arm
Well-known member
cruised out to New York over the weekend for live music & hiking
left home friday, opting for a country drive across scenic Vermont, after remembering the horror show of driving west on route 90 on labor pain weekend two years before
cruising across VT route 73, listening to cool tunes, checking out great views of Vermont's farmlands and mountain scenery was so peaceful, i didn't want the drive to end ... rode the Fort Ticonderoga Ferry across Lake Champlaign and drove across NY to Snow Ridge Ski Area in Turin, where i met Shizzmac, Chad, Sarah, Poolio and dozens of moe. friends, camping out for the weekend
http://www.moe.org/moedown6.htm
great music friday and saturday, fun times at basecamp with tasty food cooked by Chad, Shizzmac, and moe. friends, and many beers made it tough to convince anyone to leave the festival early to hike the Adirondacks
packed camp and drove toward Upper Works early sunday, then hit the yellow disc trail, past lakes, across private land and dirt roads, until i crossed the bridge over Opalescent River
a short while later, two young deer jumped out of the woods and leapt over some blowdown - amazing how high they can jump
when yellow discs run out near Lower Twin Brook, follow straight ahead and there's plenty of orange flagging - once you find it, the herd path is obvious all the way to Allen Brook
Allen Brook's slide lived up to it's slickery reputation - at times i'd wonder if i should've brought crampons, or whether even they would've helped
checked out views from the summit before heading down
woke the next morning and cruised back to Newcomb to grab fresh headlamp batteries and breakfast, then cruised back to hike the Santanoni Range
spotted VFTT friend's names in the register before i hit the trail, reaching Bradley Pond in good time
hearing horror stories from many folks about Bradley Pond's famous Boot Sucking Mud, i wasn't expecting to reach all three summits in a day, but the mud wasn't bad, once you got good at poking around in it with your treking pole and found corduroy, branches or rocks that would keep you from sinking into the deep dark BSM
funny how you're walking into these mud puddles on your way in, concerned about sinking in past your ankle, then on your way out you inherit the more casual "i could care less if i posthole up to my armpits in mud" approach
spotted the well-traveled herd path near the beaver pond and headed west, around Bradley Pond, until i reached Panther Brook, which was easier to ascend than Allen Brook - made good time reaching the "false Times Square"
i brought the "Times Square Map", but current conditions from there are different than what i expected ... when i reached the "false Times Square", the lowest junction on the map below, the trees had letters carved into them, but someone had brushed in the path that leads up towards the "knoll" on the map:
http://www.adirondackjourney.com/images/Santanoni_Range/Times Square Map.jpg
someone had scratched the letters "C" and "S" into a rock with a left arrow, with a clear path that leads you to the real Times Square, about 200 feet away
someone had scratched the letter "P" with a right arrow onto another rock, and this path led directly to Panther Peak, with a few mud puddles on the way
i decided to start with Panther, so i could get a good view of how the ridges toward Santa and Couch were laid out ... very good views from Panther's false summit were outshined by limited views from the real summit, if you climb onto the rock there
hiked back and found Times Square, then headed toward Couch, which nobody on the paths had anything good to say about ... i enjoyed the walk over there, despite rumours that the "Legendary Couchie Swamp" would devour me
mud wasn't bad, and if the Marshalls have really added Couchie to the list of 46 High Peaks as some cruel joke on those who follow their steps, i couldn't hear them laughing - too busy enjoying being outdoors to wear a frown on a beautiful summer day
Couchsachraga means "Land Of The Beavers", according to Barbara McMartin's guide, which has some great info about the High Peaks region, aside from the actual routes to these peaks
hiked back to Times Square and over to Santanoni, enjoying fine views there before heading back, down Panther Brook and back to my car - satisfied that i was able to reach all four Allen/Santa summits in two day hikes, and scope out routes for a future Winter trip
there was a sign posted at the Old MacIntyre Blast Furnace on the road heading in to Upper Works, letting folks know that residents from the Town of Newcomb are planning to meet there on Sept 11 around 2:30PM to tell tales of the history of this area, as part of their Teddy Roosevelt Weekend celebration
left home friday, opting for a country drive across scenic Vermont, after remembering the horror show of driving west on route 90 on labor pain weekend two years before
cruising across VT route 73, listening to cool tunes, checking out great views of Vermont's farmlands and mountain scenery was so peaceful, i didn't want the drive to end ... rode the Fort Ticonderoga Ferry across Lake Champlaign and drove across NY to Snow Ridge Ski Area in Turin, where i met Shizzmac, Chad, Sarah, Poolio and dozens of moe. friends, camping out for the weekend
http://www.moe.org/moedown6.htm
great music friday and saturday, fun times at basecamp with tasty food cooked by Chad, Shizzmac, and moe. friends, and many beers made it tough to convince anyone to leave the festival early to hike the Adirondacks
packed camp and drove toward Upper Works early sunday, then hit the yellow disc trail, past lakes, across private land and dirt roads, until i crossed the bridge over Opalescent River
a short while later, two young deer jumped out of the woods and leapt over some blowdown - amazing how high they can jump
when yellow discs run out near Lower Twin Brook, follow straight ahead and there's plenty of orange flagging - once you find it, the herd path is obvious all the way to Allen Brook
Allen Brook's slide lived up to it's slickery reputation - at times i'd wonder if i should've brought crampons, or whether even they would've helped
checked out views from the summit before heading down
woke the next morning and cruised back to Newcomb to grab fresh headlamp batteries and breakfast, then cruised back to hike the Santanoni Range
spotted VFTT friend's names in the register before i hit the trail, reaching Bradley Pond in good time
hearing horror stories from many folks about Bradley Pond's famous Boot Sucking Mud, i wasn't expecting to reach all three summits in a day, but the mud wasn't bad, once you got good at poking around in it with your treking pole and found corduroy, branches or rocks that would keep you from sinking into the deep dark BSM
funny how you're walking into these mud puddles on your way in, concerned about sinking in past your ankle, then on your way out you inherit the more casual "i could care less if i posthole up to my armpits in mud" approach
spotted the well-traveled herd path near the beaver pond and headed west, around Bradley Pond, until i reached Panther Brook, which was easier to ascend than Allen Brook - made good time reaching the "false Times Square"
i brought the "Times Square Map", but current conditions from there are different than what i expected ... when i reached the "false Times Square", the lowest junction on the map below, the trees had letters carved into them, but someone had brushed in the path that leads up towards the "knoll" on the map:
http://www.adirondackjourney.com/images/Santanoni_Range/Times Square Map.jpg
someone had scratched the letters "C" and "S" into a rock with a left arrow, with a clear path that leads you to the real Times Square, about 200 feet away
someone had scratched the letter "P" with a right arrow onto another rock, and this path led directly to Panther Peak, with a few mud puddles on the way
i decided to start with Panther, so i could get a good view of how the ridges toward Santa and Couch were laid out ... very good views from Panther's false summit were outshined by limited views from the real summit, if you climb onto the rock there
hiked back and found Times Square, then headed toward Couch, which nobody on the paths had anything good to say about ... i enjoyed the walk over there, despite rumours that the "Legendary Couchie Swamp" would devour me
mud wasn't bad, and if the Marshalls have really added Couchie to the list of 46 High Peaks as some cruel joke on those who follow their steps, i couldn't hear them laughing - too busy enjoying being outdoors to wear a frown on a beautiful summer day
Couchsachraga means "Land Of The Beavers", according to Barbara McMartin's guide, which has some great info about the High Peaks region, aside from the actual routes to these peaks
hiked back to Times Square and over to Santanoni, enjoying fine views there before heading back, down Panther Brook and back to my car - satisfied that i was able to reach all four Allen/Santa summits in two day hikes, and scope out routes for a future Winter trip
there was a sign posted at the Old MacIntyre Blast Furnace on the road heading in to Upper Works, letting folks know that residents from the Town of Newcomb are planning to meet there on Sept 11 around 2:30PM to tell tales of the history of this area, as part of their Teddy Roosevelt Weekend celebration
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