lumberzac
New member
Saturday, October 7, 2006
With everyone canceling on me for a Tongue Range traverse overnight and a perfect weekend weather forecast, I just had to get a hike in. To my luck Sherpaman’s prior commitment for Saturday had changed and we decided to do a nice short, fall hike. Crane Mountain seemed to fit the bill.
We got to the full parking area at the end of Ski Hi Road at around 11:30am. The frost from that morning was long gone and I was now wishing that I chose to wear my hiking shorts rather than my paints. It was a short and steep 1.4 miles to the top of the mountain. Most of the 1160’ climb was within the first .7miles. We made a few short stops at a few rock outcrops that offered some nice views. The surrounding mountains looked like they were on fire with the mixture of reds and oranges from the fall leaves. The sun from the cloudless sky seemed to amplify the effect. After some more hiking we reached a 30’ high latter that was bolted to a rock face, which took us almost to the top of the summit ridge. Once on the summit, the open rock offered us unobstructed views to the northwest towards the higher mountains around Indian Lake. A small break in the conifers gave us a nice framed view towards the High Peaks to the north.
We then continued west along the ridgeline and dropped down to Crane Mountain Pond, just in time for a fly hatch. The trout of the small pond kept hammering the top of the water as we broke out our pack rods. Sherpaman was able to land two brookies that were in the 8 to 10 inch range. Once the fishing died down we continued to skirt around the pond and decided to bushwhack up Crane Mountains western summit. The whack was easy as the ridgeline was fairly narrow with a lot of open rock. There was a faint herd path that we were able to follow in places as well. When we reached the top the ridge opened up and gave us fantastic view towards the High Peaks as well as back towards the pond and the main summit.
We than descended back to the pond and followed the trail down the mountain at the outlet stream. Once the trail leaved off, we thought we were pretty much done with our little adventure, but the trail had one more surprise up its sleeve. The trail approached a small brook that disappeared into the ground. As we neared the steam we notice a large sinkhole. We walked down the ramped side of the sinkhole and we could here the water of the brook running from inside a hole in the hillside. I gave Sherpaman my headlamp and he belly crawled through the hole with me following. The low tunnel through the marble opened up to a small cavern that was tall enough to stand up in. On the opposite side of the cavern was the opening were the brook dropped underground. The brook then followed the edge of the tunnel we entered and then dropped down a shaft deeper into the mountainside. We decided that that was all the spelunking we were going to do, as we were not equipped with rope or helmets and crawled back out.
We then hiked the remaining mile back to the car and were driving back home by 4pm. We had a great day and hope to go back in the near future to explore the area so more. At the very least we want to check out the top of the cliff on the northwest summit.
With everyone canceling on me for a Tongue Range traverse overnight and a perfect weekend weather forecast, I just had to get a hike in. To my luck Sherpaman’s prior commitment for Saturday had changed and we decided to do a nice short, fall hike. Crane Mountain seemed to fit the bill.
We got to the full parking area at the end of Ski Hi Road at around 11:30am. The frost from that morning was long gone and I was now wishing that I chose to wear my hiking shorts rather than my paints. It was a short and steep 1.4 miles to the top of the mountain. Most of the 1160’ climb was within the first .7miles. We made a few short stops at a few rock outcrops that offered some nice views. The surrounding mountains looked like they were on fire with the mixture of reds and oranges from the fall leaves. The sun from the cloudless sky seemed to amplify the effect. After some more hiking we reached a 30’ high latter that was bolted to a rock face, which took us almost to the top of the summit ridge. Once on the summit, the open rock offered us unobstructed views to the northwest towards the higher mountains around Indian Lake. A small break in the conifers gave us a nice framed view towards the High Peaks to the north.
We then continued west along the ridgeline and dropped down to Crane Mountain Pond, just in time for a fly hatch. The trout of the small pond kept hammering the top of the water as we broke out our pack rods. Sherpaman was able to land two brookies that were in the 8 to 10 inch range. Once the fishing died down we continued to skirt around the pond and decided to bushwhack up Crane Mountains western summit. The whack was easy as the ridgeline was fairly narrow with a lot of open rock. There was a faint herd path that we were able to follow in places as well. When we reached the top the ridge opened up and gave us fantastic view towards the High Peaks as well as back towards the pond and the main summit.
We than descended back to the pond and followed the trail down the mountain at the outlet stream. Once the trail leaved off, we thought we were pretty much done with our little adventure, but the trail had one more surprise up its sleeve. The trail approached a small brook that disappeared into the ground. As we neared the steam we notice a large sinkhole. We walked down the ramped side of the sinkhole and we could here the water of the brook running from inside a hole in the hillside. I gave Sherpaman my headlamp and he belly crawled through the hole with me following. The low tunnel through the marble opened up to a small cavern that was tall enough to stand up in. On the opposite side of the cavern was the opening were the brook dropped underground. The brook then followed the edge of the tunnel we entered and then dropped down a shaft deeper into the mountainside. We decided that that was all the spelunking we were going to do, as we were not equipped with rope or helmets and crawled back out.
We then hiked the remaining mile back to the car and were driving back home by 4pm. We had a great day and hope to go back in the near future to explore the area so more. At the very least we want to check out the top of the cliff on the northwest summit.
