Damselfly
Active member
Mike LaRoss, Bill Magyar, Karen and Ken Robicaud, Steve, our dog Skipper, and I headed up to bushwhack a few of the Hitchcocks (there are five of them in total). West (3K) Middle (3K, NHHH) North (3K) South (3K, NHHH)
West: We all left the parking area at Lincoln Woods, walked along the Kank for a couple of tenths, then walked up a logging road towards an open grassy area marked "gravel pit" on the maps. We followed the remnants of a logging road for a bit, eventually heading E, then NE up the shoulder/ridge to the summit of West Hitchcock. The woods were fairly open most of the way, closing in towards the summit. As we got higher, we found evidence of prior attempts to flag a trail: cut blowdowns and flagging. (poor backwoods etiquette) [2.5 miles, 1800' gain, 2:20]
Middle / Main Peak: We proceeded E towards Middle Hitchcock. The first .2 off West were thick, steep and nasty. But things opened up a bit. We took a fairly direct compass bearing, which kept us just north of the col, which was purported to be nasty. We caught glimpses of the main summit through the woods.. towering steep and high. From the col, it was about 700' of steep gain. Not as bad or thick as reported, but it wasn't a cake-walk, either. [1 mile, 720'gain, 1:25]
From here our group split into two: Mike, Bill and I were going to North Hitchcock; Karen, Ken and Steve over to South.
North: Following the shoulder, we headed NWN towards North Hitchcock. Things went pretty good until we got to the very top tenth of the summit. It became incredibly thick... and we had to skirt around the contour line to find a seam to break through up onto the summit. As purported, there is a helicopter landing pad (large tent platform-like), a nice view (rare on these kind of bushwhacks) and some sort of solar powered (repeater?) station. [1.1 mile, 600'gain, 1:45] Tp get out, we dropped off west towards the East Side Trail. The first hour of descent was steep, slick, mossy, thick, full of "holes"... we had to go wicked slow to protect ourselves against foot traps. At times it was impossible to see our feet. But somehow, one step at at time, we eventually came into open woods. We passed an area full of beech trees and bear scat. After what seemed like two long hours (because we were tired), we finally came out onto the trail. Another 40 minutes later we were back at the car. With breaks, our day took about 9:45.
South: The group that headed over to South followed the SW ridge contour over from Middle. They didn't encounter any problems. They reported that this segment took about an hour. From here, they regretfully picked a bad line for their descent. They headed down the southern most ridge, which led them over very nasty terrain. While it looked the most direct down to the Discovery Center and our cars, it took about 5 hours to whack the 2 miles. For other folks attempting to descend off of south, better lines might included: 1/ dropping E towards the Cedar Brook Trail, or 2/ Dropping W and aiming for the logging road in the drainage off Hitchcock that can be seen on the old maps. The logging road connects with the Discovery Center. With breaks, their day took about 11 hours.
Reunited again, we enjoyed one wicked tailgate party, including cold ones, deli dawgs on the grill, desserts and more. It's amazing how food and beverage can have an immediate restorative effect, and make one smile after such a really hard Whack!
Beth Zimmer
btzimr at gmail dot com
West: We all left the parking area at Lincoln Woods, walked along the Kank for a couple of tenths, then walked up a logging road towards an open grassy area marked "gravel pit" on the maps. We followed the remnants of a logging road for a bit, eventually heading E, then NE up the shoulder/ridge to the summit of West Hitchcock. The woods were fairly open most of the way, closing in towards the summit. As we got higher, we found evidence of prior attempts to flag a trail: cut blowdowns and flagging. (poor backwoods etiquette) [2.5 miles, 1800' gain, 2:20]
Middle / Main Peak: We proceeded E towards Middle Hitchcock. The first .2 off West were thick, steep and nasty. But things opened up a bit. We took a fairly direct compass bearing, which kept us just north of the col, which was purported to be nasty. We caught glimpses of the main summit through the woods.. towering steep and high. From the col, it was about 700' of steep gain. Not as bad or thick as reported, but it wasn't a cake-walk, either. [1 mile, 720'gain, 1:25]
From here our group split into two: Mike, Bill and I were going to North Hitchcock; Karen, Ken and Steve over to South.
North: Following the shoulder, we headed NWN towards North Hitchcock. Things went pretty good until we got to the very top tenth of the summit. It became incredibly thick... and we had to skirt around the contour line to find a seam to break through up onto the summit. As purported, there is a helicopter landing pad (large tent platform-like), a nice view (rare on these kind of bushwhacks) and some sort of solar powered (repeater?) station. [1.1 mile, 600'gain, 1:45] Tp get out, we dropped off west towards the East Side Trail. The first hour of descent was steep, slick, mossy, thick, full of "holes"... we had to go wicked slow to protect ourselves against foot traps. At times it was impossible to see our feet. But somehow, one step at at time, we eventually came into open woods. We passed an area full of beech trees and bear scat. After what seemed like two long hours (because we were tired), we finally came out onto the trail. Another 40 minutes later we were back at the car. With breaks, our day took about 9:45.
South: The group that headed over to South followed the SW ridge contour over from Middle. They didn't encounter any problems. They reported that this segment took about an hour. From here, they regretfully picked a bad line for their descent. They headed down the southern most ridge, which led them over very nasty terrain. While it looked the most direct down to the Discovery Center and our cars, it took about 5 hours to whack the 2 miles. For other folks attempting to descend off of south, better lines might included: 1/ dropping E towards the Cedar Brook Trail, or 2/ Dropping W and aiming for the logging road in the drainage off Hitchcock that can be seen on the old maps. The logging road connects with the Discovery Center. With breaks, their day took about 11 hours.
Reunited again, we enjoyed one wicked tailgate party, including cold ones, deli dawgs on the grill, desserts and more. It's amazing how food and beverage can have an immediate restorative effect, and make one smile after such a really hard Whack!
Beth Zimmer
btzimr at gmail dot com
