Daksbear
New member
We (Don, Charlie & I) left the Santanoni trailhead about 12:30 PM and headed to set up camp in the Santanoni campsite area. While signing in at the register we noticed that 2 individuals had signed in with Couch as their destination earlier in the morning. We were hoping to meet them on the trail to see how they made out but that didn't happen. It took us about 4 hours to hike in. Two in the party pulled sleds while I packed it in. The sleds went better than I thought they would go on the twisty, turny well packed trail. I still think packing in is less tiring.
We set up camp across from the trail leading up to the lean-to. Had dinner and turned in for the night. It was a rather chilly night with temps between been -15 to -20 F. The evening sky was gorgeous with millions of sparkling stars above and a rather full moon. I over slept in the AM so we didn't get on the trail until almost 8 AM Sunday. I was happy to be our cook. Mornings like this make me appreciate the heat the stove throws. After breakfast we headed up to the lean-to to use the privy and were warned about it's gross condition by Lumberzac & Gremiln, who had saved room for us but we chose to tent. We took their word for it and went elsewhere.
It took us just about 2 hrs to get to Times Square. The trail up Panther Brook to the ridge had been broken out a couple of days earlier. by (Thank-you Glen & son for opening up the direct route up the brook to the ridge and for calling to talk with me about your trip the night before I left for ours.) There was a well broken trail off to the right about 15 minutes beyond the initial Panther Brook crossing which others had got confused on earlier. Glen did put some branches across it. When we hit the ridge at Harold Square there were a few paths to choose from. I knew where Times Square was so I picked a path that headed SW. There was one that went to the left (the usual way to TS) but it didn't come out at the rock. I think I was told it bypassed TS and headed right to Santanoni. Anyway, at TS we made a decision to try Couch for a bit since there seemed to be a broken trail. If it didn't seem right we had planned to turn around and head to Santanoni. I knew that trail was broken.
I had my doubts after about 10 minutes on the trail. Seemed we were a bit to far S on the ridge. Then the trail doubled back on itself headed back toward the ridge to turn W again and go thru some pretty thick spruce trees. I really had my doubts when we started to decend and I was looking at the Sewards. We shouldn't have been seeing them so early in the trek. We were a bit too much N on the ridge. We made the decision to continue a bit further only if the trail began to bear left, which it did and before too long we were looking at Santanoni. Once again too far S on the ridge but so worth the views! By this time the sun was warming things up and we'd managed to avoid the spruce traps (Thanks Tom McG & Phil!!) and decided to continue a bit further. I must say I've never seen as many views from the Couch ridgeline as I saw this trip! Absolutely awesome on a perfectly clear sunny day!! And I had never seen the actual summit or swamp before reaching it before either. Now, I know where the 800' and 300' elev. gain/loss comes from! It was interesting to guage our progress by actually seeing our destination so many times. After these fine views we did end up on the trail for quite a ways, crossed the swamp and made the decision to follow the left trail shorthly after the swamp. (Both paths will get you to the summit.) I noticed that Tom & Phil had come down that way and figured they must had done so for a good reason. Once again there was another view I hadn't seen before... looking over the swamp back to the Santanoni ridgeline. It seems we took a direct route which bypassed the ledge on the N of the ridge. Then we were on the trail once again and arrived at the summit about 2.5 hrs after leaving TS.
The sun was surprisingly warm and the wind seemed to lessen once we reached the summit. This is by far the best trip I have ever had to this peak!! We enjoyed the views, ate some lunch and I was even able to dry out my gor-tex shell for the trip back. We took our time (3 hrs.) getting back to TS. The views were outstanding! We were back at TS at 4:20 and back at camp a bit before 6:00 PM from our 10 hour trek. Though we were tired, we were feeling pretty darn good about our accomplishment!!
The second night was a little warmer. A pine martin paid us a visit during the night. Interesting little creature... We packed up and headed out at 9:30 AM on Mon. Had an interesting experience taking the sleds down the stairs on the Panther Brook crossing. Why is it that things seem much steeper on the descent?? Anyway, it took 3 hrs to get back to the trailhead. Thanks again to Tom McG & Phil for breaking such an interesting trail! (I'm assuming it's once again buried after this weeks storm.) Congratulations Don W39er!
We set up camp across from the trail leading up to the lean-to. Had dinner and turned in for the night. It was a rather chilly night with temps between been -15 to -20 F. The evening sky was gorgeous with millions of sparkling stars above and a rather full moon. I over slept in the AM so we didn't get on the trail until almost 8 AM Sunday. I was happy to be our cook. Mornings like this make me appreciate the heat the stove throws. After breakfast we headed up to the lean-to to use the privy and were warned about it's gross condition by Lumberzac & Gremiln, who had saved room for us but we chose to tent. We took their word for it and went elsewhere.
It took us just about 2 hrs to get to Times Square. The trail up Panther Brook to the ridge had been broken out a couple of days earlier. by (Thank-you Glen & son for opening up the direct route up the brook to the ridge and for calling to talk with me about your trip the night before I left for ours.) There was a well broken trail off to the right about 15 minutes beyond the initial Panther Brook crossing which others had got confused on earlier. Glen did put some branches across it. When we hit the ridge at Harold Square there were a few paths to choose from. I knew where Times Square was so I picked a path that headed SW. There was one that went to the left (the usual way to TS) but it didn't come out at the rock. I think I was told it bypassed TS and headed right to Santanoni. Anyway, at TS we made a decision to try Couch for a bit since there seemed to be a broken trail. If it didn't seem right we had planned to turn around and head to Santanoni. I knew that trail was broken.
I had my doubts after about 10 minutes on the trail. Seemed we were a bit to far S on the ridge. Then the trail doubled back on itself headed back toward the ridge to turn W again and go thru some pretty thick spruce trees. I really had my doubts when we started to decend and I was looking at the Sewards. We shouldn't have been seeing them so early in the trek. We were a bit too much N on the ridge. We made the decision to continue a bit further only if the trail began to bear left, which it did and before too long we were looking at Santanoni. Once again too far S on the ridge but so worth the views! By this time the sun was warming things up and we'd managed to avoid the spruce traps (Thanks Tom McG & Phil!!) and decided to continue a bit further. I must say I've never seen as many views from the Couch ridgeline as I saw this trip! Absolutely awesome on a perfectly clear sunny day!! And I had never seen the actual summit or swamp before reaching it before either. Now, I know where the 800' and 300' elev. gain/loss comes from! It was interesting to guage our progress by actually seeing our destination so many times. After these fine views we did end up on the trail for quite a ways, crossed the swamp and made the decision to follow the left trail shorthly after the swamp. (Both paths will get you to the summit.) I noticed that Tom & Phil had come down that way and figured they must had done so for a good reason. Once again there was another view I hadn't seen before... looking over the swamp back to the Santanoni ridgeline. It seems we took a direct route which bypassed the ledge on the N of the ridge. Then we were on the trail once again and arrived at the summit about 2.5 hrs after leaving TS.
The sun was surprisingly warm and the wind seemed to lessen once we reached the summit. This is by far the best trip I have ever had to this peak!! We enjoyed the views, ate some lunch and I was even able to dry out my gor-tex shell for the trip back. We took our time (3 hrs.) getting back to TS. The views were outstanding! We were back at TS at 4:20 and back at camp a bit before 6:00 PM from our 10 hour trek. Though we were tired, we were feeling pretty darn good about our accomplishment!!
The second night was a little warmer. A pine martin paid us a visit during the night. Interesting little creature... We packed up and headed out at 9:30 AM on Mon. Had an interesting experience taking the sleds down the stairs on the Panther Brook crossing. Why is it that things seem much steeper on the descent?? Anyway, it took 3 hrs to get back to the trailhead. Thanks again to Tom McG & Phil for breaking such an interesting trail! (I'm assuming it's once again buried after this weeks storm.) Congratulations Don W39er!
