Cymbidium
New member
The Cone of Deception.
Gorbo, Cymbidium and Stevie Z with dogs Skipper and Reuben headed out, without the help of Maxwell Smart and Agent 99, to bushwack Mt. Deception’s west and east peaks and conquer the Cone of Deception…daht,daht,daaa . We started with a walk up Cherry Mt. Road from the closed gate to Campsite 7. We then took an easterly route up aiming for the west summit. All was in the clear at first, open woods, moderate grade, 2-3 inches of snow, then suddenly the cone was before us. It was much steeper terrain and very dense spruce/fir but we pressed on. After some brush wrestling, we came to a welcome plateau with more open woods and a gentle grade up to the summit. We enjoyed a snack and an unusual view of Bretton Woods and Crawford Notch from this vantage point. Then we headed over to the East peak (NHHH), retracing our steps through the open woods and skirting slightly north of the col over mostly open woods and threading around blowdowns ( there were lots!!) with success. We arrived at East Deception and we all agreed we didn’t want to return over the heavily wooded and steep wall, so we managed to stay on a westerly course at around 3200 feet. skirting around the mountain losing elevation slowly. We did find our initial trail below the steep section and it was easy going after that back down to camp 7. It was nice to stretch out our strides on the road walk back to the car. A great day, great company and we never had to use the shoe phone! Probably couldn’t get reception anyway.
Traction for this hike: easily bare bootable or with light traction. We carried snowshoes but never put them on. They were useless because of all the blowdowns.
Written by Steve Zimmer submitted by Cymbidium.
a few photos:https://picasaweb.google.com/newhkm...&authkey=Gv1sRgCNOu77f68OPSCw&feat=directlink
Gorbo, Cymbidium and Stevie Z with dogs Skipper and Reuben headed out, without the help of Maxwell Smart and Agent 99, to bushwack Mt. Deception’s west and east peaks and conquer the Cone of Deception…daht,daht,daaa . We started with a walk up Cherry Mt. Road from the closed gate to Campsite 7. We then took an easterly route up aiming for the west summit. All was in the clear at first, open woods, moderate grade, 2-3 inches of snow, then suddenly the cone was before us. It was much steeper terrain and very dense spruce/fir but we pressed on. After some brush wrestling, we came to a welcome plateau with more open woods and a gentle grade up to the summit. We enjoyed a snack and an unusual view of Bretton Woods and Crawford Notch from this vantage point. Then we headed over to the East peak (NHHH), retracing our steps through the open woods and skirting slightly north of the col over mostly open woods and threading around blowdowns ( there were lots!!) with success. We arrived at East Deception and we all agreed we didn’t want to return over the heavily wooded and steep wall, so we managed to stay on a westerly course at around 3200 feet. skirting around the mountain losing elevation slowly. We did find our initial trail below the steep section and it was easy going after that back down to camp 7. It was nice to stretch out our strides on the road walk back to the car. A great day, great company and we never had to use the shoe phone! Probably couldn’t get reception anyway.
Traction for this hike: easily bare bootable or with light traction. We carried snowshoes but never put them on. They were useless because of all the blowdowns.
Written by Steve Zimmer submitted by Cymbidium.
a few photos:https://picasaweb.google.com/newhkm...&authkey=Gv1sRgCNOu77f68OPSCw&feat=directlink
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