Blue Ridge N Pk, Wolf, Wolf Cub... let the 'whackin begin!

[onestep]

Winter hiking season is over . That means only one thing... let the 'whackin begin !

Mark Rolerson & I headed up to Kinsman Notch Saturday to bag a few 3000 footers. We left the AT parking lot at 9AM heading North on the Kinsman Ridge trail (Appalachian Trail). The snow on the trail was consolidated and made for easy bare booting. We followed a lone set of snowshoe tracks up to the height of land next to Blue Ridge N Peak, 3009'. We left the trail and whacked uphill 50 yards or so to the summit jar. We found it curious that no one had signed the register in 2006. The jar is plastic and is cracked, the notebook is full, and the ziplock bag needs replacing! We weren't prepared with a jar maintenance kit.

After heading back to the AT we continued N. The snowshoe track we'd been following soon stopped. We where on our own, the trail was not broken out but the snow was firm. We put on snowshoes and continued on to Mt Wolf, 3500'. Mt Wolf has 2 summit bumps.Looking at the map both seem to be the same elevation. We reached the height of the trail next to the first bump and 'whacked uphill. Another 50 yard bushwhack led us to the obvious highpoint. No jar found. Returning to the AT we continued on to the second bump where we again did not find a jar but did find a grand view of Franconia Ridge. Time for lunch with a view! One works up an appetite doing 50 yard bushwhacks you know!

After a leisurely lunch we dropped directly off the summit to begin our bushwhack over to Wolf Cub, 3063'. The descent to the col was steep! The woods in the col, and heading up towards the Cub, where very open. We found easy going till the final tenth of a mile or so where we ran into the obligatory blowdown patch and thick bank of spruce protecting the open summit area.

At the summit we found a tree where the jar hung. At it's base we found small pieces of a white painted board and several lengths of heavy duty orange ribbon. On the tree was an orange cord that the jar hung from and 3 rusted screws that we guess attached a sign to the tree. There was no sign of the jar. We scouted out several other summit bumps in the area but did not find the reported 2nd jar either.

We backtracked down to the open woods of the col and followed the broad open drainage down towards Gorden Pond. We came out at it's NE corner. We skirted around the N side of the pond to it's outlet. From there we soon came upon the Gordon Pond Trail that led us N back to the AT, which we followed back to the car.

Another fun day 'whackin!

Onestep

 

[mhrsebago]

Spectacular photos, once again, Onestep!

I would caution anyone repeating our route to err to the north on the bearing from Wolf to Wolf Cub as there are substantial cliffs on the SE side of Wolf.

The register on Blue Ridge had entries dating from 1992! Reading the names and comments of those we've hiked with (and wish we could hike with) was interesting, as usual. Those of us who are following in others footsteps owe you all a great deal of thanks - this sport of routefinding and climbing these lesser-travelled 3000fters is an amazing adventure! Thanks also to VFTT for helping to foster the communication and camaraderie among us!

 

[michael]

once again, you boyz lead by example.
great pics. proof that there are so many new views to realize if one were to venture off trail.
what's on your schedule for next weekend?

 

[Pig Pen]

How did you get off so easy on Wolf Cub? I looked like I had been swimming in a Piranha aquarium after I did it. Is there that much snow up there?

 

[mhrsebago]

PigPen, we had heard that it was thick and to expect a long day, but this may be another case where the "50' rule" (terrain can be radically different only a short distance away) applies. From Wolf our descent brought us just to the North side of the Wolf Cub col. We did skirt a large blowdown field to the North, but I agree with OneStep - the thick stuff was for less than 1/10 mile. There was alot of snow in places, and that may have covered some obstacles. By midday, it was so warm that the untracked snow was as heavy as concrete, and we found a few more spruce traps than we would have preferred! The return trip was easy: back to the col on our ascent route, then down the open drainage to Gordon Pond and the AT.

 

[albee]

I just got back from doing these three peaks on my own. Almost all sign of your tracks were gone, save for parts of the AT and the summit bumps on Wolf and Wolf Cub.

I did a slightly different route: first I did North Blue Ridge... the jar is about 10 yards off the trail. One page left in the register. Then I followed the AT to the Gordon Pond Trail. There were some kind of skidder or snowmobile tracks along the side of the pond, so I followed them up into the col between Wolf and Cub. Does anyone know what this is from? Are they going to log the area? There was orange flagging along the route and they had been using a chainsaw to keep the trail wide enough for the vehicle to pass. Made for an easy route up to the col.

Then I headed southeast to Wolf Cub. It was quite thick in spots but not as bad as I've seen elsewhere. It took me 2 hours and 20 minutes to go from the AT to Gordon Pond, up Wolf Cub, and back. This includes 2 false starts... I started up Wolf Cub but went back to the col to get a better bearing. Then I started up Wolf until I got high enough to see Wolf Cub... took a bearing, then headed back. I think I wasted about 40 minutes going back and forth.

After getting back on the AT, I left my pack and scooted up the two humps of Mt Wolf. On the western one there was a tiny cairn and a piece of leather cord tied around the highest tree. The eastern bump had a spur trail to the summit and much better views. From there I turned back and followed the AT south all the way back to Kinsman Notch.

The whole hike took me 6:50. Splits are as follows:

1:30 to N Blue Ridge cannister
0:20 to Gordon Pond trail
1:50 up to col and bushwhack to Wolf Cub
0:30 back to Gordon Pond trail/AT junction
0:33 to east summit bump of Wolf
0:30 to west summit bump of Wolf and back to GPt/AT junction
1:17 back to Route 112 parking lot in Kinsman Notch

I had been looking forward to doing this trip for awhile. It pretty much lived up to my expectations. Went solo since I can't seem to find any like-minded individuals willing to join me. (That's probably a good thing for society!) Saw pretty much the biggest moose poopyard right on the AT about 3/4 mile from the Mt Wolf summit - about 50 piles! I have a feeling they don't like the AT going through their backyard and they're openly protesting! Also saw recent bear tracks and bear poop on the summit of Wolf Cub. Saw the tracks again heading downhill on the south slope - could see the claws and everything. Pretty neat!

This was my first real whack in a couple months. I forgot how many spruce needles I seem to attract. You know it has been a serious day of whackin when you blow your nose at the end and spruce needles come out! Good times!

 

[onestep]

You know it has been a serious day of whackin when you blow your nose at the end and spruce needles come out! Good times!

LOL... 'whack on brother!

Onestep

 

[Nate]

I made it up to Gordon Pond Peak and the North Peak of the Blue Ridge this past weekend. For the former, I skirted the western shore of Gordon Pond, and once north of that wet area, I found the flagged quasi-trail (which has enough blowdowns across it that I don't know what kind of vehicle could use it, unless there's a few feet of snow on the ground). I followed this into the col and to within 0.42 miles of the Wolf Cub summit before heading up. I think I might have turned right prematurely, since it was thick going all the way up to the summit, with a fair amount of blowdowns to deal with as well. The false summits en route didn't help much either. Once on top, I found the old canister (actually a nalgene water bottle, just like the one on West Dorset) on the ground, appearing to have rolled off the highest summit bump. Underneath a nearby blowdown I found a small, empty, lidless jar, which I presume was the peak's other canister. There were three registers in the water bottle, and from them I surmised that the contents of the two registers had been consolidated in 2006. The extent canister had some small, round puncture marks on it's exterior, so even though the paper inside was still dry, I replaced it with a glass jar, and double bagged the contents. I left both of the old canisters at the base of the tree with the orange string tied to it.

On my descent, I aimed for Wolf and headed slightly north of the sinking sun. This more northerly route proved to be much more tolerable, as I dropped back down to the flagged path in much less time than it had taken to get up.

On my way back to the car, I stopped by Blue Ridge, where the canister in fact isn't visible from the AT. Since the one jar I had on me I left on Wolf Cub, Blue Ridge's canister is still cracked, and the contents were wet when I was there. But, I did double bag the pages that were there, and added some more blank ones.

May the next bushwhacker who visits this very accessible peak have a proper jar on them to make the replacement.

 

[onestep]

Good job Nate finding the Jars on Wolf Cub...

I'm going to have to work on that skill this weekend!

 

[dms]

Nice job Nate of replacing the broken register bottles! Hopefully others will follow your example. The age of the register bottles is such that obviously they are almost all in failure. I am impressed with your solo wacking, stay safe!

 

[bill bowden]

Gordon Pond Peak

once had a summit sign saying "Gordon", don't know when it became the Wolf Cub. The old At from Gordon Pond made a wet but open route to get close to the peak.

 

[albee]

I have an older edition of the AMC's WMG - 1992 I think - and it is labeled on one of the included maps as Wolf Cub. Was Gordon Pond Peak the old unofficial name for it?

 

[dms]

My 1980's vintage 3k list lists the peak as "(Wolf Cub) (Unamed Peak: Gordon Pd)". I think that the list was compiled by Gene D., Roy S. (?), and others.