adktyler
Active member
Longest title ever, I know.
Hmmmm, how shall I begin? Well...my original plan was to hike a few peaks with my dad over the weekend, but he went up and got sick on me; hence, I was left with no plan and no hiking partners. I made a few phone calls and shot off a few messages, but apparently the night before is too short notice. Besides, who’s going to hike anything the day or two before the official start of winter? I decided to give Henderson and Santanoni (via the new old trail) a shot on Saturday, and Rocky Peak Ridge (via the east/New Russia route) on Sunday. So on Saturday morning, at 5:30, I headed up to the Dacks for a cold, solo, winter, bushwhack.
I hit the trail at Tahawus around 8:30 with -12 degree temperatures and a barely broken trail ahead. Two guys were hiking in behind me, with a 2 day plan for the whole range and a Bradley Pond camp. I broke trail the entire way in (the last person on that route, as I recall, was on the 12th of December, about a week before). In about 2 hours I made it to the Bradley Pond lean-to, where I had a snack, enjoyed the sunny view, and took a compass heading up the mountain. I really wanted to test myself and my navigation skills, so I left the GPS at home and used only a map, compass, and mental notes from several trip reports and guidebook explanations I had read. I figured it would be a straightforward bushwhack.
Well, I was greatly humbled. I began following the brook directly south of the lean-to, which I believed to be the one written about in Spencer’s book. Theoretically, it should have taken me to the summit. Well, after about 45 minutes, I made the decision to turn around (maybe 1/3 of the way up the mountain). I was attempting to push through variable walls of spruce, I didn’t know exactly where I was on the mountain, and about every 5 steps plunged me waist-deep into a spruce trap or some such snowy hole. Basically, I concluded that I wasn’t comfortable enough with my navigational skills to continue. I know, I know, it’s Henderson; one of the easiest 100 highest whacks. I realized, though, that I use the GPS as a crutch, rely too much on summer observational navigation, and don’t feel at ease traipsing though the woods in winter by myself. It was a very humbling moment for me, since I’ve accomplished several bushwhacks in my life, and not turned back from any summit in over 2 years. At least it demonstrated that my outdoor judgment is still intact! I now know what I need to work on, and hopefully I’ll come out as stronger, better, and more safe outdoorsman in the future.
Looking back, I’m pretty sure that I crossed over a small ridge, and began hiking up the wrong drainage. That was my suspicion while out there, and it was confirmed by looking at 3 other maps in the comfort and warmth of my house the next day. On my way out, I still attempted to find the new old trail up Santanoni. I wandered around aimlessly though the woods around the general area I knew it intersected the main trail, but I hit dead ends on every small path I followed. Oh well, I’ll hike it someday. I set a final goal for the day: to hike from the approximate end of the new old tail back to my car by 2:00 (it was then 12:20). I made it back to the car by 1:20, so I could at least do something right.
The next morning I began hiking towards Rocky Peak Ridge at 8:30 from New Russia. I was still a little tired from the day before, but the weather was great, and the temperatures perfect, so ignoring my legs was quite easy. The views from Blueberry Cobbles were wonderful, and they only got better as I hiked upwards. I followed some footprints that lacked snowshoes all the way to the false summit of Bald. I felt bad that whoever walked before me fell only a few hundred feet short of the actual summit. Nobody had hiked RPR since December 6th, so the trail breaking began as soon as I headed beyond Bald. And dang, is solo-breaking exhausting! From the summit of Bald over the 50,000+ plus nubbles to the actual summit of RPR was a certainly a trek!!
There was a good 2-3 feet of snow, and several thousand feet of elevation over several miles of that is quite a challenge. Additionally, as soon as I hit the more open ridgeline at the nub after Bald, I was blasted with wind, a wind that continued all the way to the summit of RPR. Not only that, but I used up 90% of my water before I even reached Lake Mary Louise! I don’t get it, the day before I had drunk a little less than 4 Nalgenes the entire day, and was overly-hydrated (seriously, I was peeing every 10 minutes)! That day, however, I blew threw 3 ½ Nalgenes almost half way though the trip! My body confuses me. Anyway, after some intense cramping, intense missing of hiking partners (not even for the trail breaking, just of the companionship), and intense…um…breathing, I made it to the summit of RPR. I arrived at 1:30, 5 hours after I left my car. It was windy, I was cold and tired. End of story.
I spent about 10 seconds on top, and then began hiking back to my car. Surprisingly, I had tons of energy again, and frolicked down the mountain in great spirits (considering I had almost no water, and still had many miles to traverse). To give you some perspective, it took me about 1 hour, 20 minutes to get from Bald to the next nub on the way up, and about 20 minutes to get down the same nub and back up Bald on the way back. I hiked non-stop back to the overlook below Blueberry Cobble. There, I was blessed with a lovely, pink sunset. I spent several minutes just soaking in the colors, and eating a peanut butter and chocolate chip sandwich. Dang, life was good at that moment! I arrived back at the car at 5:00, making it a 3 ½ hour trip back. All told, it was only a 13.6 mile, 5,400 vertical foot hike. But heck, breaking through several feet of fresh snow by myself over half the day made me remember that I’m really not as good at this hiking thing as I sometimes think I am. I haven’t hiked with people since October, and I’m really looking forward to having traveling cohorts once again!
HERE IS A VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifQL9Aa4a2g
Hmmmm, how shall I begin? Well...my original plan was to hike a few peaks with my dad over the weekend, but he went up and got sick on me; hence, I was left with no plan and no hiking partners. I made a few phone calls and shot off a few messages, but apparently the night before is too short notice. Besides, who’s going to hike anything the day or two before the official start of winter? I decided to give Henderson and Santanoni (via the new old trail) a shot on Saturday, and Rocky Peak Ridge (via the east/New Russia route) on Sunday. So on Saturday morning, at 5:30, I headed up to the Dacks for a cold, solo, winter, bushwhack.
I hit the trail at Tahawus around 8:30 with -12 degree temperatures and a barely broken trail ahead. Two guys were hiking in behind me, with a 2 day plan for the whole range and a Bradley Pond camp. I broke trail the entire way in (the last person on that route, as I recall, was on the 12th of December, about a week before). In about 2 hours I made it to the Bradley Pond lean-to, where I had a snack, enjoyed the sunny view, and took a compass heading up the mountain. I really wanted to test myself and my navigation skills, so I left the GPS at home and used only a map, compass, and mental notes from several trip reports and guidebook explanations I had read. I figured it would be a straightforward bushwhack.
Well, I was greatly humbled. I began following the brook directly south of the lean-to, which I believed to be the one written about in Spencer’s book. Theoretically, it should have taken me to the summit. Well, after about 45 minutes, I made the decision to turn around (maybe 1/3 of the way up the mountain). I was attempting to push through variable walls of spruce, I didn’t know exactly where I was on the mountain, and about every 5 steps plunged me waist-deep into a spruce trap or some such snowy hole. Basically, I concluded that I wasn’t comfortable enough with my navigational skills to continue. I know, I know, it’s Henderson; one of the easiest 100 highest whacks. I realized, though, that I use the GPS as a crutch, rely too much on summer observational navigation, and don’t feel at ease traipsing though the woods in winter by myself. It was a very humbling moment for me, since I’ve accomplished several bushwhacks in my life, and not turned back from any summit in over 2 years. At least it demonstrated that my outdoor judgment is still intact! I now know what I need to work on, and hopefully I’ll come out as stronger, better, and more safe outdoorsman in the future.
Looking back, I’m pretty sure that I crossed over a small ridge, and began hiking up the wrong drainage. That was my suspicion while out there, and it was confirmed by looking at 3 other maps in the comfort and warmth of my house the next day. On my way out, I still attempted to find the new old trail up Santanoni. I wandered around aimlessly though the woods around the general area I knew it intersected the main trail, but I hit dead ends on every small path I followed. Oh well, I’ll hike it someday. I set a final goal for the day: to hike from the approximate end of the new old tail back to my car by 2:00 (it was then 12:20). I made it back to the car by 1:20, so I could at least do something right.
The next morning I began hiking towards Rocky Peak Ridge at 8:30 from New Russia. I was still a little tired from the day before, but the weather was great, and the temperatures perfect, so ignoring my legs was quite easy. The views from Blueberry Cobbles were wonderful, and they only got better as I hiked upwards. I followed some footprints that lacked snowshoes all the way to the false summit of Bald. I felt bad that whoever walked before me fell only a few hundred feet short of the actual summit. Nobody had hiked RPR since December 6th, so the trail breaking began as soon as I headed beyond Bald. And dang, is solo-breaking exhausting! From the summit of Bald over the 50,000+ plus nubbles to the actual summit of RPR was a certainly a trek!!
There was a good 2-3 feet of snow, and several thousand feet of elevation over several miles of that is quite a challenge. Additionally, as soon as I hit the more open ridgeline at the nub after Bald, I was blasted with wind, a wind that continued all the way to the summit of RPR. Not only that, but I used up 90% of my water before I even reached Lake Mary Louise! I don’t get it, the day before I had drunk a little less than 4 Nalgenes the entire day, and was overly-hydrated (seriously, I was peeing every 10 minutes)! That day, however, I blew threw 3 ½ Nalgenes almost half way though the trip! My body confuses me. Anyway, after some intense cramping, intense missing of hiking partners (not even for the trail breaking, just of the companionship), and intense…um…breathing, I made it to the summit of RPR. I arrived at 1:30, 5 hours after I left my car. It was windy, I was cold and tired. End of story.
I spent about 10 seconds on top, and then began hiking back to my car. Surprisingly, I had tons of energy again, and frolicked down the mountain in great spirits (considering I had almost no water, and still had many miles to traverse). To give you some perspective, it took me about 1 hour, 20 minutes to get from Bald to the next nub on the way up, and about 20 minutes to get down the same nub and back up Bald on the way back. I hiked non-stop back to the overlook below Blueberry Cobble. There, I was blessed with a lovely, pink sunset. I spent several minutes just soaking in the colors, and eating a peanut butter and chocolate chip sandwich. Dang, life was good at that moment! I arrived back at the car at 5:00, making it a 3 ½ hour trip back. All told, it was only a 13.6 mile, 5,400 vertical foot hike. But heck, breaking through several feet of fresh snow by myself over half the day made me remember that I’m really not as good at this hiking thing as I sometimes think I am. I haven’t hiked with people since October, and I’m really looking forward to having traveling cohorts once again!
HERE IS A VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifQL9Aa4a2g
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