Doodles
Active member
Zer0-G and I had made arrangements to meet at the parking area for the Santanoni range on Saturday morning.
Zer0-G was in the area from a hike the previous day.
We made contact and I decided to start down the road slowly and he would catch up to me at the jct of the trail and herd path up to the peaks. The morning was overcast and did not look like the sunny day we had hoped for. The road walk in was slow as I indulged myself with the rasberries on the way. Once leaving the road I was greeted with mud and water which was evidence of the previous days rain.
I had made my way to the trail jct and stopped to wait for Zer0-G. I had to keep moving around since the last of the black flies seemed to find me if a sat still. Zer0-G had hiked in with two other hikers that were headed up for the same hike. After a brief greeting we were all heading up.
On the way up we were triing to figure out which peak to grab first. I said "let's do them in alphabetical order". We reached the four way jct. and took a break and had a snack. As we sat two pairs of other hikers came along, which were headed for Couch as well. We said to each other, Couch seems to be getting crowded, lets go in reverse alphabetic order. The decision was made and we departed for Sant. The trail was muddy and the trees were wet. We passed several other hikers who were on thier way down. We reached the summit and were socked in by heavy clouds. With nothing to see we started back down.
We came back to the jct. and kept right on going across and up to Panther. Once again the trail was muddy and wet. It was a short trip up, and the clouds had broken up just a bit to give us a glimpse of what looked to be a mountain of great views. We had a snack while gazing thru the clouds and then headed back down.
At the jct. again, now we took a right and headed for Couch. On the way we passed three groups of two who advised us as to the best way to get across the swamp. All of the advice was a bit different, but unanimously stated to stay away from the left side of the swamp. We ended going up thru the middle and on up to the summit. Once again we took a picture of the sign with nothing else to see. We started back once more headed to the jct.
The trip to Couch was a bit longer than we had thought, but that is what I have heard about this trip from others.
We said our last goodbys to the four way jct. and headed back down. As we neared Bradley Pond we heard thunder in the distance. It sounded like a long ways off. The thunder was a long ways off, but the rain was only minutes away. Just as we came to the herd path / trail jct, the skies had opened up. The walk in was a muddy gentle stream. The walk out was a continuous puddle / stream.
As we entered the parking area the rain had stopped. It stopped just long enough for us to get some dry clothes on and head out. This was a nice long hike, but I had hoped for some VFTT.
George
Zer0-G was in the area from a hike the previous day.
We made contact and I decided to start down the road slowly and he would catch up to me at the jct of the trail and herd path up to the peaks. The morning was overcast and did not look like the sunny day we had hoped for. The road walk in was slow as I indulged myself with the rasberries on the way. Once leaving the road I was greeted with mud and water which was evidence of the previous days rain.
I had made my way to the trail jct and stopped to wait for Zer0-G. I had to keep moving around since the last of the black flies seemed to find me if a sat still. Zer0-G had hiked in with two other hikers that were headed up for the same hike. After a brief greeting we were all heading up.
On the way up we were triing to figure out which peak to grab first. I said "let's do them in alphabetical order". We reached the four way jct. and took a break and had a snack. As we sat two pairs of other hikers came along, which were headed for Couch as well. We said to each other, Couch seems to be getting crowded, lets go in reverse alphabetic order. The decision was made and we departed for Sant. The trail was muddy and the trees were wet. We passed several other hikers who were on thier way down. We reached the summit and were socked in by heavy clouds. With nothing to see we started back down.
We came back to the jct. and kept right on going across and up to Panther. Once again the trail was muddy and wet. It was a short trip up, and the clouds had broken up just a bit to give us a glimpse of what looked to be a mountain of great views. We had a snack while gazing thru the clouds and then headed back down.
At the jct. again, now we took a right and headed for Couch. On the way we passed three groups of two who advised us as to the best way to get across the swamp. All of the advice was a bit different, but unanimously stated to stay away from the left side of the swamp. We ended going up thru the middle and on up to the summit. Once again we took a picture of the sign with nothing else to see. We started back once more headed to the jct.
The trip to Couch was a bit longer than we had thought, but that is what I have heard about this trip from others.
We said our last goodbys to the four way jct. and headed back down. As we neared Bradley Pond we heard thunder in the distance. It sounded like a long ways off. The thunder was a long ways off, but the rain was only minutes away. Just as we came to the herd path / trail jct, the skies had opened up. The walk in was a muddy gentle stream. The walk out was a continuous puddle / stream.
As we entered the parking area the rain had stopped. It stopped just long enough for us to get some dry clothes on and head out. This was a nice long hike, but I had hoped for some VFTT.
George
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