peak_bgr
New member
This was a killer hike. I think this may have worked its way into the top ten bushwhacks-IMO.
We (Me, Brian, Bubba, Julie) started out from the end of Seventy Road in Lewis after spotting a car on the Jay side near the trailhead for Jay Mountain. Well that's where we planned on coming out.
The bushwhack started out very nice, open woods, eventless. Until, I stirred up a hornets nest, and Julie took the bashing. I still feel bad, sorry.
Still not yet to Bald we found ourselves a batch of Stinging Nettles, that at the time we didn't know what they were. They were located on a very steep slope, which we had to use our hands in spots to get traction. They give off a instant stinging, burning, itching sensation that last about 5-10 minutes. Unfortunatly we encountered these quite often, but at lower elevations.
The summit of Bald was worth it though. My third time up there and it surprises me how awesome this peak is each time I visit. View are 360 degree, but to get the 360 you need to utilize a few different locations, along the summit. Now we were off toward the ridge up Slip.
It's a steep descent with a moderate climb along the ridge. We found ourselves at the base od slip in the col looking up at a large cliff band and a small shoot on the left. It was a hairy climb through the rock but we made it safe. The woods remained a little thick for a while before opening up. It only got thick in spots near the tops of the small nubs along the ridge. After a few more nettles we were on top of a very sweet rocky summit. Come to find out, last time I was up there-without a gps-I was on the wrong summit. So this was technically my first ascent of this peak.
Now the best part was yet to come. The descent from Slip into the col with Saddleback. So open, it was hard to believe. What a pleasant surprise. Then at the botton, a beaver pond with three huts and two dams-huge white birches standing in the water-and some sort of wildlife breaking water, and it wasn't a beaver-maybe small fish?
We then followed close to shore along the major stream coming from Sadlleback, the woods still very open. In fact very open for most of the 1000' climb. The most tight area was along the summit ridge, we ended up going to far to the right and having to push our way along the ridge to the summit.
So, here is where the fun starts. It started to drizzle rain and we could here thunder off in the distance, the clowds were getting real low and dark-so we decided to bail on the swack to Jay. We descended Saddleback directly to the road, and decided to walk the road back to the car-3 miles away.
The road was just over a mile through a grassy steep slope of Saddleback, then into open semi-open woods, then into the nettles over Frenyea Mountain. The road was just below, yea, just below. Well I went to far to the right avoiding the thicker woods and the nettles and I was getting pretty tired of bushwhacking and wanted out. We eventually got to within ear shot of the road and we heard a car. $hit, there goes our ride-I said. So I pushed hard and fast to the road to see a minivan backing up down the road. It stopped, yes-we didn't have to walk the road back to the car. The driver got out, and it was Lyle (crazymama). She was going to drive through the seventy road a s a shortcut back to Lewis, but it was to rough. Thank you to the county for having such a lousy through road, and thank you to Lyle for saving our day. We owe you one.
We (Me, Brian, Bubba, Julie) started out from the end of Seventy Road in Lewis after spotting a car on the Jay side near the trailhead for Jay Mountain. Well that's where we planned on coming out.
The bushwhack started out very nice, open woods, eventless. Until, I stirred up a hornets nest, and Julie took the bashing. I still feel bad, sorry.
Still not yet to Bald we found ourselves a batch of Stinging Nettles, that at the time we didn't know what they were. They were located on a very steep slope, which we had to use our hands in spots to get traction. They give off a instant stinging, burning, itching sensation that last about 5-10 minutes. Unfortunatly we encountered these quite often, but at lower elevations.
The summit of Bald was worth it though. My third time up there and it surprises me how awesome this peak is each time I visit. View are 360 degree, but to get the 360 you need to utilize a few different locations, along the summit. Now we were off toward the ridge up Slip.
It's a steep descent with a moderate climb along the ridge. We found ourselves at the base od slip in the col looking up at a large cliff band and a small shoot on the left. It was a hairy climb through the rock but we made it safe. The woods remained a little thick for a while before opening up. It only got thick in spots near the tops of the small nubs along the ridge. After a few more nettles we were on top of a very sweet rocky summit. Come to find out, last time I was up there-without a gps-I was on the wrong summit. So this was technically my first ascent of this peak.
Now the best part was yet to come. The descent from Slip into the col with Saddleback. So open, it was hard to believe. What a pleasant surprise. Then at the botton, a beaver pond with three huts and two dams-huge white birches standing in the water-and some sort of wildlife breaking water, and it wasn't a beaver-maybe small fish?
We then followed close to shore along the major stream coming from Sadlleback, the woods still very open. In fact very open for most of the 1000' climb. The most tight area was along the summit ridge, we ended up going to far to the right and having to push our way along the ridge to the summit.
So, here is where the fun starts. It started to drizzle rain and we could here thunder off in the distance, the clowds were getting real low and dark-so we decided to bail on the swack to Jay. We descended Saddleback directly to the road, and decided to walk the road back to the car-3 miles away.
The road was just over a mile through a grassy steep slope of Saddleback, then into open semi-open woods, then into the nettles over Frenyea Mountain. The road was just below, yea, just below. Well I went to far to the right avoiding the thicker woods and the nettles and I was getting pretty tired of bushwhacking and wanted out. We eventually got to within ear shot of the road and we heard a car. $hit, there goes our ride-I said. So I pushed hard and fast to the road to see a minivan backing up down the road. It stopped, yes-we didn't have to walk the road back to the car. The driver got out, and it was Lyle (crazymama). She was going to drive through the seventy road a s a shortcut back to Lewis, but it was to rough. Thank you to the county for having such a lousy through road, and thank you to Lyle for saving our day. We owe you one.
