docross
In Memoriam to a Deceased Member
Lowell and Anderson are two NH 100 highest peaks, and have the reputation as being difficult bushwhacks. Eight of us proved that the reputation is deserved as we did a traverse on the last day of winter hiking season.
Two of us, Mike and David, had scouted out a possible route three days previous, and had bushwhacked a trail up the east side of Lowell from Carrigain Notch trail. We got to 2700 feet 0.7 mile from the summit, and the woods were nice and open, nary a blowdown in sight under the 4 feet of unconsolidated snow. We turned around at noon that day, after 5 hours of fun.
Today, our plan was to follow our tracks and continue onto the summit of Lowell. This trip had been orginally planned for the previous weekend, but postponed due to copious new snow. As it turned out, today we had 8 serious bushwhackers with plenty of motivation to peakbag.
We reserved the option to descend into the col between Lowell and Anderson and climb Anderson. If we did that, we would make for the outlet of Norcross Pond, and cakewalk back down the Nancy Pond Trail.
After spotting a car at the Nancy Pond trailhead (the trail appeared to be broken out, but more on that later), we set off down the Sawyer River road at 7:10 am. 2 miles to the Signal Ridge TH, another 2 miles to where Mike and David had taken off from Carrigain Notch trail, and up to the original turnaround point. All this was accomplished by 9:45. Then the fun began.
Stripped down to shirtsleeves, we began the steep climb up the ridge to Lowell summit. The nice open woods soon gave way to thick evergreens, multiple spruce traps, and a slope of 30 degrees. Steering clear of the cliffs overlooking the Notch, we traversed as best we could, reaching the summit at about noon.
Spectacular views greeted us of Carrigain, Vose Spur, the Franconia range, and, as we headed northwest, the Presidentials.
We found the canister, and a new register with only one entry, from 9/3/04.
The group was gung-ho to try Anderson, so headed down into the col, taking a route that put us directly into the center of the col, with enormous spruce traps littering the route like minefields. We all shared the delight of falling chin-deep while our companions roared with laughter. Fortunately everyone kept a sense of humor.
At the col, where should we head? Straight ahead was very steep, while slightly to the east was a ridge that looked steep and thick as well. In the end we followed our intrepid Phil, who rarely relinquished the lead, and seemed to be able to sniff out a reasonable route. We gained the summit of Anderson at 2 pm, found the canister, signed in, and headed down to Norcross Pond.
The route to Norcross Pond outlet, we had been told, was open, but maybe because we headed too far east, or maybe because the term "open" is relative, we found more stick forests, more spruce traps, and a veritable 50 foot cliff we had to skirt all the way down.
We reached Norcross Pond at 4 pm and headed out across the pond to pick up the "broken out" Nancy Pond trail. No such luck. We continued to slog through unbroken snow until we reached the bottom of the Cascades, where we found evidence that someone had tried to come up the steep slope, and had given up. Don't blame them. Thanks to those unknown people, the rest of the hike was indeed a cakewalk.
We had spectacular weather for this last day of winter hike; little wind, nice temps, good views. Somebody will have to do something about those spruce traps, though.
Thanks to Phil the incredible bushwhacker; Dave L, our leader; Mike who has almost finished the NHHH in winter; Mitch from the Wednesday group; Tom and Bill who graciously gave up the chance to bag some of those easy NH 4000 footers today; and Fred our photographer.
http://community.webshots.com/album/211581269rxOpVU
Two of us, Mike and David, had scouted out a possible route three days previous, and had bushwhacked a trail up the east side of Lowell from Carrigain Notch trail. We got to 2700 feet 0.7 mile from the summit, and the woods were nice and open, nary a blowdown in sight under the 4 feet of unconsolidated snow. We turned around at noon that day, after 5 hours of fun.
Today, our plan was to follow our tracks and continue onto the summit of Lowell. This trip had been orginally planned for the previous weekend, but postponed due to copious new snow. As it turned out, today we had 8 serious bushwhackers with plenty of motivation to peakbag.
We reserved the option to descend into the col between Lowell and Anderson and climb Anderson. If we did that, we would make for the outlet of Norcross Pond, and cakewalk back down the Nancy Pond Trail.
After spotting a car at the Nancy Pond trailhead (the trail appeared to be broken out, but more on that later), we set off down the Sawyer River road at 7:10 am. 2 miles to the Signal Ridge TH, another 2 miles to where Mike and David had taken off from Carrigain Notch trail, and up to the original turnaround point. All this was accomplished by 9:45. Then the fun began.
Stripped down to shirtsleeves, we began the steep climb up the ridge to Lowell summit. The nice open woods soon gave way to thick evergreens, multiple spruce traps, and a slope of 30 degrees. Steering clear of the cliffs overlooking the Notch, we traversed as best we could, reaching the summit at about noon.
Spectacular views greeted us of Carrigain, Vose Spur, the Franconia range, and, as we headed northwest, the Presidentials.
We found the canister, and a new register with only one entry, from 9/3/04.
The group was gung-ho to try Anderson, so headed down into the col, taking a route that put us directly into the center of the col, with enormous spruce traps littering the route like minefields.
We all shared the delight of falling chin-deep while our companions roared with laughter. Fortunately everyone kept a sense of humor.At the col, where should we head?
Straight ahead was very steep, while slightly to the east was a ridge that looked steep and thick as well. In the end we followed our intrepid Phil, who rarely relinquished the lead, and seemed to be able to sniff out a reasonable route. We gained the summit of Anderson at 2 pm, found the canister, signed in, and headed down to Norcross Pond.The route to Norcross Pond outlet, we had been told, was open, but maybe because we headed too far east, or maybe because the term "open" is relative, we found more stick forests, more spruce traps, and a veritable 50 foot cliff we had to skirt all the way down.
We reached Norcross Pond at 4 pm and headed out across the pond to pick up the "broken out" Nancy Pond trail. No such luck.
We continued to slog through unbroken snow until we reached the bottom of the Cascades, where we found evidence that someone had tried to come up the steep slope, and had given up. Don't blame them. Thanks to those unknown people, the rest of the hike was indeed a cakewalk.We had spectacular weather for this last day of winter hike; little wind, nice temps, good views. Somebody will have to do something about those spruce traps, though.
Thanks to Phil the incredible bushwhacker; Dave L, our leader; Mike who has almost finished the NHHH in winter; Mitch from the Wednesday group; Tom and Bill who graciously gave up the chance to bag some of those easy NH 4000 footers today; and Fred our photographer.
http://community.webshots.com/album/211581269rxOpVU
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