Santa/Couch/Panther 3/17/08

[mtnhiker]

Well packed trail to Bradley Pond and up to Herald Square. Three way junction at Herald Square, left to Santa, straight to Couch, right to Panther – a bit confusing as none of these trails went to Times Square. Headed to Santa first, again a well defined trail with a few spots of blown in snow. Did not find the sign on Santa. On the way back we created a trail over to Times Square and a trail from TS meeting up with the existing trail to Couch. Well packed out to Couch where the sign was still many feet above the snow. On the way back we took the existing trail that skirted around TS and then took the left to Panther and followed the packed trail the whole way up, the Panther sign was either under snow or under ice, but we did not find it. Snowshoes were adequate for the entire hike, but did carry crampons.