Dugan
New member
... or I never knew pumpkins could swim!
Participants: Dugan, NH_Mtn_Hiker, TramperAl
M-M Sections 8 (Harris Mt Road to Route 116) and 7 (Route 116 to Route 47)
Bonus sections: canoe ferries across the Connecticut and Westfield rivers
We met at Skinner State Park 30 minutes later than originally planned to allow Al enough time to scout the CT river. NH and I carpooled from north central MA. Along the way, I saw the Millers River just west of Erving was running very high - only 3-4 feet below route 2. We found Al and his canoe, dumped our PFD's, dry shoes, and dry clothes, then climbed into my car to head up to Harris Mt Road. Along the way we stopped at Atkins Farm where I picked up a yummy apple fritter for later.
We got to Harris Mt Rd, geared up, debated how much rain gear to bring (lots) and headed south (west?) along the M-M. We're hiking the M-M southbound; however, today's sections ran east to west, geographically speaking. We went through the first of many puddles to move from the car into the woods and found the trail quickly ascended Long Mountain. The word "trail" is euphemistic today... most of the trails were covered with running water or standing water or mud or some other form of something wet!
As we headed to the Norwottuck Horse Caves we found a few orange posts with an A on one side and a G on the other. As I look at the DOC map, I see that they must be markers for the Amherst-Granby town line. We quickly reached the Norwottuck Horse Caves, ignoring all the side trails along the way. We also saw many orange blazes for the Robert Frost trail, which we're thinking of tackling as two or three days of section hiking this spring.
We summited Norwottuck and quickly made our way downhill to the visitor center at Route 116. Indoors! No rain! We shucked our wet gear in a corner then looked at the displays. We learned about dinosaurs, trees, rocks, birds, snakes, animal tracks, dioramas, and many other interesting things. We also learned that the ranger teases wet hikers. When we walked in he appeared to be laying a fire in the wood stove. By the time we left close to an hour later, he still hadn't lit a blaze. But it felt good to dry off and swallow some food.
We re-donned our wet clothes and wet rain gear, headed out, crossed 116, and began the ascent up Bare Mt. A couple of years ago, I injured an ankle 2-3 miles west of here, resulting in a small fracture and ruptured ligament. Whenever I rehike in this area, I'm not quite sure how I hiked out over the rough footing. We scuttled across Bare, noting the lovely views of fog 20 feet away. Our next hill top was Mt Hitchcock. Along the way, either while ascending Hitchcock or the next peak, we found an area very badly damaged by the recent rains. 6-10 large trees had been uprooted by the water and lay roughly parallel to each other, some blocking the trail. The trail clearly had much run off damage. I'm guessing too, that the col between the two hill tops was blocked with debris because there was a large, deep puddle. VERY large.
We kept on walking across the remaining Sisters. Most of the cols had deep puddles. We were able to skirt the edges and keep our feet mostly dry (except for Al). We reached Mt Holyoke where we found the museum open, though their website said it would close Columbus Day weekend. We went in and took a look around. We saw a series of pictures of the CT river at extreme flood stage in 1984. The flooding we saw today was NOTHING compared to those photos.
After leaving the museum we found the fog lifted enough to view Oxbow and CT river. As we descended we began to see the Hockanum Flats. The trail runs about .7 of a mile through the Flats between route 47 and the east bank of the CT river. We walked about .1 of a mile before arriving at a large puddle, really more of a pond, that appeared to be several feet deep. Needless to say, we decided against swimming across.
We hiked back up to Al's car and took off for the Oxbow. We called HikerBob, as requested. He informed us he wouldn't be able to witness the momentous event because route 91 was closed due to flooding (eek!). At the Oxbow, the water was a few feet higher than HikerBob's earlier picture. The mud flats were again covered by water. Al tried to convince NH and I all day that a canoe ferry out and back across the CT would be safe. He had us paddle around in the Oxbow a bit to evaluate our skills and to see if we felt comfortable. We decided everything was a go. Al took us out into the current.
First we saw a couple of large trees float by. They appeared to have orange bouys tied to them. NH looked a little closer... pumpkins! Pumpkins dotted the river surface, floating by! VERY strange. We made it across the river, dodging rogue pumpkins, got out on the trail head on the other side. Thanks to Al's careful management, we accomplished the ferry with ease. We failed to find the trail on that side. We got back into the canoe to head westward back to Al's car. We saw a few hundred pumpkins, a Bald Eagle, a Cormorant, several Belted King Fishers, and a picnic table floating legs-up.
Along the way, Al skillfully maneuvered us close to two pumpkins that NH brought into the canoe. He later left these on the roof of the Oxbow sign board. Interestingly, the water rose several inches while we were at the river. While NH placed the pumpkins, we also noticed that mud covered the roof of the map boxes, so the water had been about three feet higher than it was currently.
We still had plenty of day light so we decided to scout the Westfield River ford. That too was a few feet above normal, perhaps about 4 feet at the deepest. The current was obviously more swift than that of the CT. We hemmed and hawed about when it might be fordable by foot when Al and NH decided, why not ferry the Westfield too? So off came the canoe, on went the PFD's and we accomplished that too!
As Al returned us to our car, we took a detour on 141 and East Street to see the cliffs on the ridge of Mt Tom from the base. Very impressive. We got back to my car, sorted gear, then returned home. As we again passed the Millers, it appeared to be running a couple of feet higher than in the morning, only 1-2 feet below route 2.
Jade: when you decide to make up this section let us know. We'd like to see you ford the CT!
Participants: Dugan, NH_Mtn_Hiker, TramperAl
M-M Sections 8 (Harris Mt Road to Route 116) and 7 (Route 116 to Route 47)
Bonus sections: canoe ferries across the Connecticut and Westfield rivers
We met at Skinner State Park 30 minutes later than originally planned to allow Al enough time to scout the CT river. NH and I carpooled from north central MA. Along the way, I saw the Millers River just west of Erving was running very high - only 3-4 feet below route 2. We found Al and his canoe, dumped our PFD's, dry shoes, and dry clothes, then climbed into my car to head up to Harris Mt Road. Along the way we stopped at Atkins Farm where I picked up a yummy apple fritter for later.
We got to Harris Mt Rd, geared up, debated how much rain gear to bring (lots) and headed south (west?) along the M-M. We're hiking the M-M southbound; however, today's sections ran east to west, geographically speaking. We went through the first of many puddles to move from the car into the woods and found the trail quickly ascended Long Mountain. The word "trail" is euphemistic today... most of the trails were covered with running water or standing water or mud or some other form of something wet!
As we headed to the Norwottuck Horse Caves we found a few orange posts with an A on one side and a G on the other. As I look at the DOC map, I see that they must be markers for the Amherst-Granby town line. We quickly reached the Norwottuck Horse Caves, ignoring all the side trails along the way. We also saw many orange blazes for the Robert Frost trail, which we're thinking of tackling as two or three days of section hiking this spring.
We summited Norwottuck and quickly made our way downhill to the visitor center at Route 116. Indoors! No rain! We shucked our wet gear in a corner then looked at the displays. We learned about dinosaurs, trees, rocks, birds, snakes, animal tracks, dioramas, and many other interesting things. We also learned that the ranger teases wet hikers. When we walked in he appeared to be laying a fire in the wood stove. By the time we left close to an hour later, he still hadn't lit a blaze. But it felt good to dry off and swallow some food.
We re-donned our wet clothes and wet rain gear, headed out, crossed 116, and began the ascent up Bare Mt. A couple of years ago, I injured an ankle 2-3 miles west of here, resulting in a small fracture and ruptured ligament. Whenever I rehike in this area, I'm not quite sure how I hiked out over the rough footing. We scuttled across Bare, noting the lovely views of fog 20 feet away. Our next hill top was Mt Hitchcock. Along the way, either while ascending Hitchcock or the next peak, we found an area very badly damaged by the recent rains. 6-10 large trees had been uprooted by the water and lay roughly parallel to each other, some blocking the trail. The trail clearly had much run off damage. I'm guessing too, that the col between the two hill tops was blocked with debris because there was a large, deep puddle. VERY large.
We kept on walking across the remaining Sisters. Most of the cols had deep puddles. We were able to skirt the edges and keep our feet mostly dry (except for Al). We reached Mt Holyoke where we found the museum open, though their website said it would close Columbus Day weekend. We went in and took a look around. We saw a series of pictures of the CT river at extreme flood stage in 1984. The flooding we saw today was NOTHING compared to those photos.
After leaving the museum we found the fog lifted enough to view Oxbow and CT river. As we descended we began to see the Hockanum Flats. The trail runs about .7 of a mile through the Flats between route 47 and the east bank of the CT river. We walked about .1 of a mile before arriving at a large puddle, really more of a pond, that appeared to be several feet deep. Needless to say, we decided against swimming across.
We hiked back up to Al's car and took off for the Oxbow. We called HikerBob, as requested. He informed us he wouldn't be able to witness the momentous event because route 91 was closed due to flooding (eek!). At the Oxbow, the water was a few feet higher than HikerBob's earlier picture. The mud flats were again covered by water. Al tried to convince NH and I all day that a canoe ferry out and back across the CT would be safe. He had us paddle around in the Oxbow a bit to evaluate our skills and to see if we felt comfortable. We decided everything was a go. Al took us out into the current.
First we saw a couple of large trees float by. They appeared to have orange bouys tied to them. NH looked a little closer... pumpkins! Pumpkins dotted the river surface, floating by! VERY strange. We made it across the river, dodging rogue pumpkins, got out on the trail head on the other side. Thanks to Al's careful management, we accomplished the ferry with ease. We failed to find the trail on that side. We got back into the canoe to head westward back to Al's car. We saw a few hundred pumpkins, a Bald Eagle, a Cormorant, several Belted King Fishers, and a picnic table floating legs-up.
Along the way, Al skillfully maneuvered us close to two pumpkins that NH brought into the canoe. He later left these on the roof of the Oxbow sign board. Interestingly, the water rose several inches while we were at the river. While NH placed the pumpkins, we also noticed that mud covered the roof of the map boxes, so the water had been about three feet higher than it was currently.
We still had plenty of day light so we decided to scout the Westfield River ford. That too was a few feet above normal, perhaps about 4 feet at the deepest. The current was obviously more swift than that of the CT. We hemmed and hawed about when it might be fordable by foot when Al and NH decided, why not ferry the Westfield too? So off came the canoe, on went the PFD's and we accomplished that too!
As Al returned us to our car, we took a detour on 141 and East Street to see the cliffs on the ridge of Mt Tom from the base. Very impressive. We got back to my car, sorted gear, then returned home. As we again passed the Millers, it appeared to be running a couple of feet higher than in the morning, only 1-2 feet below route 2.
Jade: when you decide to make up this section let us know. We'd like to see you ford the CT!
