Dragonfly
New member
This is my first trip report so please pardon the length. Since we don’t own snowshoes and this would be 14 of the 48 I picked this trail based on the report of Bob and Maynard that this trail could be barebooted. Three of my sons and I (I have one son who has lost interest after 9 peaks and I don’t want to push him) arrived at the trailhead at 11:00 am and parked next to a white Subaru and a red Subaru with VFFT stickers. I had hoped to get an earlier start but wanted to get a couple more pairs of crampons in case we needed them. Picked up some G 10’s for $75 each (w/o antibotts) at Lahouts Summit Shop in Lincoln. The salesmen looked at our leather boots and showed us how to make the crampons flexible by completely removing the extender bar and reinserting it through only one of the two tabs on the front section (Anyone know if this weakens the crampon in any way?). This was the boys first hike since last fall and I endured the usual complaints that their 6 month old boots were now 3 sizes too small (C’mon you only grew 6 inches). Since 2 of them had never hiked in crampons they wanted to put them on at the trailhead despite the absence of snow for the first 30 minutes. There were a few slippery spots in the early going where the trail parallels the brook and again where the trail descends before crossing the brook at 1.1 miles. After this brook crossing the trail was all snow so we all “cramponed up” although the snow was soft and we probably didn’t need to. The rest of the way I was explaining I how I had been lurking on this site and the AMC site and finally joined in with the trail name of Dragonfly. Apparently I chose a wimpy name and they are now embarrassed to hike with me in case we meet any of you. I chose “Dragonfly” because I think it is a cool insect and I like the poem about the afterlife. They decided I should be “Strider” as they are Lord of The Ring fans. Anyway we made it up in about 2:05 and had a snack on the summit. Views were good, weather was warm and we wore only teeshirts the whole time. We got out of the crampons at the summit (now that the initial excitement of wearing them was over) and decided to try Sosman Trail to see if we could walk down the slopes as the ski area was closed. Never being in this area before I figured it would be about a 10 minute walk to the slopes and after 20 minutes I thought I had made a wrong turn and should turn back when I was startled to see the Nextel tower 10 feet in front of me as I was focusing on following footprints. No one was around and we could see the chairlifts so we figured it was OK to be here. The top of slopes were bare but we could see lots of snow on the trails. Since I hadn’t anticipated heading down this way we didn’t bring any sleds and were wearing nylon zip off pants. The snow was wet and slushy so I didn’t want to try the butt slide I have been reading about recently. We discovered we could actually skate down and I was moving pretty fast when it happened. My feet went out from under me and I was in a full glissade and could not stop. All I could hear was “Hey look at dad” and I remember thinking that this was what an ice axe was for. I switched from being scared to laughing and then back and forth several times. I tried digging in my boots but that only got my socks and pants covered in snow. Thankfully the trail was several hundred feet wide and nice and long and there were no impediments to my descent except for the occasional bare spot which didn’t seem to slow me down. I finally stopped a good 700-900 feet from where I started (I add a 100 feet every time I tell this part) not far from a man and 3 kids waking up the trail with inflatable sleds. I acted like I new what I was doing and stopped and spoke to them and learned that they hike up the ski trails every year as soon as the ski area closes. I looked back up the trail and the boys were trying to duplicate my amazing feat but to no avail and they eventually caught up to me. The rest of the way down was uneventful and we made it down in about an hour as we made several stops and took lots of pictures (I’d love to post them but my responsible 16 year old lost my digital camera skiing with his friends). Interesting to note that not once did I hear a complaint about their boots on the way down! We decided we would be back next year with a few friends and I highly recommend this hike timed for as soon as the ski area closes.
