortune! Mind you we manage to lose a good 8 feet of elevation which we had to re-climb to reach the top of Point Balk. Nearing the summit we found the first rocky ledge offering spectacular views of Haystack which seemed to be jolting out of the ground from that particular angle. At that point and to get on that particular ledge we all of a sudden had to push through the kind of forest we had expected earlier. As we reached the summit area some thirty linear feet further the going got much better and we were able to explore at will and able to find several “lookouts” with fabulous views in various directions. Those “lookouts” clearly told us that backtracking some would make for an easier way down towards Slant Rock.
Within 7 minutes were in relatively open forest descending steeply, so much that in another 20 minutes we had lost 500 feet. So far it was easy to pick and choose a route because we were descending as it for sure did not look that great everywhere. They were drainages, huge boulders and blowdown all over. Then the going got much slower, the holes got deeper and the moss slicker.
At one point thanks to Inge route finding ability we went down a 50 foot drop mossy chute with a waterfall encased in walls to our left and a long band of cliffs to our right. She kept us lucky for quite a while as we walked about tall cliffs with never having to climb back-up the “hill” to find a safe way down. As we reached a more gentle slope the forest opened somewhat and we rejoiced at the idea of soon finding the trail we were more than ready for. Well the last 20 minutes on a practically flat terrain was just horrible, extremely tight woods, plenty of blow down and Slant Rock extended family to navigate through. It was like a field of gigantic erratic where nobody had cut the grass for centuries; in retrospect it was a bit surreal. We had hoped to find the path to the lean-to but the forest was just about impenetrable in that direction.
Finally hurrah, a camping site with a path to THE trail, on which we met two “lost” hikers looking for the trail allowing us to finally have a good laugh as we said in unison “Us too”! Needless to say we were very proud of ourselves having in the same day combined a fair amount of trail work and a bushwhack to remote Point Balk. Nevertheless we would certainly not recommend our descent path as an ascent route.
*Point Balk is named after Robert Balk (1899-1955). For more about him please read my chapter, page 520, of the latest 46Er book “Heaven Up-h’isted-ness”.
Professor Balk*
Point Balk stands about 1,000 feet above Slant Rock and even though has all the appearance of a unattainable fortress turned out to be an easy reach for the three of us, Inge, Pete and I. I had not been able so far this year to attend to one of the trails I have been a stewards for a few years, namely the 2.8-mile Hopkins Trail to Marcy. Today I was lucky to have along for the fun of moving trees out the way two particularly efficient helpers and who soon realized how important the job is upon hearing from hikers we met how annoying it is to have to go over or under a tree when hiking to or from Marcy!
By 1:15 PM we had done what we could and were ready for some adventure, we left the Hopkins Trail very soon after the pretty bogs careful not to be drawn towards Little Marcy looming in the distance. We were able to gently curve in the direction of Point Balk all the while walking 95% of the time through a forest dotted by dark green mossy meadows. With the sun shining it was extremely pretty. We could not believe our good fortune! Mind you we manage to lose a good 8 feet of elevation which we had to re-climb to reach the top of Point Balk. Nearing the summit we found the first rocky ledge offering spectacular views of Haystack which seemed to be jolting out of the ground from that particular angle. At that point and to get on that particular ledge we all of a sudden had to push through the kind of forest we had expected earlier. As we reached the summit area some thirty linear feet further the going got much better and we were able to explore at will and able to find several “lookouts” with fabulous views in various directions. Those “lookouts” clearly told us that backtracking some would make for an easier way down towards Slant Rock.
Within 7 minutes were in relatively open forest descending steeply, so much that in another 20 minutes we had lost 500 feet. So far it was easy to pick and choose a route because we were descending as it for sure did not look that great everywhere. They were drainages, huge boulders and blowdown all over. Then the going got much slower, the holes got deeper and the moss slicker.
At one point thanks to Inge route finding ability we went down a 50 foot drop mossy chute with a waterfall encased in walls to our left and a long band of cliffs to our right. She kept us lucky for quite a while as we walked about tall cliffs with never having to climb back-up the “hill” to find a safe way down. As we reached a more gentle slope the forest opened somewhat and we rejoiced at the idea of soon finding the trail we were more than ready for. Well the last 20 minutes on a practically flat terrain was just horrible, extremely tight woods, plenty of blow down and Slant Rock extended family to navigate through. It was like a field of gigantic erratic where nobody had cut the grass for centuries; in retrospect it was a bit surreal. We had hoped to find the path to the lean-to but the forest was just about impenetrable in that direction.
Finally hurrah, a camping site with a path to THE trail, on which we met two “lost” hikers looking for the trail allowing us to finally have a good laugh as we said in unison “Us too”! Needless to say we were very proud of ourselves having in the same day combined a fair amount of trail work and a bushwhack to remote Point Balk. Nevertheless we would certainly not recommend our descent path as an ascent route.
*Point Balk is named after Robert Balk (1899-1955). For more about him please read my chapter, page 520, of the latest 46Er book “Heaven Up-h’isted-ness”.
