In my previous life of rock and ice climbing, getting duped into believing that a route is easier than it truly is (getting sand bagged) was common, especially at places like the Gunks in New York (ex. many rock climbing routes in the mid-range at the Shawangunks have been upgraded in the guidebooks over the years as more outsiders have visited and complained). I believe that sand bagging is less common in the hiking community, although perhaps unintentional sand bagging still happens with bushwhack routes.
Near the end of this past September, I finally got around to bushwhacking off the west side of North Twin down to the Gale River Trail, seeming to recall more than one person telling me that it was not too bad once you get a short ways down from the top. Well, it was some of the gnarliest bushwhacking that I have ever done, and never really let up until I reached Gale River. I am all the more impressed that Guy Waterman must have taken this route up and down in the winter. Just as I was scampering up the short slope to access the Gale River Trail, I met a couple with a black mutt heading down whom I had met on top of Galehead on my way up; they had made an out and back trip to North Twin, so I had not saved any time at all, in fact lost time, as I was well ahead of them on the way out to North Twin.
So, nearly two months later, I talked my friend Howard into hiking a 14-mile loop with me up the Twins, over Guyot to Zealand, and then bushwhacking back down to our vehicle at the Haystack Road kiosk, as I have read many accounts that these woods are “pretty open” or words to that effect once you get off the top of Zealand. But, again, we did not find any open woods until we were well below 3000 ft, taking over an hour to drop down that far. Once we got into more open woods, we took a diagonal route down slope to the north, hoping to decrease the amount of bushwhacking mileage along the Little River, which was partially a success, as we left ourselves with only about a mile of thrashing through the alders on the valley bottom. So, my guess is that we could have continued on the Twinway and Lend-a-Hand Trail to Hale and dropped back down via the Fire Warden’s Trail in about the same elapsed time, despite covering four extra miles. And, again, I am really glad that we did not try to hike our route in reverse, as gravity was a savior for me on both of these bushwhacks.
I realize that there are abandoned trails from as recently as the 1950s on both of these slopes, but I cannot imagine trying to find remnants now.
In sum, I will not try to sand bag you into thinking that these two routes are easier than sticking to longer routes on trails, because I do not think that they are.
Near the end of this past September, I finally got around to bushwhacking off the west side of North Twin down to the Gale River Trail, seeming to recall more than one person telling me that it was not too bad once you get a short ways down from the top. Well, it was some of the gnarliest bushwhacking that I have ever done, and never really let up until I reached Gale River. I am all the more impressed that Guy Waterman must have taken this route up and down in the winter. Just as I was scampering up the short slope to access the Gale River Trail, I met a couple with a black mutt heading down whom I had met on top of Galehead on my way up; they had made an out and back trip to North Twin, so I had not saved any time at all, in fact lost time, as I was well ahead of them on the way out to North Twin.
So, nearly two months later, I talked my friend Howard into hiking a 14-mile loop with me up the Twins, over Guyot to Zealand, and then bushwhacking back down to our vehicle at the Haystack Road kiosk, as I have read many accounts that these woods are “pretty open” or words to that effect once you get off the top of Zealand. But, again, we did not find any open woods until we were well below 3000 ft, taking over an hour to drop down that far. Once we got into more open woods, we took a diagonal route down slope to the north, hoping to decrease the amount of bushwhacking mileage along the Little River, which was partially a success, as we left ourselves with only about a mile of thrashing through the alders on the valley bottom. So, my guess is that we could have continued on the Twinway and Lend-a-Hand Trail to Hale and dropped back down via the Fire Warden’s Trail in about the same elapsed time, despite covering four extra miles. And, again, I am really glad that we did not try to hike our route in reverse, as gravity was a savior for me on both of these bushwhacks.
I realize that there are abandoned trails from as recently as the 1950s on both of these slopes, but I cannot imagine trying to find remnants now.
In sum, I will not try to sand bag you into thinking that these two routes are easier than sticking to longer routes on trails, because I do not think that they are.
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