Hanging Spear Falls - August 28

[nundagao]

Our route was ccw, up the old red trail past HSF to Flowed Lands and down the Calamity Brook trail. I've been whacking away at the lower 54 much of the summer so hiking on well-groomed trails with wonderful views was sheer delight. We left the Allen trailhead at 8:15 after spotting a vehicle at the upper works, which wasn't really necessary as the two trailheads are only a half mile apart (Shoulda checked the map; coulda saved some gas!), and encountered one pleasant surprise after another. The first was the nicely rebuilt floating bridge with brand-new, solidly fastened planks. Second, all the notorious mudholes had pretty much dried out. And third, the Opalescent crossing was a cakewalk. Despite heavy rain three days ago the water was low, but in any case there's an easy rock-hop just upstream from the marked crossing, close to where the bridge used to be. Continuing on the red trail after the Allen path junction one comes almost immediately to a stream crossing with three very large and very rotten stringers. My friend crossed first and it was disquieting to see a fifteen-inch log sag alarmingly under her weight. Did I mention she is quite petite? Once across, we looked back and saw that some optimistic engineer had braced the whole affair from below with a stick. Good luck to that. I would recommend anyone packing weight take the low route on the rocks. Soon we could look up at the amazing cliffs that line Calamity Mtn's southeast face. I'd bagged Calamity from the other side the week before and this view made the logic of that approach unassailable. HSF itself, which I'd never been to, is in an astonishingly deep gorge. There is no safe way down. All the herd paths have wisely been brushed off. One first sees the waterfall from a high lookout on the very edge of the precipice. "Awesome" is an overused desriptor, but it's utterly appropriate for that view. We reached the ruins of the old dam at Flowed Lands at around noon and it was dry enough to follow the shoreline around to the Calamity Brook outlet, with panoramic views of Colden, Algonquin, Boundary, Iroquois, and Shepard's Tooth all the way. Lingering here and there, we still got back to the Upper Works around 3:30. It's a wonderful loop. If you've never seen HSF, you have a treat in store!