Last Thursday I set out to do Lost Pond Mountain by myself. Half an hour into the bushwhack I began to lose a sole. Continuing with a temporary repair seemed like a bad idea so I turned back, drove to Keene Valley, and purchased a new pair of boots. This was my second try. It left me with a feeling that LPM is jinxed. I needed to achieve success on something else before another attempt. I’ve had my sights on Schroon Lake Blue Ridge for a long time.
I had written to the Hoffman Fish and Game Club asking permission to use their road and recently received a cordial reply from the secretary/treasurer informing me they used to allow people to cross their property but unfortunately they lease the land from F&W Forestry and were told that if they let nonmembers on club property they would be in violation of their lease agreement and a liability to their insurance. He recommended entering from the Hoffman Notch Trail once you get past the property markers. That’s good advice. Obviously you need to be savvy with map & compass. In bushwhacking from the HNT to state land in the Aber Brook drainage there are choices to make. My decisions on the ascent probably weren’t always the best so there’d be no purpose in trying to describe my route to that point. Suffice to say, I did get onto the old logging road on the east bank of Aber Brook as others have described and will describe my ascent from that point upwards only. The way I came down would, IMO, be the best way to go up.
After the logging road ended, I bushwhacked to the crest of the ridge and followed it the rest of the way to the top. It was quite nasty, with recent blowdown on top of older blowdown. In places it was nearly impenetrable. Sometimes the only way forward was on hands and knees, and sometimes doing the tightrope act 10 feet above the ground. When I finally got to what I hoped would be the top, it wasn’t. There was even higher ground another ¼ mile ahead. Damn! Thankfully the woods opened up and it wasn’t too bad the rest of the way except for the steepness. When I finally dragged myself to the top of that final elevation I was ready to collapse, but I lifted my eyes and what should I behold? Three trees with hot-pink ribbons surrounding a beribboned white post in the ground! Ecstasy!!! That was a climb I didn’t want to repeat so I scouted around some before sitting down to a self-congratulatory drink of Gatorade and a Granola bar. (I really live it up when I celebrate.) NOTE: The actual summit was covered in blowdown except for a small trampled-down area of a few square feet.)
I had left the truck at the trailhead at 6:50. It was now about 11:30 so it took me over 4½ hours to reach the top. I knew the descent would be quicker, but I had no idea. Preparing to backtrack down that wretched ridge, I spotted a pink ribbon on a tree in the woods below, then another, and yet another. To be sure, a route had been flagged all the way down! The trend was more westerly than I would have chosen, but so what? The descent was so direct and abrupt that, thanks to the hot-pink angel, in less than an hour it bottomed out at a pretty beaver meadow at the head of Aber Brook. After that I lost the ribbons but it didn’t matter. The woods were open and all I had to do was go north. I was now on the left bank of the brook and the path of least resistance caused me to veer even further to the west. By and by, I came onto an overgrown skid road which went generally north. Unfortunately it dead-ended at Branch River. ADVISORY: There is quite a network of old skid roads in there. An inattentive hiker could easily be beguiled into following one the wrong way. I crossed and re-crossed some for short stretches on the way up, but eschewed them in favor of going straight toward the ridge by dead-reckoning. (As Lord Nelson said, “Never mind maneuvers; always go straight at ‘em!”) Continuing to follow TPOLR, I turned due west along the river, secure in the knowledge that I would hit the Hoffman Notch trail before long. After 15 minutes of bushwhacking to the west, I got into in a boggy stretch – not too wet and easily negotiated. Studying the map and reading the landscape suggested a good outcome by making a sharp right turn at that point and heading due north across the bog. Good choice! Within less than 5 minutes I saw a log bridge directly ahead with a yellow DEC trail marker. I was out on the road by and in my truck by 2:15.
So here’s my advice in a nutshell: Step 1 – Find your way from the Hoffman Notch trail to the beaver meadow at the head of Aber Brook valley. Step 2 – Look for and follow the pink ribbons to the top! It’s unrelentingly steep but not too thick. You’ll still want eye protection and long sleeves, but it’s a lot more user-friendly than the ridge.
Now I have 7 left. I think the next one will be Raquette Lake Blue Ridge. That will complete the four BRs of the HH. Anyone interested in doing it with me, send me a PM. It’ll be spur-of-the moment. All I can say for sure is the weather forecast would have to be favorable.
I had written to the Hoffman Fish and Game Club asking permission to use their road and recently received a cordial reply from the secretary/treasurer informing me they used to allow people to cross their property but unfortunately they lease the land from F&W Forestry and were told that if they let nonmembers on club property they would be in violation of their lease agreement and a liability to their insurance. He recommended entering from the Hoffman Notch Trail once you get past the property markers. That’s good advice. Obviously you need to be savvy with map & compass. In bushwhacking from the HNT to state land in the Aber Brook drainage there are choices to make. My decisions on the ascent probably weren’t always the best so there’d be no purpose in trying to describe my route to that point. Suffice to say, I did get onto the old logging road on the east bank of Aber Brook as others have described and will describe my ascent from that point upwards only. The way I came down would, IMO, be the best way to go up.
After the logging road ended, I bushwhacked to the crest of the ridge and followed it the rest of the way to the top. It was quite nasty, with recent blowdown on top of older blowdown. In places it was nearly impenetrable. Sometimes the only way forward was on hands and knees, and sometimes doing the tightrope act 10 feet above the ground. When I finally got to what I hoped would be the top, it wasn’t. There was even higher ground another ¼ mile ahead. Damn! Thankfully the woods opened up and it wasn’t too bad the rest of the way except for the steepness. When I finally dragged myself to the top of that final elevation I was ready to collapse, but I lifted my eyes and what should I behold? Three trees with hot-pink ribbons surrounding a beribboned white post in the ground! Ecstasy!!! That was a climb I didn’t want to repeat so I scouted around some before sitting down to a self-congratulatory drink of Gatorade and a Granola bar. (I really live it up when I celebrate.) NOTE: The actual summit was covered in blowdown except for a small trampled-down area of a few square feet.)
I had left the truck at the trailhead at 6:50. It was now about 11:30 so it took me over 4½ hours to reach the top. I knew the descent would be quicker, but I had no idea. Preparing to backtrack down that wretched ridge, I spotted a pink ribbon on a tree in the woods below, then another, and yet another. To be sure, a route had been flagged all the way down! The trend was more westerly than I would have chosen, but so what? The descent was so direct and abrupt that, thanks to the hot-pink angel, in less than an hour it bottomed out at a pretty beaver meadow at the head of Aber Brook. After that I lost the ribbons but it didn’t matter. The woods were open and all I had to do was go north. I was now on the left bank of the brook and the path of least resistance caused me to veer even further to the west. By and by, I came onto an overgrown skid road which went generally north. Unfortunately it dead-ended at Branch River. ADVISORY: There is quite a network of old skid roads in there. An inattentive hiker could easily be beguiled into following one the wrong way. I crossed and re-crossed some for short stretches on the way up, but eschewed them in favor of going straight toward the ridge by dead-reckoning. (As Lord Nelson said, “Never mind maneuvers; always go straight at ‘em!”) Continuing to follow TPOLR, I turned due west along the river, secure in the knowledge that I would hit the Hoffman Notch trail before long. After 15 minutes of bushwhacking to the west, I got into in a boggy stretch – not too wet and easily negotiated. Studying the map and reading the landscape suggested a good outcome by making a sharp right turn at that point and heading due north across the bog. Good choice! Within less than 5 minutes I saw a log bridge directly ahead with a yellow DEC trail marker. I was out on the road by and in my truck by 2:15.
So here’s my advice in a nutshell: Step 1 – Find your way from the Hoffman Notch trail to the beaver meadow at the head of Aber Brook valley. Step 2 – Look for and follow the pink ribbons to the top! It’s unrelentingly steep but not too thick. You’ll still want eye protection and long sleeves, but it’s a lot more user-friendly than the ridge.
Now I have 7 left. I think the next one will be Raquette Lake Blue Ridge. That will complete the four BRs of the HH. Anyone interested in doing it with me, send me a PM. It’ll be spur-of-the moment. All I can say for sure is the weather forecast would have to be favorable.
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