Mount VanHoevenburg 12/5/10

[DSettahr]

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After having spent 6 days in the cold later fall temperatures while hiking 63 miles in the Western High Peaks the week of Thanksgiving, I was quite content to stick around the civilized world for a little while... until today. I felt the urge to get out and explore start to return, not significantly, but enough that I was eager to find a small peak to spend a few hours climbing. After some thought, I selected Mount VanHoevenburg as my destination. It's one of the few trailed peaks I've left to climb in the High Peaks area, and the closest of these to where I lived. Furthermore, I'd been thinking about climbing it for some time, and had heard that it had some nice views from the summit. At only 4 miles round trip, it certainly would be an easy and fun afternoon hike.

I arrived at South Meadows Road at just after noon to find 3 other cars parked there. Presumably, each of these belonged to overnight hikers who'd gone in on Friday afternoon or evening, as I saw no fresh footprints anywhere in the snow. The snow here was about 2 inches deep, certainly not enough to hamper my progress as I started up the road. South Meadows Road is officially closed for the season, but is blocked off only with easily movable wooden barriers. It was quite obvious, from the tire tracks in the snow, that some traffic is still using the road- perhaps accessing late season hunting camps farther down?

Not too far down the road, I saw a parking spot and a path into the woods on the north side of the road. Having never noticed it before, I walked a little ways down the path, which took me to a small designated campsite. The campsite had just enough room for one tent, and a fire ring. Just below the “camp here” disc, I could easily see where someone had ripped down the “no fires” tag.

Back on the road, I soon made it to the trailhead proper for the Mount VanHoevenburg Trail, that is, the spot that in the summer you could drive to and park your car. I signed in, noticing as I did so that the register book and entries going back exactly one year and one day, to December 4, 2009, and started down the trail, following a set of snowed in foot prints that looked a day or two old.

The first section of the trail took me through a very nice stand of red pines. It was one of those picturesque pine forests where the air is still in the understory, yet breezes often softley whisper through the canopy above. The trail was fairly flat through this section, but somewhat overgrown and covered with a decent amount of blowdown. It seemed as though every 50 feet, I was climbing over a log, crawling beneath one, or taking a detour around a fallen tree. Much of the blowdown appeared relatively recent, and must have come down in a storm not too long ago.

I soon reached the edge of the pine forest, and entered into a stand of hardwoods. The going here was much easier, and the blowdown was minimal in comparison to what I'd experienced back beneath the red pines. My rejoicing didn't last long, however, as I soon reached a fairly expansive beaver flow, into the waters of which the trail disappeared. The flow itself was covered with ice and snow, but a quick test on the edge assured me that it wasn't solid enough to support my weight. I did get some nice views from the edge of the flow of Mount VanHoevenburg itself.

There appeared to be a substantial path leading west around the beaver flow, and the old tracks in the snow went that way as well, so I decided to follow in that direction. Soon, I found a decently sized beaver dam... the footsteps and the path continued ahead, apparently skirting several more dams farther down stream, but I decided to attempt to cross the flow here. Crossing the dam was slippery but doable, and it wasn't long before I reached the other side... to find no sign of the trail. I at first angled to the east, figuring that I'd pick up the old trail where it emerged from the other side of the beaver flow, but I had no luck in doing this. As I worked my way up into the woods, I started to encounter miniature beaver dams, and lots of flooded pools hidden by snow and a thin sheet of ice. It was quite obvious that if the trail had ever come this way, the beavers had done an excellent job of destroying all evidence of it.

I continued uphill, finally leaving the smaller beaver ponds behind, and found myself standing next to a small stream. After pulling out the map and taking a quick look at it, I reasoned that the trail must be off to the northwest of my present position, as I'd angled pretty far east in trying to find it without success. Sure enough, as soon as I climbed up and out of the ravine in which the stream flowed, I saw the tell tale signs of footprints in the snow, and continued making my way up the trail.

Over the next half mile or so, the trail made a steady climb up the mountain. Some spots were slippery with snow and a little bit of ice, but nothing too difficult, and I felt no need to use traction devices of any sort. Before long, I crested the ridge and entered into a neat notch, with some impressive exposed rock and icicles on the west side of the small gap. Here, the trail turned east, and followed the ridgeline to the summit. I started to encounter blowdown again, and was forced to again sramble over and under some branches in addition to taking detours through the woods, but it was nothing like what I'd encountered near the start of the trail. The footprints in the snow not too far beyond the notch, and so I found myself wandering through a snowscape broken only by the tracks of rabbits and other woodland creatures.

The summit of Mount VanHoevenburg is characterized by several rock ledges facing to the south. The first two of these are quite expansive, and I stopped at each to take pictures. Unfortunately, the snow and low lying clouds blocked most of the views of the high peaks, but I was able to see South Meadows, Marcy Dam, and Mount Jo fairly distinctly through the fallen snow. I can imagine that if one were to ascend this mountain on a clear day, the views would be amazing, and the vantage point unique from that of other mountains in the high peaks. The trees on the summit were covered in a decent layer of rime ice, and the steady but gentle breeze sent falling snow flakes swirling around me. The snow here was deeper than down below, but with maybe four inches of accumulation at the most, still not deep enough for true winter conditions.

Beyond the second lookout, the trail became a bit more overgrown. It seemed obvious that for most, the second lookout marks the turn around point. I passed two more smaller lookouts, and then the trail turned to the north and began to descend. It appeared that the trail does not cross the true summit, but does pass close enough to it in both horizontal distance and vertical elevation that I was satisfied with calling my hike an ascent to the summit.

On the descent, the slippery snow and ice gave me a bit more trouble, but nothing significant- I was able to catch myself every time I nearly slipped and fell. Traction devices would have been nice, but certainly weren't necessary. My descent when quickly, and I was easily able to find the beaver dam again to cross the flow on without having to loop all the way out to the west, downstream of the flooding. Just beyond the beaver flow, I passed two hikers on their way up the mountain.

When I reached South Meadows Road again, I was surprised to find ski tracks in the snow. I wouldn't have considered it deep enough for skiing, but perhaps someone simply couldn't wait.

Mount VanHoevenburg is certainly a neat little mountain, and an excellent alternative to the taller High Peaks, especially for families with children or those looking for a short hike. The trip took me no more than two and a half hours up and back, and while the blowdown near the beginning was somewhat hindering, I'm sure that it's only a matter of time before a trail crew makes it down this trail to clear it up. I'll definitely have to make a return visit some time on a clear day to check out the views!