the starchild
New member
Redrock Ravine/Bear Pond Oct. 7-10
photos:
http://community.webshots.com/album/480570374keaJAd
The thought was to avoid the crowds of the holiday weekend by doing a bushwhack and spending most of our time off trail. The reality is the rain, rain and more rain kept most everyone away from the trails as well as the wild backcountry. We listened to the Red Sox game in the car arriving at the Woodstock Inn just after they left three men stranded having had bases loaded and no outs. After a pint and a few innings on the tv we continued driving to the Lincoln Woods parking lot.
After packing our bags next to the car we crossed the suspension bridge; it was around 9:30 pm in a light rain. We were expecting to atleast hike to Hellgate Brook. We were not looking forward to the beaver flooded section of the trail with the sketchy, dead, saplings bridge.....at night.....in the rain......and knowing the water will be higher than usual! We arrived at the “Franconia Brook Campground Is Closed!” sign about an hour and a half later and sat under its mini roof eating snacks and dodging rain drops.
Upon arrival, the flooded beaver pond area looked bad. During the actual crossing it became downright scary. The water was much higher than usual with a lot of the footing under the surface of the dark water. Several of the logs are kinda 1/2 floating so they move too!! The crux was the walk across a small, young, felled tree trunk in the middle section. On your right the pond’s bottom drops down atleast 3 or 4 feet making trekking poles useless for balance or for trying to prevent a fall. On your left the water is only about a foot or foot and a half deep with sections of deep, pole swallowing mud. There’s just not much to balance on. The lateness of the hour combined with the chilly conditions made an unwanted swim just that, unwanted!! Once across we were both very relieved to have crossed dry from the knees up, but we worried about recrossing in a few days. We named it Hell Beaver Pond.
We forded the same stream several times and eventually rock hopped across Hellgate Brook. The water was higher than usual at all the crossings but we stayed pretty dry. It began raining harder as we approched Redrock Brook. We whacked downstream, crossed over and found some illegal and then some legal camping. It was after 2AM, we were completely drenched and looking forward to dry clothes and hot food. We slept late the next morning and it felt grrrrreat.
We followed the herd paths back to the Franconia Brook Trail and continued up Red Rock Brook on it's northern bank. There were a few rough spots but eventually it was pretty easy going. I had all the VFFT posts in my head and the guide book pages in my pocket as well as a map and compass. I figured we should just stay to the left since the pond is in the northern most ravine. Across the brook we saw a few dazzling cascades steeply dropping into the brook from wild gorges carved into the foot of West Bond. Eventually the brook got quite small and we remembered the book mentioning the final split and recommending not just following the left streambed. We heeded this. Also there were no stream beds anywhere to be seen, only streams: small streams, large streams, water was everywhere. Soon we found ourselves climbing a ridge and we made sure to stay north. We eventually got to a large blowdown area that we sensed to have a pond behind it. Due to the weather it was too rainy and foggy to see anything past the trees and impossible to look for the rectangular slide that climbs from the pond’s northern shore up Southwest Twin. It was getting late and the blowdowns in the direction of the pond looked daunting and most definitely would not provide any possible campsites. The last area with possible sites was about half an hour back down the ravine and they didn’t look too good. We headed south into an area that was slightly more open and preceded to find several horrible sites and one acceptable one. It was getting late so we accepted it. The ground wasn’t too flat and neither of us slept well. The rain and wind were very light as we set up camp, but later in the night that all changed. The stronger winds howled through the A-frame and blew rain on the feet of our bags. By morning the sun was almost breaking through the clouds and a clothes line was hung. The foots of our bags were wet but not soaked. A small piece of ground sheet or all out bivy’s would have kept us quite dry. I really enjoy sleeping more in the open, hearing more of the night’s sounds, feeling the breeze and freedom to look in any direction; even in rain.
I walked a few hundred yards north of our campsite to the edge of the blowdowns we encountered the night before. The forest seemed to really open up past the blowdowns and in the distance, on the side of the steep cirque around me, i saw a rectagular landslide. It looked like the one in the photos I took from West Bond. To the northeast was a long, slender slide and to its right a crazy steep waterfall plummiting down the headwall. It was really flowing and dropping almost straight down for a loooong ways. We packed up and headed straight into the tangled growth. We soon spied glimmering water through the tangled mess. We struggled towards the pond, often 3 or 4 feet off the ground. Getting closer we realized how much the pond had flooded, the water came into the blowdowns and growth. Heading east towards the headwall, we fought our way through hoping to get a great view of the area from the slide. The forest finally opened up, releasing us from the beatings given by the tangles of branches. A few dozen yards inland from the pond’s east shore we encountered the stream fed by the waterfalls dropping down the walls of the cirque. It is a very beautiful area and very wet. We filtered water and continued around the pond counter-clockwise towards the slide. Soon we found ourselves battling spruce blowdown hell on the moss covered rocks on a steep slope. It was nasty, but eventually and thankfully we reached the dry slide and rejoiced in the dry weather.
There was still alot of fog and cloudcover. The top of the headwall and its supporting ridges were all hidden in the clouds. A steep ravine scarred with slides at the foot of West Bond was barely visable as clouds flowed down through the ravine obstructing the view. We found a sweet flat rock onwhich to sit down, relax, snack and admire the views. The pond below us was flooded far beyond its shore and the shore vegatation was visable under the water. I wish it was much clearer, but the clouds, quick moving fog, flaming foliage and the sun’s attempts to break through the clouds made for a great experience. I also wished we could have spent much more time but the clouds started creeping down the headwall and all views across to the foot of West Bond disappeared. We continued around the pond and exited the slide trying to stay about 10 feet above the water. The steep, wet rocks of the overgrown part of the slide made for slow, rough travel. We eventually whacked into another dry part of the slide that led us into a bit of a gulley and into easier, more open forest. There were small streams everywhere in all directions.
We soon began to follow herd paths down along the north shore of a brook. We continued following the paths down, past the tumbling cascades on the other side of the brook. We eventually found ourselves on an old logging road that later became an old railroad bed. Me’erah made a comment about camping at a really nice spot high on the side of the ravine. The site, perched at the top of a steep embankment, overlooked the swollen brook rushing down cascades and over a waterfall far below. It felt great to be able to pitch camp in dry weather hours before sunset. We were warm, happy and well relaxed. The sound of the small waterfall far below us kept us company throughout the night.
The next morning was dry again and we were ready to face all the stream crossings on the way back out to the parking lot. First, we had to find our way back to the Fraconia Brook Trail. We continued along the old railroad bed eventually leaving the river. Some spots were very flooded. We also saw our first signs of other hikers in the form of footprints
and a powerbar wrapper. We decided to just follow the railbed all the way back to its juction with the FBT. Although it was no longer raining, there were tiny streams flowing everywhere. We hit the FBT and made a sharp left. We arrived at Redrock Brook with much, much more water flowing much higher than a few days ago. The was no dry way across up or down the stream. We tied our boots around our necks and trekked across wearing our crocs. They gripped the slippery rocks very well. HellgateBrook was also not possible to cross dry. I chose to dunk a boot once in deep water in order to keep my other boot dry. At the first of the three crossings of the same unnamed brook I again dunked the same boot in order to get across as dry as possible. A quick sock ring-out and i was good to go. The next two usually simple crossings of the unnamed brook also had much more water, but we were able to carefully step across on dry and barely submerged stones.
We arrived at Hell Beaver Pond and got a much better look at the situation in the afternoon light. The deep part, now dropping off the left side of the log was indeed 3 or 4 feet deep. We made it across with much more ease this time and very little stress.
We ran up the trail to Franconia Falls and saw the first human besides each other in almost three full days. Me’erah had only seen the falls by moonlight and was super excited to finally check them out in daytime....in the Fall no less!! The water was raging through them.
We made it back to the parking lot a short time later. The trip was mad fun inspite of the rain. Me’erah, I’m so glad we got to go backpacking again and you are the best whacking partner ever.
photos:
http://community.webshots.com/album/480570374keaJAd
The thought was to avoid the crowds of the holiday weekend by doing a bushwhack and spending most of our time off trail. The reality is the rain, rain and more rain kept most everyone away from the trails as well as the wild backcountry. We listened to the Red Sox game in the car arriving at the Woodstock Inn just after they left three men stranded having had bases loaded and no outs. After a pint and a few innings on the tv we continued driving to the Lincoln Woods parking lot.
After packing our bags next to the car we crossed the suspension bridge; it was around 9:30 pm in a light rain. We were expecting to atleast hike to Hellgate Brook. We were not looking forward to the beaver flooded section of the trail with the sketchy, dead, saplings bridge.....at night.....in the rain......and knowing the water will be higher than usual! We arrived at the “Franconia Brook Campground Is Closed!” sign about an hour and a half later and sat under its mini roof eating snacks and dodging rain drops.
Upon arrival, the flooded beaver pond area looked bad. During the actual crossing it became downright scary. The water was much higher than usual with a lot of the footing under the surface of the dark water. Several of the logs are kinda 1/2 floating so they move too!! The crux was the walk across a small, young, felled tree trunk in the middle section. On your right the pond’s bottom drops down atleast 3 or 4 feet making trekking poles useless for balance or for trying to prevent a fall. On your left the water is only about a foot or foot and a half deep with sections of deep, pole swallowing mud. There’s just not much to balance on. The lateness of the hour combined with the chilly conditions made an unwanted swim just that, unwanted!! Once across we were both very relieved to have crossed dry from the knees up, but we worried about recrossing in a few days. We named it Hell Beaver Pond.
We forded the same stream several times and eventually rock hopped across Hellgate Brook. The water was higher than usual at all the crossings but we stayed pretty dry. It began raining harder as we approched Redrock Brook. We whacked downstream, crossed over and found some illegal and then some legal camping. It was after 2AM, we were completely drenched and looking forward to dry clothes and hot food. We slept late the next morning and it felt grrrrreat.
We followed the herd paths back to the Franconia Brook Trail and continued up Red Rock Brook on it's northern bank. There were a few rough spots but eventually it was pretty easy going. I had all the VFFT posts in my head and the guide book pages in my pocket as well as a map and compass. I figured we should just stay to the left since the pond is in the northern most ravine. Across the brook we saw a few dazzling cascades steeply dropping into the brook from wild gorges carved into the foot of West Bond. Eventually the brook got quite small and we remembered the book mentioning the final split and recommending not just following the left streambed. We heeded this. Also there were no stream beds anywhere to be seen, only streams: small streams, large streams, water was everywhere. Soon we found ourselves climbing a ridge and we made sure to stay north. We eventually got to a large blowdown area that we sensed to have a pond behind it. Due to the weather it was too rainy and foggy to see anything past the trees and impossible to look for the rectangular slide that climbs from the pond’s northern shore up Southwest Twin. It was getting late and the blowdowns in the direction of the pond looked daunting and most definitely would not provide any possible campsites. The last area with possible sites was about half an hour back down the ravine and they didn’t look too good. We headed south into an area that was slightly more open and preceded to find several horrible sites and one acceptable one. It was getting late so we accepted it. The ground wasn’t too flat and neither of us slept well. The rain and wind were very light as we set up camp, but later in the night that all changed. The stronger winds howled through the A-frame and blew rain on the feet of our bags. By morning the sun was almost breaking through the clouds and a clothes line was hung. The foots of our bags were wet but not soaked. A small piece of ground sheet or all out bivy’s would have kept us quite dry. I really enjoy sleeping more in the open, hearing more of the night’s sounds, feeling the breeze and freedom to look in any direction; even in rain.
I walked a few hundred yards north of our campsite to the edge of the blowdowns we encountered the night before. The forest seemed to really open up past the blowdowns and in the distance, on the side of the steep cirque around me, i saw a rectagular landslide. It looked like the one in the photos I took from West Bond. To the northeast was a long, slender slide and to its right a crazy steep waterfall plummiting down the headwall. It was really flowing and dropping almost straight down for a loooong ways. We packed up and headed straight into the tangled growth. We soon spied glimmering water through the tangled mess. We struggled towards the pond, often 3 or 4 feet off the ground. Getting closer we realized how much the pond had flooded, the water came into the blowdowns and growth. Heading east towards the headwall, we fought our way through hoping to get a great view of the area from the slide. The forest finally opened up, releasing us from the beatings given by the tangles of branches. A few dozen yards inland from the pond’s east shore we encountered the stream fed by the waterfalls dropping down the walls of the cirque. It is a very beautiful area and very wet. We filtered water and continued around the pond counter-clockwise towards the slide. Soon we found ourselves battling spruce blowdown hell on the moss covered rocks on a steep slope. It was nasty, but eventually and thankfully we reached the dry slide and rejoiced in the dry weather.
There was still alot of fog and cloudcover. The top of the headwall and its supporting ridges were all hidden in the clouds. A steep ravine scarred with slides at the foot of West Bond was barely visable as clouds flowed down through the ravine obstructing the view. We found a sweet flat rock onwhich to sit down, relax, snack and admire the views. The pond below us was flooded far beyond its shore and the shore vegatation was visable under the water. I wish it was much clearer, but the clouds, quick moving fog, flaming foliage and the sun’s attempts to break through the clouds made for a great experience. I also wished we could have spent much more time but the clouds started creeping down the headwall and all views across to the foot of West Bond disappeared. We continued around the pond and exited the slide trying to stay about 10 feet above the water. The steep, wet rocks of the overgrown part of the slide made for slow, rough travel. We eventually whacked into another dry part of the slide that led us into a bit of a gulley and into easier, more open forest. There were small streams everywhere in all directions.
We soon began to follow herd paths down along the north shore of a brook. We continued following the paths down, past the tumbling cascades on the other side of the brook. We eventually found ourselves on an old logging road that later became an old railroad bed. Me’erah made a comment about camping at a really nice spot high on the side of the ravine. The site, perched at the top of a steep embankment, overlooked the swollen brook rushing down cascades and over a waterfall far below. It felt great to be able to pitch camp in dry weather hours before sunset. We were warm, happy and well relaxed. The sound of the small waterfall far below us kept us company throughout the night.
The next morning was dry again and we were ready to face all the stream crossings on the way back out to the parking lot. First, we had to find our way back to the Fraconia Brook Trail. We continued along the old railroad bed eventually leaving the river. Some spots were very flooded. We also saw our first signs of other hikers in the form of footprints
and a powerbar wrapper. We decided to just follow the railbed all the way back to its juction with the FBT. Although it was no longer raining, there were tiny streams flowing everywhere. We hit the FBT and made a sharp left. We arrived at Redrock Brook with much, much more water flowing much higher than a few days ago. The was no dry way across up or down the stream. We tied our boots around our necks and trekked across wearing our crocs. They gripped the slippery rocks very well. HellgateBrook was also not possible to cross dry. I chose to dunk a boot once in deep water in order to keep my other boot dry. At the first of the three crossings of the same unnamed brook I again dunked the same boot in order to get across as dry as possible. A quick sock ring-out and i was good to go. The next two usually simple crossings of the unnamed brook also had much more water, but we were able to carefully step across on dry and barely submerged stones.We arrived at Hell Beaver Pond and got a much better look at the situation in the afternoon light. The deep part, now dropping off the left side of the log was indeed 3 or 4 feet deep. We made it across with much more ease this time and very little stress.
We ran up the trail to Franconia Falls and saw the first human besides each other in almost three full days. Me’erah had only seen the falls by moonlight and was super excited to finally check them out in daytime....in the Fall no less!! The water was raging through them.
We made it back to the parking lot a short time later. The trip was mad fun inspite of the rain. Me’erah, I’m so glad we got to go backpacking again and you are the best whacking partner ever.
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