Stairs Col Condition

[MikeC]

Has anyone been up/down Stairs Col this year? The last report on NETC is from last year. We are going to hike Isolation via RB/Stairs/Davis Path from camp on Allen Rd. I've read reports that it's not blazed well. The lowest section of the RBT is a ghost town since the forest service closed Jericho down and compounded that by removing the bridge.

 

[MikeC]

Whoops, wrong section. Can someone move this to New England?

 

[peakbagger]

Moved. BTW, I did this hike last summer. Blazing early on near Rocky Branch shelter was a bit sparse as there are a lot of old logging roads/trails in that area. Once we turned off Rocky Branch trail the foot bed was easy to follow.

 

[BroccTheDog]

Was out there yesterday, went from Rocky Branch up Stairs Col. No blazes that I could see. Path was easily followable though.

 

[MikeC]

I bushwhacked from the end of Allen Rd eventually linking up with the extent of FR27A, where there are still some old bridge abutments.

Stairs Col was pretty easy to follow, stopped about 1.0 in due to time of day/weather. On my way out I checked out the old bridge crossing. It's a nice mess with erosion, tons of rebar and concrete bits down in the river bed. There is no dry way to cross in the immediate area either.

 

[BroccTheDog]

we came from Davis Path, through Stairs and Isolation around to Rock Branch and sheltered at the old Rocky Branch #2 Friday, and did the rest on Saturday, we only got lost once on Rocky Branch and given what i feel like has been a dry spring, we had some mildly troublesome crossings, but no need to get wet with sure footing.

Glad you had fun!