Mt Kelsey Bushwhack

[docross]

Mt Kelsey Bushwhack 12/30/06

8 of us hiked into this beautiful peak on 12/30/06 from the road paralleling the West Branch of Clear Stream, which leaves NH 26 between Errol and Dixville Notch.

Fred has posted his photos at: www.nhmountainhiking.com/kelsey.html.
My photos are at http://community.webshots.com/user/docross2243, in the Kelsey album.

There is also a map of the GPS track from the hike. What you cannot see at the resolution of the map is the actual location of the bottle, but it is more toward the east side of the flat summit area.

Thanks to: Neighbor Dave, Fred, Marianne, Hiker Ed, Kurt, Mark and Jerry for making this an enjoyable hike!

 

[onestep]

David,
Thanks for putting together such a great 'whack. It was a lot of FUN!!

Kurt

(great sandwich Neighbor )

 

[RoySwkr]

Any comments on snow depth, spruce thickness, etc.?

 

[docross]

Mt Kelsey Bushwhack 12/30/06

Any comments on snow depth, spruce thickness, etc.?

Roy, there was quite a bit of snow on top, probably 12-18 inches in spots. We wore shoes all the way from the main road that comes in from 26.

In addition to being a steep route, it was pretty thick as well, and we were constantly skirting blowdowns, but they COULD be skirted. On the summit, the blowdowns were everywhere, and it was just a matter of pushing through the surrounding band of trees into the blowdown patch, then tediously climbing up and over each one.

I couldn't believe it when I saw the bottle 6 feet from my nose while perched on a downed tree! As you can see from the photo (follow the link in my first post), the bottle was successfully camouflaged by mother nature. None of us had surveyor's tape to mark the location, so it remains camouflaged.