The participants: Paradox (and Zippy!), Henry, King Tut, Drewski and me.
Paradox and I had arrived at BBQ headquarters on Thursday night and were joined on Friday morning first by Henry and then by Drew to start the hike. We headed out from the Garden around 8:30 and made steady progress to JBL and then Slant Rock. Somewhere between the two King Tut had caught up to our group and would be with us the rest of the day. At first I thought I had met a fellow midwesterner, what with the Chicago Cubs shirt and hat he was sporting...but no. However, his girlfriend and I did go to the same college. But I digress...
We finally started climbing in earnest and topped out on the summit of Little Haystack and got our first taste of the fantasic views we were in for. The climb down and then up to the summit of Haystack went fairly quickly (and included a quick visit with Pete Hickey) and once there we took time to soak in the views and have some lunch.
Our next stop was Basin, so we retraced our steps back over Little Haystack to the junction and headed over. The next thing we knew we were on top of Basin. I did a quick scouting trip to check out the situation getting over to Saddleback - one little PUD, and then the climb up with that fun looking scramble
. The group was all in agreement that we would continue on, and so we headed down.
I had known from reading other trip reports that the descent from Basin would be steep and potentially slick. Thank goodness the weather has been dry, since it was dicey indeed. Down down we go, then up over the bump and then down a little more and then up. I was looking forward to getting to the cliffs, so hurried right along. When I got there and started climbing, I immediately wondered how Zippy was going to get up to the top. Matt and I hung out waiting to see if man or dog could use some assistance. John and Henry took Zippy on a little bushwhack to the right to avoid the lower section of the scramble. After that there wasn't much choice but to follow the markers... Slowly but surely (and with a few pushes and pulls and, I assume, lots of promises of the doggy equivalent of ice cream) Zippy made it up to the top. There was joy! There was relief! There was the realization that we still had several miles to go to finish the hike and time was a-wasting... So we headed down to Ore Bed Brook and then to JBL again to get more water and then out to the cars. A long but rewarding day! Very nice to have met John, Henry and Matt.
Pictures are here: HaBaSa
Rebecca
Paradox and I had arrived at BBQ headquarters on Thursday night and were joined on Friday morning first by Henry and then by Drew to start the hike. We headed out from the Garden around 8:30 and made steady progress to JBL and then Slant Rock. Somewhere between the two King Tut had caught up to our group and would be with us the rest of the day. At first I thought I had met a fellow midwesterner, what with the Chicago Cubs shirt and hat he was sporting...but no. However, his girlfriend and I did go to the same college. But I digress...
We finally started climbing in earnest and topped out on the summit of Little Haystack and got our first taste of the fantasic views we were in for. The climb down and then up to the summit of Haystack went fairly quickly (and included a quick visit with Pete Hickey) and once there we took time to soak in the views and have some lunch.
Our next stop was Basin, so we retraced our steps back over Little Haystack to the junction and headed over. The next thing we knew we were on top of Basin. I did a quick scouting trip to check out the situation getting over to Saddleback - one little PUD, and then the climb up with that fun looking scramble
. The group was all in agreement that we would continue on, and so we headed down. I had known from reading other trip reports that the descent from Basin would be steep and potentially slick. Thank goodness the weather has been dry, since it was dicey indeed. Down down we go, then up over the bump and then down a little more and then up. I was looking forward to getting to the cliffs, so hurried right along. When I got there and started climbing, I immediately wondered how Zippy was going to get up to the top
. Matt and I hung out waiting to see if man or dog could use some assistance. John and Henry took Zippy on a little bushwhack to the right to avoid the lower section of the scramble. After that there wasn't much choice but to follow the markers... Slowly but surely (and with a few pushes and pulls and, I assume, lots of promises of the doggy equivalent of ice cream) Zippy made it up to the top. There was joy! There was relief! There was the realization that we still had several miles to go to finish the hike and time was a-wasting... So we headed down to Ore Bed Brook and then to JBL again to get more water and then out to the cars. A long but rewarding day! Very nice to have met John, Henry and Matt.Pictures are here: HaBaSa
Rebecca
