East Branch Ausable River

[Dory]

On our next trip we were thinking of hiking in the East Branch of the Ausable (trail 28 in Trails of the High Peaks Region) and making camp somewhere near or around the junction of the trail that leads up to Pyramid and Gothics (trail 35). We've never hiked that trail before, but the contour lines don't give us much hope of finding a flat enough spot to crash for the night. Has anyone ever done this? Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Dory

 

[Pete_Hickey]

You can't camp on AMR land, so you have to get higher. As far as I remember, there is only one small area which is level enough to find a place to camp. It won't be a great place either. It is about halfway up to the col. If you're expecting a good place, you'll miss it.

Several years ago, I was hiking there, coming down. I was alone, it was late Fall, and I hadn't seen another person in a few days. I had been planning on camping there, but when I arrived, I found a freshly killed deer.... eyes bright, and blood dripping from its rear, which had been ripped off. I didn't campthere, because I didn't want to meet the thing that ripped the rear quarters off a deer.

It may have been The Nye Wolf.

 

[Dory]

hammocks?

Great story Pete...now I'll never sleep!

Gotcha on the AMR land, Dick suggested the designated areas south of Indian Head. This weekend is "supposed" to be stellar and we were looking at Gothics/Saddleback/Basin/Haystack over to Panther Gorge. We thought going in along the Ausable would be different/more fun than trudging in to JBL and up OreBed. Our main issue is that we're hiking in with only about a 1/2 day of time. Then we'd do all the summits the next day.
Maybe hammocks would be the way to go...then it wouldn't matter if we stopped anywhere up the col as long as we were off the AMR and below 4000. Thoughts?

Thanks!
Dory

 

[bcskier]

Campsite just outside AMR boundary

Unfortunately my only experience camping on the trail you are asking about came during the winter. We found a decent campsite for a group of six just beyond the AMR boundary. This was a few years ago and it being winter I can't tell you how clear the ground was but it was fairly level and open. It was up and to the left of the trail, encountered almost immediately after passing the boundary markers.

 

[bubba]

Great story Pete...now I'll never sleep!

Gotcha on the AMR land, Dick suggested the designated areas south of Indian Head. This weekend is "supposed" to be stellar and we were looking at Gothics/Saddleback/Basin/Haystack over to Panther Gorge. We thought going in along the Ausable would be different/more fun than trudging in to JBL and up OreBed. Our main issue is that we're hiking in with only about a 1/2 day of time. Then we'd do all the summits the next day.
Maybe hammocks would be the way to go...then it wouldn't matter if we stopped anywhere up the col as long as we were off the AMR and below 4000. Thoughts?

Thanks!
Dory

You took the words right off my keyboard!! I'm thinking hammocks!! If you've got 'em this sounds like a great time to use 'em!!

 

[Pete_Hickey]

BSSkier is talking about the place I was thinking about. The place Dick was talking about is good, but on the other side of the road. I think BCskier gave teh clue for finding it. It is soon after the sign stating that you're entering state land.... or is it the sign (on the back of the tree if heading up) that says you're entering AMR land. If you're looking for it, it is relatively easy to find.

Of course if you have hammocks, you have no problems.

Another thing... You were talking about taking the east River trail. If it turns out that you are starting later than you expect, you can always walk the AMR road into the tail going up Sawteeth. Less interesting, but faster.

The guy at the gate will question you about the camping. It will help if you are specific about where you are planning to camp, so he'll realize that you are not planning on camping on their land.... "The flat area on the Sawteeth trail, soon after leaving AMR land."

 

[Doc McPeak]

I have seen people camp up past the AMR boundary on the Beaver Meadow trail which runs to the Gothics Armstrong col. Hammocks do work just about anywhere, and if the group is one or two, individual bivy sacks can often find areas that won't work for a tent. This time of year I've done one night trips when a high pressure zone is in the area with just a bivy sack and small sleeping pad. Allows for great versatility.

Coming in late on a weekend, I think you are wise to shoot for, and plan for, a stealth kind of site. The good weather will bring up the campers for sure.

Sounds like a great trip. Where are you going from Panther Gorge? To get back to the AMR you either have to venture over Sawteeth or Colvin. I've done the route back over Colvin with a full pack and it's a doozy. A car spot at Elk lake would make for a nice traverse.

 

[KenG]

Nye Wolf

Pete,

NYS has a cougar located in the Keene Valley area, maybe that's what killed the deer?

Ken

 

[Dory]

Doc,

Actually, We have other teammates dropping us and parking the car at the Loj (and hiking in) over Algonquin, up the dike, and into Panther. They're planning on picking up Wright; Boundary; Iroquois; Marcy and Skylight. So once we all meet up at Panther, the next day, we're heading around Colden to do the dike and then hike out to the car and they're gonna do the rest of the GRT. We'll grab the car at the Loj and pick them up at Rooster. Then it's off to a hotel in Placid to shower and party

Dory

 

[Doc McPeak]

Wow, that's quite the itiniery! Doing the dyke would be hard enough with a full pack, let along having done the MacIntyre's first, and heading off to Marcy and Skylight after! Key swaps are a great thing, though, hope your trip goes well. Weather looks awesome as of this minute...

 

[woodstrider]

Camping above the Ausable Club's land

From my experience backpacking in the area- there seems to be a camping spot hard by each of the trails that lead up from this valley- usually located right at the public land border. Afterall, many people have faced the same problem. While technically these sites are not "legal" as they fail be be far enought from the trail, they are handy.

As a person who camps "at large" almost all of the time, I have found that it takes very little space to set up for the night- once I even made a reasonably good camp on a very steep slope (summer- winter usually poses no problems since you can always stamp out a platform). I found a large tree that had collected enough detritus behind it to form a small and level spot. I felt that I had spent the night in a spot that probably no one else had ever- unless you count the other critters in the forest.

 

[DougPaul]

As a person who camps "at large" almost all of the time, I have found that it takes very little space to set up for the night- once I even made a reasonably good camp on a very steep slope (summer- winter usually poses no problems since you can always stamp out a platform). I found a large tree that had collected enough detritus behind it to form a small and level spot. I felt that I had spent the night in a spot that probably no one else had ever- unless you count the other critters in the forest.

Hammocks can be very handy in these situations...

Doug

 

[woodstrider]

hammocks, uh

My first outings in backpacking were with a simple hammock and I have found it not the best way to get a good nights sleep. Personally, I need to be flat and level.
But, point taken and that is pretty low impact and also slealth-like, except for the trees of course. Thin barked trees are especially prone to damage, like paper birch. Oaks are better- especially scrub-oak- even fire won't kill them (most likely).

 

[DougPaul]

My first outings in backpacking were with a simple hammock and I have found it not the best way to get a good nights sleep. Personally, I need to be flat and level.
But, point taken and that is pretty low impact and also slealth-like, except for the trees of course. Thin barked trees are especially prone to damage, like paper birch. Oaks are better- especially scrub-oak- even fire won't kill them (most likely).

Many (including me) find the purpose-built quality camping hammocks to be very comfortable. The two that I am familiar with (Speer and Hennessy) use 1 inch webbing to tie to the trees to minimize the damage and, of course, the webbing does not slide during use.

There have been a number of threads on the topic--just search on the word "hammock".

Doug