poison ivy
Well-known member
The story of our Elephant hike actually begins with my prior attempt at the summit. A week ago, I attempted Elephant as my first solo bushwhack. I climbed up a peak -- got to an area filled with spruce and could not find anything that looked higher nor could I find a canister. Looking at the map, I figured I climbed the wrong peak and headed back down to the herd path that starts the bushwhack. I started up the other peak but got fed up when I reached a big swath of spruce and a bunch of blowdowns so I ended up heading home instead.
This time, I was joined by Big Earl and Amicus who I filled in on the story of my last attempt at the peak as we started up the road at 8:30 a.m. The beginning of the bushwhack is marked with a cairn and the herd path was plenty distinct even with the dusting of snow the area received overnight. We took occasional peaks behind us to see snow-capped Mount Washington over our shoulders as well as the Baldpates closer by.
Since I had already climbed the SW peak, I led us straight for the NE summit, first following a herd path over a small brook and past some boundary markers -- which really should have been a clue that this was not the right way if I had studied the map a little more closely. However, I was having a pretty easy time picking up herd paths (occasionally seeing pink flagging tape) until we got to a small grouping of mossy rocks. I thought the herd path appeared to go to the east around them, but Amicus and Big Earl voted for the more direct route over them.
We took that route and soon found ourselves in a mire of spruce where it was very difficult going. Big Earl took over the lead and led us ably through the mess to a clearing. We would alternate between clear areas and super thick spruce as we ascended, confident that we were getting close to the summit. At a large blowdown patch, we headed for higher ground and soon found the remnants of a canister. There were hooks for a mason jar and a notebook in a Ziploc… we all pretty much immediately knew that we were on the wrong peak.
I was totally confused because I had climbed that other peak the week before and hadn’t found a canister anywhere. However, we went back to the blowdown patch, where we had a good view of the other peak about a half-mile away. Undaunted, we headed that way with Big Earl and Amicus both taking turns in front-- first going down hill through lots of spruce and into a mossy, boggy area in the col. We had a lot of snow to traipse through and left an occasional posthole along the way. We tried to avoid as much of the spruce as possible by contouring around it, which was usually successful in this spot on the mountain.
Amicus was leading as we passed another blowdown field and found a herd path that brought us directly to the canister. This time, we were sure we were in the right place since the canister says 3774 right on it. We were thrilled to be able to sign in (this was #89 for me, #69 for Big Earl and #72 for Amicus, I think) and take a little break. There is a nice little blowdown patch near the summit, which would provide a great view if you could get past all the downed trees.
We started on our route down and quickly lost the herd path in an area littered with spruce and lots of blowdowns. Things went badly from there because we could not get out of the spruce no matter which direction we headed. Once in a while, we’d reach another blowdown patch (and we could actually see our cars parked down below us) and then it was back into thick, arm-scraping trees. We eventually found a cut area but it veered away in the wrong direction so we reluctantly headed back into the trees. About 10 minutes later, we regretted that decision because we were in blowdown hell at that point. We decided to head straight for the cars and eventually came to an area that was clearly a herd path… it brought us out less than a 1/10 of a mile from the cars… so we did a little loop hike in addition to a bushwhack.
Now that I’ve been on the summit, I think I hiked the correct peak last week but I was either on the knob behind the true summit or stuck in spruce just off the summit. Special thanks to Amicus and Big Earl for their excellent company and for not killing me when we realized we had hiked to the wrong peak. One day I hope to get this bushwhacking stuff down!
Pictures from the hike can be found here.
- Ivy
This time, I was joined by Big Earl and Amicus who I filled in on the story of my last attempt at the peak as we started up the road at 8:30 a.m. The beginning of the bushwhack is marked with a cairn and the herd path was plenty distinct even with the dusting of snow the area received overnight. We took occasional peaks behind us to see snow-capped Mount Washington over our shoulders as well as the Baldpates closer by.
Since I had already climbed the SW peak, I led us straight for the NE summit, first following a herd path over a small brook and past some boundary markers -- which really should have been a clue that this was not the right way if I had studied the map a little more closely. However, I was having a pretty easy time picking up herd paths (occasionally seeing pink flagging tape) until we got to a small grouping of mossy rocks. I thought the herd path appeared to go to the east around them, but Amicus and Big Earl voted for the more direct route over them.
We took that route and soon found ourselves in a mire of spruce where it was very difficult going. Big Earl took over the lead and led us ably through the mess to a clearing. We would alternate between clear areas and super thick spruce as we ascended, confident that we were getting close to the summit. At a large blowdown patch, we headed for higher ground and soon found the remnants of a canister. There were hooks for a mason jar and a notebook in a Ziploc… we all pretty much immediately knew that we were on the wrong peak.
I was totally confused because I had climbed that other peak the week before and hadn’t found a canister anywhere. However, we went back to the blowdown patch, where we had a good view of the other peak about a half-mile away. Undaunted, we headed that way with Big Earl and Amicus both taking turns in front-- first going down hill through lots of spruce and into a mossy, boggy area in the col. We had a lot of snow to traipse through and left an occasional posthole along the way. We tried to avoid as much of the spruce as possible by contouring around it, which was usually successful in this spot on the mountain.
Amicus was leading as we passed another blowdown field and found a herd path that brought us directly to the canister. This time, we were sure we were in the right place since the canister says 3774 right on it. We were thrilled to be able to sign in (this was #89 for me, #69 for Big Earl and #72 for Amicus, I think) and take a little break. There is a nice little blowdown patch near the summit, which would provide a great view if you could get past all the downed trees.
We started on our route down and quickly lost the herd path in an area littered with spruce and lots of blowdowns. Things went badly from there because we could not get out of the spruce no matter which direction we headed. Once in a while, we’d reach another blowdown patch (and we could actually see our cars parked down below us) and then it was back into thick, arm-scraping trees. We eventually found a cut area but it veered away in the wrong direction so we reluctantly headed back into the trees. About 10 minutes later, we regretted that decision because we were in blowdown hell at that point. We decided to head straight for the cars and eventually came to an area that was clearly a herd path… it brought us out less than a 1/10 of a mile from the cars… so we did a little loop hike in addition to a bushwhack.
Now that I’ve been on the summit, I think I hiked the correct peak last week but I was either on the knob behind the true summit or stuck in spruce just off the summit. Special thanks to Amicus and Big Earl for their excellent company and for not killing me when we realized we had hiked to the wrong peak. One day I hope to get this bushwhacking stuff down!
Pictures from the hike can be found here.
- Ivy
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