South Vly 12/18/07

[Tom Rankin]

I met Alan, Bookah, Dick and Joanne walking down the middle of CondoN Hollow Road this morning. After checking out the top of the road, they had parked at the bottom and convinced me that the best place to park was at the bottom. Ok, a little road walk....

I caught up to them and put my snowshoes on at the end of the current road, and we continued walking up the old road until it reached its apex. The snow was 8-12" deep on the road. At the top, we looked for the old wreck, but could not find it. We started up into the woods on a gentle slope. The snow was a little deeper off trail, maybe 12-18" deep. It was still pretty easy going, and the woods were more or less open, with patches of briars and blowdown to navigate around here and there. We made it up to almost the top of SE-SE-VLY and skirted the summit to the right. We dropped down into the col and then started the final push to the summit. The snow was now even deeper, up to 2' deep. We found the amazingly large and flat meadow (?), and wondered aloud how it came to be there. After this, it was just a little bit more climbing and we made it to the top, marked by a fairly large rock. Alan went to see if there was higher ground, but he came back and admitted the rock was the top!

After a bite to eat, we returned the way we came. On the way out, we finally saw the car. It was well hidden!

I left the group and bolted down the road to the car, having people to see and things to do.

The weather was great and we got decent views here and there.

No pics from me, but Alan and Joanne have some...

A great bushwhack-trail-breaking hike! If you need this peak, there is a highway to the top now! Go soon!

 

[Jay H]

Nice, I liked SE Vly a lot when Doodles and I did it... Car and all!

The field is a neat bonus, with woods roads abound.. Plus there is an awesome view down the Spruceton Valley from the corner of CondoN hollow and the main road.

Jay

 

[Edelweiss]

This was Dick's and my first snowshoe hike of the season and South Vly was a perfect mountain to reacquaint us with winter hiking. I would have liked to spend a little more time on the flat, open meadow (?) before the summit but we needed to keep moving to avoid cool-down. Nice winter day in the woods!

Photos

 

[Peakbagr]

Excellent trip. Blue skies, sun and good temps. About 16" to 18" of snow up high and across the ridge.
We might have saved a bit of effort if we had cut for the ridge by the hairpin turn on the old woods road up from Condon Hollow, but with some of the blowdown, that might have been questionable.
Other than the along the side of the old road up from Condon Hollow, the only signs we saw were duelling DEP/DEC signs and paint blazes.
The berry canes had lost much of their summer bite, making this a good peak for snow season.
Bookah had a full day. She ran around for the first part of the hike, but what following us the 2nd half after all the snow wading and 4 legged postholing.
She's a tired girl today.
With the snowshoes going on for the first time in the season yesterday, I joined her with a few aches and pains.
Good day, good mountain and good company. Hard to top.
I'll try to add some photos later.

Alan