Pete_Hickey said:
Wasn't it around this time of year, a year or two ago, when heavy spring flooding took out the bridge, and left a group stranded at Peggy O'Brien?
It was April 3-4 of 2005. There was a group stranded at O'Brien for an extra night because they couldn't cross Orebed Brook (or Johns Brook) due to heavy rains that washed out the bridge. They eventually got across Orebed and crossed Johns Brook on the "closed" bridge near the Interior Outpost. I'll be at the warming hut near JBL this weekend and will probably see some of you on my way out Sunday. There are definitely people staying at O'Brien this weekend but surprisingly, no one is staying at Grace Camp. Have a great trip! Below is a short article that was in a local paper:
04/05/2005
Stranded rowing team returns safely from Adirondacks
CHRISTOPHER DIAKOPOULOS , The Saratogian
SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Members of the Saratoga Racing Association boys rowing team returned home safely Monday from a weekend hiking and camping trip in the Adirondacks after being forced to camp-out an extra night because a bridge washed out.
'On our way up, coach said he might not get back out of here,' Evan De Jonghe said of the trip. 'I thought he was just joking. The next morning when we woke up, someone from another group told us the bridge had been washed out.'
Coach Jason Boyce and 11 local rowers spent part of the day Sunday looking for an alternate route out of the John's Brook valley, southeast of Lake Placid in the high-peaks region of the Adirondacks. They found they were penned in by flooding streams.
New York state Park Rangers had been notified of the situation Sunday and were on hand Monday to help the two groups find a way across. By Monday, the flood waters had receded and the groups were able to ford the smaller Orebed Brook and cross a high-water suspension bridge back over John's Brook.
'After that, we had to hike back through a foot and a half of snow,' De Jonghe said. 'It was scary going over the bridge, but after that, we were home free.'
Good planning and communication by the Adirondack Mountain Club, which owns the camp the boys were staying at, seemed to have calmed parental fears Sunday. The club maintains winter hosts in areas like John's Brook Valley for exactly these sorts of situations, said AMC Executive Director Neil Woodworth.
The hosts were able to get in touch with the rangers and communicate with the groups by throwing notes wrapped around rocks across the brook. The rushing flood waters were too loud for shouted messages to be heard.
'I knew they were in good hands,' said Dennis De Jonghe, SRA co-president and father of Evan. 'But I was still apprehensive until after talking with the Adirondack Loj people.'
De Jonghe and his son see the experience the same way now.
'I am relieved to be home,' Evan De Jonghe said, 'but it was a fun experience, a good story.'
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