Nancy & Bemis

[MEB]

I’d first like to start off saying that if you have not been into Nancy and Norcross Pond it is a must see! Friday morning Dr Wu and I headed down the Nancy Pond Trail and a beautiful morning it was, bright blue skies with endless amounts of sunshine! There was also a brisk wind that kept temperatures on the cool side. After going along at a leisurely pace we arrived at Nancy Cascade and stopped here to take some pictures and have a little bit to eat. It was at this point we saw Dalraida coming up the trail to join us on our trek.

Continuing on the trail goes up for a bit and we catch some glimpses through the trees of Stairs and Crawford. After reaching the top of the cascades the trail flattens out again and winds it way towards Nancy Pond. Here we stopped again to take in the views and take some pictures. Next we arrived at Norcross Pond which has the most spectuacluar view towards the Pemi Wilderness and again we stopped again to take pictures. At the other end of the pond we found some nice rocks out of the wind to rest and have lunch.

After eating and resting we then took the herd path up to the summit of Nancy. I was very excited as I got to see my first canister! I was also quite surprised at how nice the view is from Nancy.

Our next leg of the trip was a bushwhack over to Bemis. This was my first bushwhack and it was a blast! Thankyou Dalraida for leading the way to Bemis! The spruce was so thick in some places that you could not see the person in front of you! About three hours later we arrived at Bemis about a hundred yards or so just below the old fire tower. We found the canister and noted our names and date.

The way down was nice but we had to navigate over, around and under many, many blow downs. Needless to say we were all tired upon arriving back at the trailhead. I’m really looking forward to coming back to this area as it is now on my top ten favorite places! Thanks again Wu and Dalraida for a wonderful day!

Here are some pictures from our trip.

-MEB

 

[Hillwalker]

Congratulations

Welcome to the society of bushwhackers and bark eaters. You now will have to come up with responses to those people who see all the cuts and bruises and wonder who is beating you. Nice pictures. Especially the B&W of the tree stump in Nancy Pond. I have hiked with Dalraida since the Jungles of Southeast Asia and he is a pretty good woodsman . Anyone who is happy bulling through spruce thickets with blood dripping off his hands is part Yeti.

 

[sapblatt]

Bushwack

MEB -
Sounds like a great trip...very nice pictures. After I finish my "list" i hope start bushwacking too!

 

[dr_wu002]

I was psyched to do this hike with Mary Ellen. But it's hard to describe the feeling I got when Tom came walking out of the woods while MEB and I were lounging at Nancy Cascades. If someone caught a picture of me you'd see I was smiling as I knew it was going to be a great day with two good friends.

Pictures do the talking:

http://community.webshots.com/album/344817593Ziullr
http://community.webshots.com/album/344828190LfXPPi

-Dr. Wu

 

[Frodo]

Awesome trip report and nice pictures Dr. Wu (loved the moose scat one, can even make out a berry)

What a beautiful day to be out. I wasn't too far away from you guys...

The whack between Nancy and Bemis is pretty thick. No easy trip thru there. It's even a little worse on the other side of Norcross Pond.

One of my favorite things about bushwhacking is finding the cannister and getting to read all of the interesting stuff people have left behind...

 

[dr_wu002]

Awesome trip report and nice pictures Dr. Wu (loved the moose scat one, can even make out a berry)

Yeah, I know -- it was yummy

I read your trip report and was immediately both jealous (of the trip) and annoyed that I haven't figured out how to traverse space-time yet so that I can be in two places at once.

It was thick between Nancy and Bemis but I can say, we enjoyed it quite a bit. We had a blast! Everything, from route finding to "surfing" blowdowns over the really thick stuff and even the cuts and scratches was a lot of fun, particularly with that kind of company I had.

For someone who claims to be a "slow hiker," Tom was flying while leading the bushwhack. I talked to him afterwards and he told me how much he enjoys bushwhacking and that he had a lot of fun on this hike. I have to agree.

-Dr. Wu

 

[MichaelJ]

Love the shot on the slide - what a contrast of two hikers!

I wished I'd gone out on the slide for the view when I hiked Nancy - it was still early in my career and I felt too squeamish.

High mountain ponds are a fascination of mine, and both Nancy & Norcross are up there in the gorgeous list. Did you visit the cascades on the way up? And did you take the old tractor route back down from Bemis?

 

[Dalraida]

Post Script

I gave my blood for the Lyme test yesterday. Ended up with two black-legged ticks (Deer) embedded. One at belt line, and one at the base of my numb-skull. Both the size of poppy seeds, very tiny. Took about three days for symptoms to show up. No bulls-eye rash. Have felt pretty awful since monday night. Hopefully it's something else. Too bad that something this much fun is in the realm of high risk activities.

 

[dr_wu002]

Crapola!

I gave my blood for the Lyme test yesterday. Ended up with two black-legged ticks (Deer) embedded. One at belt line, and one at the base of my numb-skull. Both the size of poppy seeds, very tiny. Took about three days for symptoms to show up. No bulls-eye rash. Have felt pretty awful since monday night. Hopefully it's something else. Too bad that something this much fun is in the realm of high risk activities.

What did the doctor say it could be besides Lyme? How about treatment if it is lyme? This is bad news.

It won't stop me from hiking or bushwhacking (and I bet it won't stop you either, Tom) but I think it's a good idea to change your clothes at the trailhead, especially after a thick 'whack like we did Friday. It obviously won't prevent you from getting a tick but if one of those mofo's is on your clothes, taking them off before the long ride home will probably lessen your chances of getting one in you.

Sorry to hear about the tick and the sick, Tom. Hopefully you'll be back in action soon.

-Dr. Wu