Jay H
New member
Peakbgr (and Bookah), i12climbup, Dick, and Edelweiss, and I convened at the (Bob) Seeger trailhead at around 8:40ish on a relatively warm sunday morning for a sojourn to DT and Big Indian.
Streams were kind of flowing and with the ice/water flowing down the drainages into Dry Brook, the flatiron brook itself was a tricky crossing, perhaps a foreshadowing of the day ahead but there was not enough snow for snowshoes and not enough ice for crampons. Not using a compass, we branched south right after the Flatiron Brook with a southerly bearing towards Doubletop. No tracks were seen until we got further up in which we saw some few day old paths which we would follow on and off. This route is known to be a great route through mostly open woods. A good visual of the target also makes this a good route. We reach the steep summit cone of the north peak and get to the canister around noon for a stop for lunch.... Bookah either spooked a deer or so right by the summit canister, for it got up and took off towards the rest of the party... and I saw a snowshoe hare go tearing off about 25ft away, it was still somewhat grey but had spots of the winter white fur coming in.
Onward ho to Big Indian, we kind of angled down towards the col directly, without a real intention of finding the plane wreck. The plane wreck is just below the summit spruce on the south peak, about 3700' but I misremembered the elevation and dropped down too far so couldn't spot the wreck and we rambled off towards Big Indian. Peakbagr and Rob, the GPS hounds would be shooting off whether we were on track or not.
Getting to the trail, we have a talk of which one is faster, the "herd path" or my route of just going up right from the trail, not far after getting back into state land from the Furlow property.... I12climbup and Edelweiss head off up the trail while Peakbagr, Dick, and I start bushwacking straight up. I know the herdpath follows the ridge and takes more of a SE bearing which is probably a more gradual approach but it's longer, so sure enough, PB, me, and Dick arrive early enough to make a fire and roast marshmellows. Of course, then we get an excuse of they couldn't find the herdpath or something like that. Wouldn't of mattered anyway.
After a few more signatures, we then take the herdpath somewhat further north as our intent was to take the trail down to the Dry Brook LT and then out. 3 miles as the sign says at the intersection with the trails... Down the steep climb into the valley we go.... sun is starting to set and we get to the leanto.
Crossing the stream there is uneventful but we get further down where we have to cross the stream again and because of the warm temps and the snowmelt, this crossing is trickier... But I know the bridge that is right at Flatiron Brook is not far ahead so I12climbup and I bushwack on the east side of the brook for a bit while the rest managed to cross the slippery stream. We're about 1000ft from the bridge (couldn't see it) where we find a log that both i12climbup and I shimmied over on our butts. Of course, in 1000ft, we see the bridge... d'oh! Oh well, another mile later, we are out of the trail w/ headlamps. Not after spooking a deer that was on the trail and Bookah sniffing some feint deer blood still lingering on the trail.
Jay
Streams were kind of flowing and with the ice/water flowing down the drainages into Dry Brook, the flatiron brook itself was a tricky crossing, perhaps a foreshadowing of the day ahead but there was not enough snow for snowshoes and not enough ice for crampons. Not using a compass, we branched south right after the Flatiron Brook with a southerly bearing towards Doubletop. No tracks were seen until we got further up in which we saw some few day old paths which we would follow on and off. This route is known to be a great route through mostly open woods. A good visual of the target also makes this a good route. We reach the steep summit cone of the north peak and get to the canister around noon for a stop for lunch.... Bookah either spooked a deer or so right by the summit canister, for it got up and took off towards the rest of the party... and I saw a snowshoe hare go tearing off about 25ft away, it was still somewhat grey but had spots of the winter white fur coming in.
Onward ho to Big Indian, we kind of angled down towards the col directly, without a real intention of finding the plane wreck. The plane wreck is just below the summit spruce on the south peak, about 3700' but I misremembered the elevation and dropped down too far so couldn't spot the wreck and we rambled off towards Big Indian. Peakbagr and Rob, the GPS hounds would be shooting off whether we were on track or not.
Getting to the trail, we have a talk of which one is faster, the "herd path" or my route of just going up right from the trail, not far after getting back into state land from the Furlow property.... I12climbup and Edelweiss head off up the trail while Peakbagr, Dick, and I start bushwacking straight up. I know the herdpath follows the ridge and takes more of a SE bearing which is probably a more gradual approach but it's longer, so sure enough, PB, me, and Dick arrive early enough to make a fire and roast marshmellows. Of course, then we get an excuse of they couldn't find the herdpath or something like that. Wouldn't of mattered anyway.
After a few more signatures, we then take the herdpath somewhat further north as our intent was to take the trail down to the Dry Brook LT and then out. 3 miles as the sign says at the intersection with the trails... Down the steep climb into the valley we go.... sun is starting to set and we get to the leanto.
Crossing the stream there is uneventful but we get further down where we have to cross the stream again and because of the warm temps and the snowmelt, this crossing is trickier... But I know the bridge that is right at Flatiron Brook is not far ahead so I12climbup and I bushwack on the east side of the brook for a bit while the rest managed to cross the slippery stream. We're about 1000ft from the bridge (couldn't see it) where we find a log that both i12climbup and I shimmied over on our butts. Of course, in 1000ft, we see the bridge... d'oh! Oh well, another mile later, we are out of the trail w/ headlamps. Not after spooking a deer that was on the trail and Bookah sniffing some feint deer blood still lingering on the trail.
Jay
Yeah, it was odd, but as we found out on the way down when we found the true herdpath, which is really an unmarked trail and may as well be a highway, the cairn is not at the right location. I regret not dismantling it, but then again even starting at the cairn, it is not difficult to find the summit.
