sapblatt
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2004
- Messages
- 2,177
- Reaction score
- 286
Questions:
Will Sapblatt keep on hiking after 48?
Will he keep authoring long-winded trip reports?
Yes
and yes .
It is time to begin revisiting some of the peaks that I did a long time ago before finishing my last 42 peaks over the past 14 months. Garfield fit the bill perfectly. The early risers VFTT contingent (Rols and me ) planned to meet at the trailhead at 6:30AM. What this really translates to is that I got there just after 6AM and Paul had already been there for about an hour. After sorting through gear, looking at the thermometer and marveling that it is really 25 degrees out we sat in the warm car for a final blast of heat and hit the trail under headlamp at 6:40AM.
One of the toughest parts of the entire day was in the first two hundred yards. In the dark it was very tough to follow the beginning of the trail. We stopped and backtracked a couple of times. Eventually we found a thread of blue blazes to follow. Only upon our return in the afternoon did we realize there was a blow down that blocked the trail and this is what was causing the early morning confusion. This would have been a non-factor in the daylight. The trail meanders on through rolling hills high up the riverbank for awhile and there were a few more blow downs to negotiate – no big deal. This was to be our version of bushwhack weekend!
In a little under an hour we reached the area where there are a few stream crossings. These were small, but moving rapidly with all of the rain and melt off from the past few days. They were easy to negotiate by rock hopping and we managed to stay dry. We continued up the long switchbacks towards the summit. AT 3300 feet we began to encounter our first snow and ice of the season. We never saw more than one to two inches of snow and at this level the ice was spotty. Traction was not an issue.
After reaching the Garfield Ridge Trail we started up the short but steep summit section of the trail. It was noticeably icier than anywhere we had encountered up to this point. At one real tricky spot we decided that we would look really dumb if we had an accident while our Stabilicers were securely in our packs. So we strapped them on under the careful watch of a rather hefty looking Gray Jay and we moved upwards without incident. Although the summit was pretty bare we kept eh Stabilicers on until we returned to the junction on the descent.
We were the only ones on the summit when we arrived just in front of 11AM. It was about 30 degrees with a 5-10mph wind. We soaked in the views and then found a sheltered spot for lunch. Soon there were about 10 people on the summit, including a group of four young men from Quebec that were in the middle of a Pemi Loop. I know I have a cautious streak in me but I thought these guys had almost zero gear with them, were taking way too long of a break on the summit and even more alarming was the fact that there was a slower member in their group that had fallen quite behind and the group was pressing on without him. In near winter conditions with a lot of precipitation in the forecast I was pretty concerned – I could not fathom why one or two of them did not stay with the slower hiker. Hopefully this all ended well.
Rols and I ate our lunches and looked around a bit more before proceeding down the hill. A lot more people were on their way up as we descended (obviously, not members of the early risers club!) We made very good time on the way down and were back at our cars a little after 2PM. We noticed that the trail had a lot more water on it and the streams were flowing a bit more after the sun started to melt some of the snow.
We decided to head over to Mooseland after the hike and ran into the “Peak Above the Nubble” Gang – including mtnpa, mtnmama, bobandgeri, HikerBob, Karen, MEB, poisonivy, MichaelJ and amstony. Sounds like the bushwhack went quite well and it was great to see everyone – a few of us will be heading to Sandwich Dome in a couple of weeks.
So, there is life after 48, and 40…it was great to be back in the mountains and playing in the snow!
Sorry – no pictures…
Will Sapblatt keep on hiking after 48?
Will he keep authoring long-winded trip reports?
Yes
and yes .It is time to begin revisiting some of the peaks that I did a long time ago before finishing my last 42 peaks over the past 14 months. Garfield fit the bill perfectly. The early risers VFTT contingent (Rols and me
) planned to meet at the trailhead at 6:30AM. What this really translates to is that I got there just after 6AM and Paul had already been there for about an hour. After sorting through gear, looking at the thermometer and marveling that it is really 25 degrees out we sat in the warm car for a final blast of heat and hit the trail under headlamp at 6:40AM.One of the toughest parts of the entire day was in the first two hundred yards. In the dark it was very tough to follow the beginning of the trail. We stopped and backtracked a couple of times. Eventually we found a thread of blue blazes to follow. Only upon our return in the afternoon did we realize there was a blow down that blocked the trail and this is what was causing the early morning confusion. This would have been a non-factor in the daylight. The trail meanders on through rolling hills high up the riverbank for awhile and there were a few more blow downs to negotiate – no big deal. This was to be our version of bushwhack weekend!
In a little under an hour we reached the area where there are a few stream crossings. These were small, but moving rapidly with all of the rain and melt off from the past few days. They were easy to negotiate by rock hopping and we managed to stay dry. We continued up the long switchbacks towards the summit. AT 3300 feet we began to encounter our first snow and ice of the season. We never saw more than one to two inches of snow and at this level the ice was spotty. Traction was not an issue.
After reaching the Garfield Ridge Trail we started up the short but steep summit section of the trail. It was noticeably icier than anywhere we had encountered up to this point. At one real tricky spot we decided that we would look really dumb if we had an accident while our Stabilicers were securely in our packs. So we strapped them on under the careful watch of a rather hefty looking Gray Jay and we moved upwards without incident. Although the summit was pretty bare we kept eh Stabilicers on until we returned to the junction on the descent.
We were the only ones on the summit when we arrived just in front of 11AM. It was about 30 degrees with a 5-10mph wind. We soaked in the views and then found a sheltered spot for lunch. Soon there were about 10 people on the summit, including a group of four young men from Quebec that were in the middle of a Pemi Loop. I know I have a cautious streak in me but I thought these guys had almost zero gear with them, were taking way too long of a break on the summit and even more alarming was the fact that there was a slower member in their group that had fallen quite behind and the group was pressing on without him. In near winter conditions with a lot of precipitation in the forecast I was pretty concerned – I could not fathom why one or two of them did not stay with the slower hiker. Hopefully this all ended well.
Rols and I ate our lunches and looked around a bit more before proceeding down the hill. A lot more people were on their way up as we descended (obviously, not members of the early risers club!) We made very good time on the way down and were back at our cars a little after 2PM. We noticed that the trail had a lot more water on it and the streams were flowing a bit more after the sun started to melt some of the snow.
We decided to head over to Mooseland after the hike and ran into the “Peak Above the Nubble” Gang – including mtnpa, mtnmama, bobandgeri, HikerBob, Karen, MEB, poisonivy, MichaelJ and amstony. Sounds like the bushwhack went quite well and it was great to see everyone
– a few of us will be heading to Sandwich Dome in a couple of weeks.So, there is life after 48, and 40…it was great to be back in the mountains and playing in the snow!
Sorry – no pictures…
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