bryan
New member
date: 12/2/13
trails: east side trail, wilderness trail, thoreau falls trail, bushwhack, pine island trail
conditions: to start the couple inches of snow along the east side trail were quite firm and perfect for moving fast in microspikes. some patches of ice. the amount of snow on the trail remained pretty constant, but it pretty quickly began to soften up by mid morning. where the east side trail runs close to the pemi beyond the wilderness boundary there were a couple sections of significant ice. beyond the site of the old suspension bridge there were some muddy areas and one stretch of flooded and frozen trail. the start of thoreau falls trail had a wet muddy stretch and then pretty good going. we followed the trail almost to where the drainage of jumping brook joins from the west side of the river and started our bushwhack northeast up towards the summit. after one very steep pitch to get up and away from the river the going was at mostly moderate grades with good open woods. on the final ascent of the peak the woods got tighter and a bit scrappy in places, but remained mostly decent. once on the summit plateau we continued to the north over a couple false bumps before reaching the highpoint. snow depths on the ridge were no more than 2-4 inches, but were ample enough to allow us to follow our good line most of the way back to the trail. we detoured onto the pine island trail on the way out which was in nice shape with a good packed snow track. there were numerous small water crossings on the route that were all ok today. of note was the wide, but shallow crossing of cedar brook mostly due to ice sheets on the north side of the bank that obscured stepping stones, but could not really hold a persons weight. we knocked off a couple good chunks getting up and out on the other side. otherwise it was a semi wet rock hop. more so on the return as the brook had come up and inch or two. the southern most water crossing on the pine island trail also required stepping in a bit of water to get across. usual wilderness type blowdowns beyond the boundary.
equipment: microspikes were useful early to hold a good pace, but balled up once the temps rose.
comments: a nice long day in the pemi. a route in to this peak via ethan pond and a bushwhack from the north (or zealand were the road still open) would have made for less mileage, but having scoped the slopes of the peak a bit it looked like the west side had good open woods most of the way to the top. this proved to be the case and was actually a pretty nice buswhack so i was glad we put in the extra mileage. it was also a nice day to just tool along the old rail grades that comprised most of the hike. we noted a lot of deer sign on the slopes of shoal pond peak as well as some older bear tracks. some fresh moose tracks along the ridge too. hiking back out we found fresh bear tracks over ours from the morning on a section of the east side trail. the skies cleared enough by the afternoon to allow for some nice looks up to the local peaks from various points on the walk out. thanks to cynthia for a great hike.
bryan
[email protected]
trails: east side trail, wilderness trail, thoreau falls trail, bushwhack, pine island trail
conditions: to start the couple inches of snow along the east side trail were quite firm and perfect for moving fast in microspikes. some patches of ice. the amount of snow on the trail remained pretty constant, but it pretty quickly began to soften up by mid morning. where the east side trail runs close to the pemi beyond the wilderness boundary there were a couple sections of significant ice. beyond the site of the old suspension bridge there were some muddy areas and one stretch of flooded and frozen trail. the start of thoreau falls trail had a wet muddy stretch and then pretty good going. we followed the trail almost to where the drainage of jumping brook joins from the west side of the river and started our bushwhack northeast up towards the summit. after one very steep pitch to get up and away from the river the going was at mostly moderate grades with good open woods. on the final ascent of the peak the woods got tighter and a bit scrappy in places, but remained mostly decent. once on the summit plateau we continued to the north over a couple false bumps before reaching the highpoint. snow depths on the ridge were no more than 2-4 inches, but were ample enough to allow us to follow our good line most of the way back to the trail. we detoured onto the pine island trail on the way out which was in nice shape with a good packed snow track. there were numerous small water crossings on the route that were all ok today. of note was the wide, but shallow crossing of cedar brook mostly due to ice sheets on the north side of the bank that obscured stepping stones, but could not really hold a persons weight. we knocked off a couple good chunks getting up and out on the other side. otherwise it was a semi wet rock hop. more so on the return as the brook had come up and inch or two. the southern most water crossing on the pine island trail also required stepping in a bit of water to get across. usual wilderness type blowdowns beyond the boundary.
equipment: microspikes were useful early to hold a good pace, but balled up once the temps rose.
comments: a nice long day in the pemi. a route in to this peak via ethan pond and a bushwhack from the north (or zealand were the road still open) would have made for less mileage, but having scoped the slopes of the peak a bit it looked like the west side had good open woods most of the way to the top. this proved to be the case and was actually a pretty nice buswhack so i was glad we put in the extra mileage. it was also a nice day to just tool along the old rail grades that comprised most of the hike. we noted a lot of deer sign on the slopes of shoal pond peak as well as some older bear tracks. some fresh moose tracks along the ridge too. hiking back out we found fresh bear tracks over ours from the morning on a section of the east side trail. the skies cleared enough by the afternoon to allow for some nice looks up to the local peaks from various points on the walk out. thanks to cynthia for a great hike.
bryan
[email protected]
