kmorgan
Active member
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2006
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A group of us from LI-ADK headed out for a 2 peak bushwhack of Fir and Big Indian. We met at exit 32 off the LIE (a regular spot for Long Islanders to meet) at 6 a.m. There was myself, Jerry Licht (our fearless leader and master whacker), and Steve List. We still had to drive up to Woodbury, NY off the thruway to meet Jerry's friends Ron and Rich at Ron's house. Steve volunteered to drive and we were soon over the GW bridge and at Ron's house. There we all piled into Ron's mini van and headed up to the Big Indian mtn. trail head.
Conditions at the trail head were about 20 degrees F with 25 mph winds gusting to almost 50. The trail was dusted with about 2 to 3 inches of snow with lots of ice underneath. At this point we were all bare booting. We followed the marked trail to just past the first brook crossing after the lean-to spur trail and stopped to de-layer.
There were a lot of spots on the way up with snow covered ice, and since I'm still recovering from a torn patella tendon in one of my knees I took this opportunity to put on a pair of Stabilicers. We left the trail at this point to begin our bushwhack to the summit of Fir. Temperature regulation was a pain in the butt. At points we were buffeted by high winds and had to cover up, other times we were shielded and quickly over heated and had to strip down a layer or two.
We soon reached the summit of Fir and the winds were at their strongest.
encountered a couple of VFTT guys out for some peak bagging and an overnight stay at the lean-to.
We ate a quick snack, had a drink and headed off for Big Indian. The winds seemed like they were getting even stronger and there was a lot of horizontal wind blown snow until we began the descent into the col between Fir and Big Indian.
From here on up to the summit of Big Indian it was a pretty leisurely hike and we reached our second summit of the day around 2:30 p.m.
After signing in at the cannister and a short break, we continued on in a westerly direction until we intersected the main trail heading back to the trail head. We finally arrived back at the mini van at 5:30 p.m. using up all the available daylight.
Conditions at the trail head were about 20 degrees F with 25 mph winds gusting to almost 50. The trail was dusted with about 2 to 3 inches of snow with lots of ice underneath. At this point we were all bare booting. We followed the marked trail to just past the first brook crossing after the lean-to spur trail and stopped to de-layer.
There were a lot of spots on the way up with snow covered ice, and since I'm still recovering from a torn patella tendon in one of my knees I took this opportunity to put on a pair of Stabilicers. We left the trail at this point to begin our bushwhack to the summit of Fir. Temperature regulation was a pain in the butt. At points we were buffeted by high winds and had to cover up, other times we were shielded and quickly over heated and had to strip down a layer or two.
We soon reached the summit of Fir and the winds were at their strongest.
encountered a couple of VFTT guys out for some peak bagging and an overnight stay at the lean-to.
We ate a quick snack, had a drink and headed off for Big Indian. The winds seemed like they were getting even stronger and there was a lot of horizontal wind blown snow until we began the descent into the col between Fir and Big Indian.
From here on up to the summit of Big Indian it was a pretty leisurely hike and we reached our second summit of the day around 2:30 p.m.
After signing in at the cannister and a short break, we continued on in a westerly direction until we intersected the main trail heading back to the trail head. We finally arrived back at the mini van at 5:30 p.m. using up all the available daylight.
