Suebiscuit
New member
Hamtero, Frodo, Jeffrey and I set out at about 8:15 on the Nancy Pond Trail. Water crossings were a bit dicey – icy rocks and high-ish flow – so we had to pole vault or shimmy over trees to get across. Lively conversation on the way up, which, upon reaching the beautiful cascades, suddenly shifted to Cher and her best songs (someone in the group whose name doesn’t begin with H, J or S admitted to seeing her in concert). I chalk it up it to some strange magnetic flux created by the rushing water, as I had nothing to do with that shift, and three rugged men singing snippets of “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves” and “If I Could Turn Back Time” while negotiating rocks and ice can only be attributed to some type of cosmic disturbance. Fortunately, we soon bumped into MtMama, MtPa and Poison Ivy, which broke the spell. Nice to meet some new VFTT faces…
Near Nancy Pond, we came across some ’small’ bear prints in the fresh inch of snow. We were impressed by the bear’s agility on the cut log bridges, but soon encountered yet another strange phenomenon, as the bear prints abruptly changed to fox prints. I was beginning to wonder what we might encounter along the way Anderson and Lowell….
We left the NPT shortly after Norcross Pond. We initial headed directly for the peak, scrambling over lots of blowdowns, pressing through thick brush and spruce with an occasional break into more open woods, but upon closer inspection, saw that the north face is most defined by ledges and cliffs. So we shifted to a direct south bearing, heading to the eastern ridge of Anderson. The going was slow, but opened up a bit once we got onto the ridge. Jeffrey led the way much of the time, and quickly used his PVC-sniffing ability to find the canister. With a bit of a struggle, it was opened and we enjoyed views to the north west and south…
We dropped off of the south side of Anderson – a steep descent that was relatively ‘open’ until the col, which was quite thick and lots of blowdowns to negotiate… Jeffrey, eternally optimistic, kept saying: “Looks good! It’s a bit more open ahead!” and we’d find a few steps of relief from the spruce and downed trees, only to have to drop our heads and plow through and scramble over again. Made it from Anderson to Lowell in about an hour and a half, again, with Jeffrey finding the canister effortlessly…
Retreated to the flat section below Lowell, then headed toward Duck Pond. At about 3200 feet. It became swampy (and still thick as thieves), so we opted to head back over the eastern ridge of Anderson, which proved to be steep, rocky, and yes, full of spruce and blowdowns… Got to the top of the ridge and discovered: footprints! Someone else had been here! I knew it! Weird things happen in 3’s – it’s true!! But, oh, no, it was just our tracks from earlier in the day, which we followed for a short distance, then headed more easterly toward Nancy Pond. The going was thick, thick, thick, (a bit thicker than our approach to Anderson, so don’t recommend heading up to Anderson from the SE corner of Nancy Pond if you decide to spend the day getting a spruce exfoliating treatment) but we made it back to the trail just as light was diminishing.
A few icy spots on the headlamp-lit trail down made for some interesting maneuvers, but we made it back to the cars by 6:30, under a spectacularly starry sky…
Near Nancy Pond, we came across some ’small’ bear prints in the fresh inch of snow. We were impressed by the bear’s agility on the cut log bridges, but soon encountered yet another strange phenomenon, as the bear prints abruptly changed to fox prints. I was beginning to wonder what we might encounter along the way Anderson and Lowell….
We left the NPT shortly after Norcross Pond. We initial headed directly for the peak, scrambling over lots of blowdowns, pressing through thick brush and spruce with an occasional break into more open woods, but upon closer inspection, saw that the north face is most defined by ledges and cliffs. So we shifted to a direct south bearing, heading to the eastern ridge of Anderson. The going was slow, but opened up a bit once we got onto the ridge. Jeffrey led the way much of the time, and quickly used his PVC-sniffing ability to find the canister. With a bit of a struggle, it was opened and we enjoyed views to the north west and south…
We dropped off of the south side of Anderson – a steep descent that was relatively ‘open’ until the col, which was quite thick and lots of blowdowns to negotiate… Jeffrey, eternally optimistic, kept saying: “Looks good! It’s a bit more open ahead!” and we’d find a few steps of relief from the spruce and downed trees, only to have to drop our heads and plow through and scramble over again. Made it from Anderson to Lowell in about an hour and a half, again, with Jeffrey finding the canister effortlessly…
Retreated to the flat section below Lowell, then headed toward Duck Pond. At about 3200 feet. It became swampy (and still thick as thieves), so we opted to head back over the eastern ridge of Anderson, which proved to be steep, rocky, and yes, full of spruce and blowdowns… Got to the top of the ridge and discovered: footprints! Someone else had been here! I knew it! Weird things happen in 3’s – it’s true!! But, oh, no, it was just our tracks from earlier in the day, which we followed for a short distance, then headed more easterly toward Nancy Pond. The going was thick, thick, thick, (a bit thicker than our approach to Anderson, so don’t recommend heading up to Anderson from the SE corner of Nancy Pond if you decide to spend the day getting a spruce exfoliating treatment) but we made it back to the trail just as light was diminishing.
A few icy spots on the headlamp-lit trail down made for some interesting maneuvers, but we made it back to the cars by 6:30, under a spectacularly starry sky…
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