bryan
New member
date: 4/19/14
trails: snowmobile trail, haystack road, fr 304a. bushwhack, herd path
conditions: good parking at the end of little river road. from the parking we crossed over the little river on the bridge and picked up the snowmobile trail up to haystack road. the trail has been re routed a bit since last i was there apparently due to a combination of private property that has been developed and busy beavers, but joins haystack road in the same place just across the way from fr 304a ("3 boulders"). the trail was wet and soggy with some patchy snow. instead of following fr 304a for any real distance we went directly into the woods on a line towards the ridge aiming a bit south of a 2500 foot knob. only patchy snow up through the open woods though footing was wet as we followed along a brook and past some older clearcuts. we then hit a larger old clearcut and soon a very overgrown skidder road that we continued on to the top of the cut where we again picked up open woods to the ridgeline. at this point there was a coating of snow no more than a few inches deep. we continued up the ridge with more open woods and increasing snow depth. by the time we reached the false summit there was around 1 foot of pretty firm snow on the ground that we could boot without punching through. here we got onto the herd path and followed it up to the summit. there was some increased snow up to a couple feet, but it remained firm enough to keep the snowshoes on our packs. the couple small brook crossings on the bushwhack were not an issue.
equipment: we carried snowshoes and light traction, but stuck with boots. as the snow in the upper few hundred vertical softens snowshoes may be desirable.
comments: a real nice trip up to peak above the nubble. in the past i had always gained the ridge farther south and had to deal with steep climbing and cliffs so we decided to pick it up at a lower elevation farther north and it worked out great. smoothest hike up the peak to date. some interesting views from the old clearcut down low, but the viewpoints near the summit and false peak remained in cloud while we were up there. lots of moose sign on the north ridge and around the old cuts. thanks to cynthia for a nice hike.
bryan
[email protected]
trails: snowmobile trail, haystack road, fr 304a. bushwhack, herd path
conditions: good parking at the end of little river road. from the parking we crossed over the little river on the bridge and picked up the snowmobile trail up to haystack road. the trail has been re routed a bit since last i was there apparently due to a combination of private property that has been developed and busy beavers, but joins haystack road in the same place just across the way from fr 304a ("3 boulders"). the trail was wet and soggy with some patchy snow. instead of following fr 304a for any real distance we went directly into the woods on a line towards the ridge aiming a bit south of a 2500 foot knob. only patchy snow up through the open woods though footing was wet as we followed along a brook and past some older clearcuts. we then hit a larger old clearcut and soon a very overgrown skidder road that we continued on to the top of the cut where we again picked up open woods to the ridgeline. at this point there was a coating of snow no more than a few inches deep. we continued up the ridge with more open woods and increasing snow depth. by the time we reached the false summit there was around 1 foot of pretty firm snow on the ground that we could boot without punching through. here we got onto the herd path and followed it up to the summit. there was some increased snow up to a couple feet, but it remained firm enough to keep the snowshoes on our packs. the couple small brook crossings on the bushwhack were not an issue.
equipment: we carried snowshoes and light traction, but stuck with boots. as the snow in the upper few hundred vertical softens snowshoes may be desirable.
comments: a real nice trip up to peak above the nubble. in the past i had always gained the ridge farther south and had to deal with steep climbing and cliffs so we decided to pick it up at a lower elevation farther north and it worked out great. smoothest hike up the peak to date. some interesting views from the old clearcut down low, but the viewpoints near the summit and false peak remained in cloud while we were up there. lots of moose sign on the north ridge and around the old cuts. thanks to cynthia for a nice hike.
bryan
[email protected]
