RoySwkr
New member
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2003
- Messages
- 4,467
- Reaction score
- 285
Was saving this trip for right after a snowstorm as I figured there would be tracks to the snowmobile cabin just below the summit, but wanted a good driving day as some of the roads over that way can be iffy - managed to hit both.
The paved roads driving over were bare but there were some impressive frost heaves, one guy I was following awhile would sometimes drive in the left lane for 100' or so and I finally figured out he was a local who knew which side the worst ones were on. The dirt roads were a mixture of snow, ice, and mud but somehow I got to the marked town forest parking on Gove Rd E of the peak. This had been plowed previously but not for this storm so I drove in until I got stuck by which time I was off the road and hoped it would melt out while I was gone.
There were no tracks on the hiking trail so I went up the snowmobile trail which turned out to be about 3 times as long as it circled to the col W of the summit. Fortunately the walking was easy without snowshoes so it went fast. The trail misses the actual summit so I put on snowshoes to explore the flattish ridge, I think a bump near the middle of the contour visible from where the up/down snowmobile trails split is the highest but there's another bump closer to the cabin. The wood stove was still warm from previous visitors, but it was plenty warm outside so I didn't go in.
I couldn't find the sign for the hiking trail down so I just took off downhill thinking I might pick it up lower down. I never did, but the woods were easy second growth so the only problem was all the snow sticking to the snowshoes. I was very pleased to hit the road within sight of my car without using a compass. Driving out the road was all mud, so once I hit pavement I used a different way home that stayed on pavement.
The paved roads driving over were bare but there were some impressive frost heaves, one guy I was following awhile would sometimes drive in the left lane for 100' or so and I finally figured out he was a local who knew which side the worst ones were on. The dirt roads were a mixture of snow, ice, and mud but somehow I got to the marked town forest parking on Gove Rd E of the peak. This had been plowed previously but not for this storm so I drove in until I got stuck by which time I was off the road and hoped it would melt out while I was gone.
There were no tracks on the hiking trail so I went up the snowmobile trail which turned out to be about 3 times as long as it circled to the col W of the summit. Fortunately the walking was easy without snowshoes so it went fast. The trail misses the actual summit so I put on snowshoes to explore the flattish ridge, I think a bump near the middle of the contour visible from where the up/down snowmobile trails split is the highest but there's another bump closer to the cabin. The wood stove was still warm from previous visitors, but it was plenty warm outside so I didn't go in.
I couldn't find the sign for the hiking trail down so I just took off downhill thinking I might pick it up lower down. I never did, but the woods were easy second growth so the only problem was all the snow sticking to the snowshoes. I was very pleased to hit the road within sight of my car without using a compass. Driving out the road was all mud, so once I hit pavement I used a different way home that stayed on pavement.
