poison ivy
Well-known member
Saturday was already turning out to be a beautiful day as Jim L, MEB, Mtnpa, Bob&Geri, MichaelJ & I gathered at the Sandwich Mountain Trailhead for a wonderful day of hiking. After some debating back and forth, we decided to leave the snowshoes in the car for our fun little 8.7 mile loop hike up Sandwich Dome. I think it was about 8 a.m. when we headed up the trail -- at least a half-hour behind sapblatt & rols, who were also joining us for the hike but wanted to start a tad earlier.
Two minutes into the hike, we had our first challenge of the day -- crossing Drakes Book. There were three very icy branches balanced across the rocks and most of us made it across that way -- slowly but all dry, thankfully. I was surprised that we were encountering powdery snow even at this lower elevation… but the snow level of about an inch remained consistent throughout the entire trail.
After making it across the brook, we were soon headed up the steep and icy slopes of Noon Peak. While there wasn’t enough ice for full crampons, most of the group put on stabilizers or insteps, which helped quite a bit. I had regular crampons but had forgotten my Yak Traxx at home so I barebooted. I have two pretty bruises on my kneecaps due to my one slip at a tricky spot, but otherwise made it okay.
I was super tired for this hike since I hadn’t really slept the night before and found myself falling even farther behind the group than usual. Everyone was very nice about stopping and waiting for me, even though I kept telling them to just head on and I’d make it there eventually. (Thanks guys!) Once atop Noon Peak, the trail leveled off a lot and it was a gradual uphill ridge walk for the majority of the hike, which was very enjoyable. We passed lots of small pine trees that looked like they were wearing white gloves of snow -- just a really pretty area. Lots of tracks for snowshoe hares, moose, deer and even what looked like the prints of a mink.
We arrived at the spur trail to Jennings Peak in short order and headed up to see the views, which are fantastic -- it has terrific views of Sandwich Dome & the Tripyramids. Waiting up top, we found rols and sapblatt who had been lounging on the bare rocky summit for about 20 minutes or so. We joined them for some lounging and a snack break before gathering our gear and heading back to the trail for the final mile up Sandwich Dome.
The last mile was very easy going and passed quickly. We came to a strand of trees that were covered with scratch marks and went off the trail a bit to investigate. Jim L determined they were from moose scratching their antlers (as bear scratches are vertical and these were every-which-way.) MEB looked around for an antler (as she had found on a previous hike) but came away this time empty handed.
We soon found ourselves atop 3,980 ft Sandwich Dome, which also has terrific views but was extremely windy. MEB brought out an awesome apple pie (and plates and forks -- the only other people on the summit -- a couple with their dog couldn’t believe it.) The pie was delicious… thanks so much Mary Ellen!
After as much lounging in the cold wind as we could stand, we headed back down taking the Drakes Brook trail back to the car. That trail was a lot less steep and much less icy so I had a much easier time there. We did, however, have one incident with the final brook crossing when one member of the team slipped on an icy rock and took what looked like a belly flop into the brook. (I’m not going to name names! J )
Fortunately, they were not hurt and the cars were close so they weren‘t wet for long.
All and all it was a great day and a fun little hike… most everyone had been up Sandwich before and I can understand why everyone was so willing to go back. It was #81 on the New England Hundred Highest list for me. My pictures are here
- Ivy
Two minutes into the hike, we had our first challenge of the day -- crossing Drakes Book. There were three very icy branches balanced across the rocks and most of us made it across that way -- slowly but all dry, thankfully. I was surprised that we were encountering powdery snow even at this lower elevation… but the snow level of about an inch remained consistent throughout the entire trail.
After making it across the brook, we were soon headed up the steep and icy slopes of Noon Peak. While there wasn’t enough ice for full crampons, most of the group put on stabilizers or insteps, which helped quite a bit. I had regular crampons but had forgotten my Yak Traxx at home so I barebooted. I have two pretty bruises on my kneecaps due to my one slip at a tricky spot, but otherwise made it okay.
I was super tired for this hike since I hadn’t really slept the night before and found myself falling even farther behind the group than usual. Everyone was very nice about stopping and waiting for me, even though I kept telling them to just head on and I’d make it there eventually. (Thanks guys!) Once atop Noon Peak, the trail leveled off a lot and it was a gradual uphill ridge walk for the majority of the hike, which was very enjoyable. We passed lots of small pine trees that looked like they were wearing white gloves of snow -- just a really pretty area. Lots of tracks for snowshoe hares, moose, deer and even what looked like the prints of a mink.
We arrived at the spur trail to Jennings Peak in short order and headed up to see the views, which are fantastic -- it has terrific views of Sandwich Dome & the Tripyramids. Waiting up top, we found rols and sapblatt who had been lounging on the bare rocky summit for about 20 minutes or so. We joined them for some lounging and a snack break before gathering our gear and heading back to the trail for the final mile up Sandwich Dome.
The last mile was very easy going and passed quickly. We came to a strand of trees that were covered with scratch marks and went off the trail a bit to investigate. Jim L determined they were from moose scratching their antlers (as bear scratches are vertical and these were every-which-way.) MEB looked around for an antler (as she had found on a previous hike) but came away this time empty handed.
We soon found ourselves atop 3,980 ft Sandwich Dome, which also has terrific views but was extremely windy. MEB brought out an awesome apple pie (and plates and forks -- the only other people on the summit -- a couple with their dog couldn’t believe it.) The pie was delicious… thanks so much Mary Ellen!
After as much lounging in the cold wind as we could stand, we headed back down taking the Drakes Brook trail back to the car. That trail was a lot less steep and much less icy so I had a much easier time there. We did, however, have one incident with the final brook crossing when one member of the team slipped on an icy rock and took what looked like a belly flop into the brook. (I’m not going to name names! J )
Fortunately, they were not hurt and the cars were close so they weren‘t wet for long.
All and all it was a great day and a fun little hike… most everyone had been up Sandwich before and I can understand why everyone was so willing to go back. It was #81 on the New England Hundred Highest list for me. My pictures are here
- Ivy
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