Sabbaday Brook 10/20/07

[FreightTrain]

Now I know why so many people think I am crazy. This was our annual halloween hike and it is tradition to hike in on friday night. We started up the Sabbaday brook trail friday night in the pouring rain. Our packs were enclosed in a large bag resembling giant condoms. We had planned on getting wet and retiring our clothing for the rest of the weekend once we got to camp. It was my first hike using this trail. The beginning was very wide and easy. Soon we found ourselves walking in a stream and realized we were no longer on the trail. Trail blazes are a bit difficult to follow on dark rainy nights. We soon saw a blaze indicating the trail crossed the stream. We got across, walked a little further and found ourself in the same boat, standing in the stream looking for a trail blaze. This repeated a couple more times. The maps do not show all of the side feeder streams that empty into the Sabbaday brook. It was even more challenging to find suitable places to cross these streams. The water was higher than expected due to the rain and the rocks seemed a bit slimey. It got to point that we just walked across the stream to avoid a major slip on the rocks and the boots were getting a bit wet anyway. We joined up with the rest of the group that walked in with the advatage of day light. We got to test some new nylon tarps. They held up reall good in the downpours that came friday night.

At least the rain ended saturday morning and after a quick cup of coffee and some breakfast, we were on the trail again. The trail remained relatively flat up to the last stream crossing. It was a bit steep just befor the junction with the Tripyramid loop trail. The temps were great for hiking and the sun came out now and then during the course of the day. We decied to bag North Tripyramid, spend a bit of time up there and head back to camp. Another tradition for the halloween hike is the saturday night feast. Venison schnitzel, acorn squash, veggies, bread and desert were waiting for us. Sauturday night tested the strength of the new tarps. It was a bit windy but they held up nicely. We will be bringing them again I'm sure since they weigh a fraction of the ploy tarps.

Sunday was a leisurly stroll back to the cars. We got to enjoy the side trail to the falls that was passed up on friday night. Now I was glad to see the high water flowing between the rock walls. The walk up to the falls from the parking lot is a good short hike for the wife and children to enjoy at some point in the near future.

 

[albee]

My group was following your boot tracks in the mud down from the TriPyramid ridge at around 1:30 on Saturday afternoon. I knew someone had been through there within 24 hours! Where abouts did you guys camp? I didn't know there were any good spots on Sabbaday Brook trail. We didn't see you because we bushwhacked up to the Fool Killer from the switchback on the SBT, and then we bushwhacked over to the Scaur Ridge trail afterwards.

Looked like it was a wet night on Friday! Were you with Sam Jones' group?

 

[FreightTrain]

We were set up on the opposite side of the stream as the trail. It meant one more stream crossing for us. We were not part of the Sam Jones group. I read your tr and was trying to figure out if we had seen you at all. We had five in our group. We could have passed each other while you were on the fool killer though.