MJ the Human Moose, Neighbor Dave and I met at the East Branch trailhead for a full day of spectacular whacking. Although the temperature was more like August, the increase in dead leaves on the forest floor, plus brilliant foliage in the valleys and halfway up the peaks announced that Fall had arrived.
Crossing the Saco, we shortly began the open/raspberry thicket ascent of Chandler, finding traces of the old abandoned Sable Mt Trail near the summit ridge. We surmised that a vicious chipmunk had crushed the Nalgene summit register cover and repeatedly punctured the bottle itself, so we replaced it.
Descending into the col, Sable was often visible ahead. A steep scramble again led to well-preserved parts of the old trail and the summit. Instead of heading to West Baldface as we had originally intended, we chose to shorten our loop (a wise decision in retrospect) and descended Sable's western ridge toward Black. We were surprised by the open views from the ridge south toward Chandler and west toward the parallel ranges of Black/ Wildcat and the Carters/Washington. Ironically, the thickest spruce/worst blowdown of this trip was not up high but down in the valley, within a quarter mile of both sides of the Saco as we recrossed it.
After splashing in the river, essentially the same westerly bearing bought us to the base of Black (passing through a delicious patch of perfectly ripe blackberries!). This interesting summit was capped by a large erratic, it's challenging flanks guarded by more thick raspberry bushes. Late afternoon sun highlighted the rocky Baldfaces. A rapid descent brought us onto the muddy East Brach Trail and back to the cars with 30-45 min of daylight remaining.
I may have to give up solo whacking if these group hikes continue to be so much FUN.
Crossing the Saco, we shortly began the open/raspberry thicket ascent of Chandler, finding traces of the old abandoned Sable Mt Trail near the summit ridge. We surmised that a vicious chipmunk had crushed the Nalgene summit register cover and repeatedly punctured the bottle itself, so we replaced it.
Descending into the col, Sable was often visible ahead. A steep scramble again led to well-preserved parts of the old trail and the summit. Instead of heading to West Baldface as we had originally intended, we chose to shorten our loop (a wise decision in retrospect) and descended Sable's western ridge toward Black. We were surprised by the open views from the ridge south toward Chandler and west toward the parallel ranges of Black/ Wildcat and the Carters/Washington. Ironically, the thickest spruce/worst blowdown of this trip was not up high but down in the valley, within a quarter mile of both sides of the Saco as we recrossed it.
After splashing in the river, essentially the same westerly bearing bought us to the base of Black (passing through a delicious patch of perfectly ripe blackberries!). This interesting summit was capped by a large erratic, it's challenging flanks guarded by more thick raspberry bushes. Late afternoon sun highlighted the rocky Baldfaces. A rapid descent brought us onto the muddy East Brach Trail and back to the cars with 30-45 min of daylight remaining.
I may have to give up solo whacking if these group hikes continue to be so much FUN.
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