docross
In Memoriam to a Deceased Member
Following our saunter through 14 miles of deep snow the day previous, [see thread Boundary Peak from Canada Road 2/24/2007] I was a bit fatigued. 5 1/2 hours of sleep helped some, but when Sunday rolled around I still wasn't rarin' to go. Didn't help that I left my coffee and espresso machine at home, and so I had none of my favorite drug to jump-start the heart.
Albee and Pete were hot to bag Chain of Ponds Snow, so Al and I jumped in the Forester and followed Pete's Civic up 27 out of Stratton. Back to Coburn-Gore and the Canada road, but this time we only had a 7 mile drive into the parking spot. GPS map and track can be found here. Scroll down to the map labeled COP Snow Attempt.
The Civic got kinda stuck in the snow, but we left it and headed east along the gated road which had been snowmobiled out. The plan was to go in about 1 mile beyond the right-hand turn and find the trailhead, marked by a small red sign.
Didn't quite work out that way. No red sign, small or otherwise was to be seen, no cairn, nothing. After to-ing and fro-ing a bit, we headed downhill to Big Island Camp, where Albee found a very helpful caretaker, who offered to drive his snowmobile to the trailhead. (He didn't offer to break out the trail with the machine, however).
Turns out there is a very small cairn at the trailhead. Small, like buried in the snow. Also, the trail and the road are off-limits in the summer season; the friendly caretaker was nevertheless pretty clear that the exclusive people paying big bucks to take brookies out of the lake don't want to be disturbed by the sight and smell of peak-baggers.
I was grumbling about heading into Rangeley for a shot of espresso at Mooseley Yours, but Albee jollied me along, convincing me to give the trail a chance for 30 minutes. The time by now was about 10 am.
So we set off, Albee doing way more than his share of breaking. For a while it was easy following the trail. It wasn't easy snowshoeing, mind you, since there were about 15" down low, and the higher we got the deeper the snow.
We hit a couple of steep spots, where the snow seemed to be up to my waist. The 22-inch MSRs just didn't cut it, even though I am a svelte 160 pounds without my pack. Albee's teeny-weeny diamond-shaped shoes didn't cut it either, but when you're 32 years old and 6'4" you have a lot better shot at it than this old fart.
Pete did a lot of breaking, and so did Al, who had the biggest shoes of any of us, some 24" Tubbs.
At some point, the trail just seemed to disappear. More to-ing and fro-ing. Nothing looked good, so we took a bearing off the GPS toward the Fire Warden's trail to the east.
Now Pete got his chance to find spruce traps, and he did real well at that. He disappeared to his waist a few times. Albee kept taking twice as many turns as the rest of us. When it was my turn I couldn't eke out the 50 step minimum most of the time.
We followed a lot of moose tracks if they seemed to lead in the right direction. We came upon a recently-vacated yard where several moose had spent the night, a testament to moose bowel regularity.
The snow was getting deeper, and it was 1 pm or thereabouts. We had come something over 1.2 miles since 10 am, and the GPS indicated that there were still 0.2 mile to the Fire Warden's trail, assuming you could travel in a straight line.
It was a this point that I called it quits. Al and Pete reluctantly decided to turn around also, but Albee wanted to go on alone for 20 minutes. We didn't object to that, and he very responsibly kept to his turnaround time and caught up to us before we reached the road, but he was unsuccessful in reaching the Fire Warden's trail.
Not much to say about the rest of the trip. We hiked out, reached the cars a little after 3, I pushed on the Civic while Pete fed gas, and the little Honda got back on the road. Albee and Pete jumped in a headed off, while Al and I changed into dry clothes. Then we too turned our back on Coburn-Gore, at least for this winter. I'm heading to Vermont next weekend, and Al is taking a weekend off before he heads to Baxter to finish up the one or two NE peaks he needs there.
Stats: 10 miles, 4:30 moving time, 6:45 overall time, 1600 feet gained. About 2.5 miles were breaking trail uphill, the rest on the snowmobiled road.
Thanks to Albee for his determination and for turning back when he said he would, thus sparing me, at least, worry about his welfare; to Pete for his grit in getting through those spruce traps, which love him dearly; and to Al for his good humor and endless fund of stories.
I now have returned my blood caffeine level to its normal state, and having had a night's sleep in my own bed, I am much less grumbly than I was!
Albee and Pete were hot to bag Chain of Ponds Snow, so Al and I jumped in the Forester and followed Pete's Civic up 27 out of Stratton. Back to Coburn-Gore and the Canada road, but this time we only had a 7 mile drive into the parking spot. GPS map and track can be found here. Scroll down to the map labeled COP Snow Attempt.
The Civic got kinda stuck in the snow, but we left it and headed east along the gated road which had been snowmobiled out. The plan was to go in about 1 mile beyond the right-hand turn and find the trailhead, marked by a small red sign.
Didn't quite work out that way. No red sign, small or otherwise was to be seen, no cairn, nothing. After to-ing and fro-ing a bit, we headed downhill to Big Island Camp, where Albee found a very helpful caretaker, who offered to drive his snowmobile to the trailhead. (He didn't offer to break out the trail with the machine, however).
Turns out there is a very small cairn at the trailhead. Small, like buried in the snow. Also, the trail and the road are off-limits in the summer season; the friendly caretaker was nevertheless pretty clear that the exclusive people paying big bucks to take brookies out of the lake don't want to be disturbed by the sight and smell of peak-baggers.
I was grumbling about heading into Rangeley for a shot of espresso at Mooseley Yours, but Albee jollied me along, convincing me to give the trail a chance for 30 minutes. The time by now was about 10 am.
So we set off, Albee doing way more than his share of breaking. For a while it was easy following the trail. It wasn't easy snowshoeing, mind you, since there were about 15" down low, and the higher we got the deeper the snow.
We hit a couple of steep spots, where the snow seemed to be up to my waist. The 22-inch MSRs just didn't cut it, even though I am a svelte 160 pounds without my pack. Albee's teeny-weeny diamond-shaped shoes didn't cut it either, but when you're 32 years old and 6'4" you have a lot better shot at it than this old fart.
Pete did a lot of breaking, and so did Al, who had the biggest shoes of any of us, some 24" Tubbs.
At some point, the trail just seemed to disappear. More to-ing and fro-ing. Nothing looked good, so we took a bearing off the GPS toward the Fire Warden's trail to the east.
Now Pete got his chance to find spruce traps, and he did real well at that. He disappeared to his waist a few times. Albee kept taking twice as many turns as the rest of us. When it was my turn I couldn't eke out the 50 step minimum most of the time.
We followed a lot of moose tracks if they seemed to lead in the right direction. We came upon a recently-vacated yard where several moose had spent the night, a testament to moose bowel regularity.
The snow was getting deeper, and it was 1 pm or thereabouts. We had come something over 1.2 miles since 10 am, and the GPS indicated that there were still 0.2 mile to the Fire Warden's trail, assuming you could travel in a straight line.
It was a this point that I called it quits. Al and Pete reluctantly decided to turn around also, but Albee wanted to go on alone for 20 minutes. We didn't object to that, and he very responsibly kept to his turnaround time and caught up to us before we reached the road, but he was unsuccessful in reaching the Fire Warden's trail.
Not much to say about the rest of the trip. We hiked out, reached the cars a little after 3, I pushed on the Civic while Pete fed gas, and the little Honda got back on the road. Albee and Pete jumped in a headed off, while Al and I changed into dry clothes. Then we too turned our back on Coburn-Gore, at least for this winter. I'm heading to Vermont next weekend, and Al is taking a weekend off before he heads to Baxter to finish up the one or two NE peaks he needs there.
Stats: 10 miles, 4:30 moving time, 6:45 overall time, 1600 feet gained. About 2.5 miles were breaking trail uphill, the rest on the snowmobiled road.
Thanks to Albee for his determination and for turning back when he said he would, thus sparing me, at least, worry about his welfare; to Pete for his grit in getting through those spruce traps, which love him dearly; and to Al for his good humor and endless fund of stories.
I now have returned my blood caffeine level to its normal state, and having had a night's sleep in my own bed, I am much less grumbly than I was!
