Jay H
New member
While the other members of my party went in search of fuzzy creatures and other denizens of lower elevations, I went in search of solitude and an ADK100 peak. Driving down towards Keene Valley, I park at the roostercomb trailhead in search of the Ranney Trail which is just down the road though unmarked on rt 73 according to the HP guide book. Just east of roostercomb parking, there is the iron bridge and Ranney road, which 2+2 says, that this must be the road. No parking on Rt 73 since it appears to be a pumping station for the KVFD, plus, it's not plowed anyway. Walking over the bridge, past some blown in ski tracks, I notice how crusty the snow is here, not really post holing at all, but across the bridge, I don my snowshoes and make my way up the road til the trail turns off the last private property on the road. At this point, the trail is quite hardpacked, as if a bunch of trailbreakers have made use of this trail before, just the wind has blown some of it in.. Expecting to break trail, I get to the junction with the Mossy Cascade trail and run into a much less uses trail, but single MSR tracks, fairly recent too, like the day before (in hindsight, looking at VFTT trip report).
Making great time cause I didn't need to break trail, I get to the junction with Hopkins at about 10:30am and decide to head over to Green first and hit Hopkins on the way back. Following this solo tracks up and over the next big bump, I make my way down to the North Trail of Giant junction at which I decide to follow my original plan and bushwack to green from the Leanto junction so the next .4 miles involves breaking the trail down a small stream, trying to stay out of the drink. At the junction, I don my shell and eat food and be merry, cross the stream there and follow my compass bearing which is more of a sanity check than anything else. The climb pretty much starts right there and you just go up and up, making your way through some minor ledges and mixed hardwoods. Up at the top, it gets fairly thick with the fir and spruce, seemingly in alternating groves, I start to contour around to the west just to find the best way through the spruce and then literally swim though some of them to get to open clearing and paths less travelled. Towards the top, I push my way through some fir boughs and then spend 10-15 minutes swimming through the fir, trying to find the highest bump. Looks like there would be some treed views but this day, the summit would be flurrying. After lunch, I make my way boot skiing back down the way I came and then back out towards Hopkins. At this point, blue sky is poking it's head and I make the short climb to a beautiful open rocky summit with great views towards the Ausable Valley. What a beautiful small peak to cap off a fun day!
http://picasaweb.google.com/cycleslugyahoo/HopkinsGreen20091231
Jay
Making great time cause I didn't need to break trail, I get to the junction with Hopkins at about 10:30am and decide to head over to Green first and hit Hopkins on the way back. Following this solo tracks up and over the next big bump, I make my way down to the North Trail of Giant junction at which I decide to follow my original plan and bushwack to green from the Leanto junction so the next .4 miles involves breaking the trail down a small stream, trying to stay out of the drink. At the junction, I don my shell and eat food and be merry, cross the stream there and follow my compass bearing which is more of a sanity check than anything else. The climb pretty much starts right there and you just go up and up, making your way through some minor ledges and mixed hardwoods. Up at the top, it gets fairly thick with the fir and spruce, seemingly in alternating groves, I start to contour around to the west just to find the best way through the spruce and then literally swim though some of them to get to open clearing and paths less travelled. Towards the top, I push my way through some fir boughs and then spend 10-15 minutes swimming through the fir, trying to find the highest bump. Looks like there would be some treed views but this day, the summit would be flurrying. After lunch, I make my way boot skiing back down the way I came and then back out towards Hopkins. At this point, blue sky is poking it's head and I make the short climb to a beautiful open rocky summit with great views towards the Ausable Valley. What a beautiful small peak to cap off a fun day!
http://picasaweb.google.com/cycleslugyahoo/HopkinsGreen20091231
Jay
