Mt. Paugus in a lightning storm

[forestgnome]

I hiked with some peakbaggers to the trailless summit of Mt. Paugus. BeccaM, Ed and Bob "needed" Mt. Paugus for some reason so dire that lightning encountered just shy of the summit was not even considered.

We hiked the Kelly Trail out of Fernrroft to the Lawrence Trail, which climbs rather steeply up the southeastern slope of Mt. Paugus...

part of the LT has been moved....here's a look at the new section...

lots of switchbacks...

We arrived at some ledges where we planned to leave trail and head for the peak. The rumbles of thunder were growing louder and a few flashes of lightning started to make me nervous. The others were putting on their shells but there was no discussion of turning back...

uh oh...

Just when I thought I was starting to understand peakbaggers....surely, we were going to call it and head down......nope...

so, we made our way through the spruce with thunder right on the heels of the lightning flashes, looking for a bump....flash/boom!!!!...gotta find the highest bump...very important.....heavy rain...flash/boom!!!!!!....gotta find the bump....ok, I really don't understand after all...

found the bump...can we leave now?

skies did clear after the fast-moving summer storm moved on...

back on the ledges, we had lunch and dried out...very nice views from this ledge...

Becca on the Paugus Ledges...(smirk means "forestgnome is a lightning wuss")

my favorite part of the hike was descending the Cabin Trail....very little traffic/pretty woods...

view back to the ledges from the Cabin Trail...

Thanks to Becca, Ed and Bob for a nice day in the woods....just because we didn't die doesn't mean I was wrong to be afraid of the lightning!!!!!!

 

[Becca M]

ummmmm.... to truly understand the power of nature, you must become one with her good moods as well as her bad.....

as they said in Planes, Trains and Automobiles - "We can laugh about it now, we're all right!"

 

[cooperhill]

BeccaM: to truly understand the power of nature, you must become one with her good moods as well as her bad.....

Well said.

Great reports and pictures. My first backpack was on Camels Hump in VT and we went through a thunder storm. Scared s'less but I've been hooked on hiking ever since.

The Lawrence trail looks great. WODC is a great group.

 

[forestgnome]

Oh yes...agreed...big kudos to WODC

 

[grouseking]

Yeah screw that...i would have hid like a little baby during that. Still, great dramatic photo of the approaching storm!! Made me nervous just reading that, cause i was stuck on a ridge during a lightning storm just a couple months ago...

well not stuck...I high tailed it to lower ground in a new york minute.

grouseking

 

[DougPaul]

The rumbles of thunder were growing louder and a few flashes of lightning started to make me nervous. The others were putting on their shells but there was no discussion of turning back...

uh oh...

Just when I thought I was starting to understand peakbaggers....surely, we were going to call it and head down......nope...

so, we made our way through the spruce with thunder right on the heels of the lightning flashes, looking for a bump....flash/boom!!!!...gotta find the highest bump...very important.....heavy rain...flash/boom!!!!!!....gotta find the bump....ok, I really don't understand after all...

found the bump...can we leave now?

Thanks to Becca, Ed and Bob for a nice day in the woods....just because we didn't die doesn't mean I was wrong to be afraid of the lightning!!!!!!

See threads on climbing on/over safety barriers.

Or you could have climbed up a tree to feel the full force of the storm and written about it in a book...*

Doug



* John Muir, in case you don't get the reference.

 

[wardsgirl]

Nice! The Kelly Trail is one of my favorites.

 

[mirabela]

Just think, those pics could have been a case of "these famous pictures were taken moments before the subjects were incinerated," etc. It's only a roll of the dice.