marty
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GAME 1
After months of planning, our group of 6 met in three separate vehicles at the 19 Mile Brook Trailhead at 6:30 am. This motley crue of VFTTers consisted of Bobby, Larry D, Rols, Sapblatt, Tuco and me. All but Tuco were on time (bad Tuco)
, with Rols being first. Rumor has it Rols arrived at 11 pm the night before so he wouldn’t be late. We discussed routes and headed up the trail at roughly 6:50 am.
Heading up 19 Mile Brook was quite easy with its gentle grades and generally easy terrain. We had the trail to ourselves The sky, which was beginning to clear when we started, became completely clouded, despite my inept predictions of a decent day. Bobby and Larry kept us moving at a nice pace with a few of their many sick and twisted jokes, which are always very much appreciated, at least amongst ourselves. We got to Carter Dome Trail in good time and headed up Carter Dome Trail (CDT), with a couple of fairly easy stream crossings and its series of fairly steep and widening switchbacks. We eventually arrived at Zeta Pass for a break and a bite.
It was then up the wet, rough and rocky Carter-Moriah Trail(C-M) to Mt. Hight. It was a slow go and we ran into quite a few people who stayed at the hut the night before who climbed Carter Dome and Mt. Hight and were descending. We also witnessed a couple of nice butt plants of those descending. We snickered a bit, realizing that this could possibly be our fate later in the day.
So, we got up to Hight and saw nothing but fog! Some had never done Hight before, but probably could have imagined what the view might have been. It also looks like the summit would have lots of tasty blueberries in August! We had lunch on the summit along with some other nice folks and then headed toward the Dome.
Carter Dome was also fogged in, but that’s the way it goes some times. I briefly checked out the Rainbow Trail, which we had considered hiking and found that it was very overgrown and the wet branches would have totally soaked us. We were very happy not to have chosen that trail.
We then descended C-M and CDT to Zeta Pass. Bobby, Larry and I decided to tag South Carter, so Bobby could add another 4k arrow to his quiver. It was a fairly easy 1.6 mile round trip, except for a steep section just below the summit. Met a couple of guys there and stopped for a brief break. Immediately, an older woman comes up the summit from the other direction and exclaims: “isn’t it a beautiful day?”? I responded “surely.” She quickly replied: “No, my name is Sue.” Well, besides having a quick wit, Sue was quite a hiker. She had dropped her pack at Zeta to tag S &M Carter and was then heading over Carter Dome and down to the hut. She hiked at a pace that would leave most hikers in the dust. Simply amazing!
Bobby, Larry and I headed back down to the car. The highlight of the trip was seeing a young woman hiking with a pitchfork sticking out of her pack. She obviously must have been reading Solitary’s “Women and Hiking” thread. Actually, she was a Carter Notch hut croo member and a very nice person, but the vision of this was very striking.
GAME 2
Mike, Tuco and Rols filled up their water bladders/jugs at Pinkham and headed off to Doublehead Mountain, for the second hike of the day. Doublehead is basically east of Jackson Village, by Black Mountain Ski Area. Our destination for the night was Doublehead Cabin, which at the top of the mountain. They started up the mountain and Bobby, Larry and I did the same, about 45 minutes later.
The trail featured boot sucking mud, skeeters, wet brush, steady uphills (1,650 feet in 1.8 miles) and a slight drizzle. In addition, everyone’s muscles tightened up during the 90 minute span between the Carter hike and this one, making going uphill incredibly difficult. To quote the group, this hike registered very high on the Suck-O-Meter!
It started to drizzle a bit heavier so I decided to break from the pack and get to the cabin before it started pouring. I got there just after Rols had opened the combination master lock but discovered that the cabin was also bolted with another lock. This redlined the Suck-O-Meter! Rols and I then tried the back door, which was also locked. He then tried a window, which was fortunately unlocked! I helped Rols climb through the window and he was able to unlock the doors.
Soon, the rest of the team arrived, a bit wet, but undeterred. We quickly got into dry clothes, with several of us switching into dry long johns for our “men in tights” look, accompanied by a wide color selection of Crocs shoes. Sapblatt looked especially attractive with his Culottes worn over his tights (hubba, hubba).
The cabin was very nice, featuring 4 rooms with bunk beds in each, plus a main room. It was spacious and thankfully leak proof, as it rained off an on during the night. It also had a very nice outhouse behind the cabin that had an ADA-compliant entrance, which was a welcome relief to us since most of us were definitely feeling the effects of all this hiking. The WMNF said it had views, but alas there were none tonight.
We then cooked up dinner and discussed pros and cons of various types of backpacking stoves. Bobby, Rols and I also sipped a wee bit of tequila/Sambuca to aid in our sleep. It was then off to bed and before long, guess what? SNORING. Thank God I brought ear plugs. Unfortunately, Rols did not, but will be sure to do so before his next overnight adventure with those offending parties, who shall remain anonymous.
Despite the snoring and rain, I think most of us got some decent sleep. We then arose early, had an early breakfast, packed up and headed down a bit after 7. We got down at a quick pace without anyone falling! It started raining with about a half mile to go, but didn’t come down hard until we got to the cars. It then proceeded to come down in buckets. Once in a while you get lucky!
We then said goodbyes and headed on home.
I look forward to hiking with this esteemed group again! Special thanks go to Tuco for discovering this place, to Sapblatt for planning logistics and for Bobby for driving Larry, Sapblatt and me. I look forward to hiking with y’all again soon and possibly Doublehead in a year or so. Don’t forget to post your photos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Marty
After months of planning, our group of 6 met in three separate vehicles at the 19 Mile Brook Trailhead at 6:30 am. This motley crue of VFTTers consisted of Bobby, Larry D, Rols, Sapblatt, Tuco and me. All but Tuco were on time (bad Tuco)
, with Rols being first. Rumor has it Rols arrived at 11 pm the night before so he wouldn’t be late. We discussed routes and headed up the trail at roughly 6:50 am.Heading up 19 Mile Brook was quite easy with its gentle grades and generally easy terrain. We had the trail to ourselves The sky, which was beginning to clear when we started, became completely clouded, despite my inept predictions of a decent day. Bobby and Larry kept us moving at a nice pace with a few of their many sick and twisted jokes, which are always very much appreciated, at least amongst ourselves. We got to Carter Dome Trail in good time and headed up Carter Dome Trail (CDT), with a couple of fairly easy stream crossings and its series of fairly steep and widening switchbacks. We eventually arrived at Zeta Pass for a break and a bite.
It was then up the wet, rough and rocky Carter-Moriah Trail(C-M) to Mt. Hight. It was a slow go and we ran into quite a few people who stayed at the hut the night before who climbed Carter Dome and Mt. Hight and were descending. We also witnessed a couple of nice butt plants of those descending. We snickered a bit, realizing that this could possibly be our fate later in the day.
So, we got up to Hight and saw nothing but fog! Some had never done Hight before, but probably could have imagined what the view might have been. It also looks like the summit would have lots of tasty blueberries in August! We had lunch on the summit along with some other nice folks and then headed toward the Dome.
Carter Dome was also fogged in, but that’s the way it goes some times. I briefly checked out the Rainbow Trail, which we had considered hiking and found that it was very overgrown and the wet branches would have totally soaked us. We were very happy not to have chosen that trail.
We then descended C-M and CDT to Zeta Pass. Bobby, Larry and I decided to tag South Carter, so Bobby could add another 4k arrow to his quiver. It was a fairly easy 1.6 mile round trip, except for a steep section just below the summit. Met a couple of guys there and stopped for a brief break. Immediately, an older woman comes up the summit from the other direction and exclaims: “isn’t it a beautiful day?”? I responded “surely.” She quickly replied: “No, my name is Sue.” Well, besides having a quick wit, Sue was quite a hiker. She had dropped her pack at Zeta to tag S &M Carter and was then heading over Carter Dome and down to the hut. She hiked at a pace that would leave most hikers in the dust. Simply amazing!
Bobby, Larry and I headed back down to the car. The highlight of the trip was seeing a young woman hiking with a pitchfork sticking out of her pack. She obviously must have been reading Solitary’s “Women and Hiking” thread.
Actually, she was a Carter Notch hut croo member and a very nice person, but the vision of this was very striking. GAME 2
Mike, Tuco and Rols filled up their water bladders/jugs at Pinkham and headed off to Doublehead Mountain, for the second hike of the day. Doublehead is basically east of Jackson Village, by Black Mountain Ski Area. Our destination for the night was Doublehead Cabin, which at the top of the mountain. They started up the mountain and Bobby, Larry and I did the same, about 45 minutes later.
The trail featured boot sucking mud, skeeters, wet brush, steady uphills (1,650 feet in 1.8 miles) and a slight drizzle. In addition, everyone’s muscles tightened up during the 90 minute span between the Carter hike and this one, making going uphill incredibly difficult. To quote the group, this hike registered very high on the Suck-O-Meter!
It started to drizzle a bit heavier so I decided to break from the pack and get to the cabin before it started pouring. I got there just after Rols had opened the combination master lock but discovered that the cabin was also bolted with another lock. This redlined the Suck-O-Meter!
Rols and I then tried the back door, which was also locked. He then tried a window, which was fortunately unlocked! I helped Rols climb through the window and he was able to unlock the doors. Soon, the rest of the team arrived, a bit wet, but undeterred. We quickly got into dry clothes, with several of us switching into dry long johns for our “men in tights” look, accompanied by a wide color selection of Crocs shoes. Sapblatt looked especially attractive with his Culottes worn over his tights (hubba, hubba).
The cabin was very nice, featuring 4 rooms with bunk beds in each, plus a main room. It was spacious and thankfully leak proof, as it rained off an on during the night. It also had a very nice outhouse behind the cabin that had an ADA-compliant entrance, which was a welcome relief to us since most of us were definitely feeling the effects of all this hiking. The WMNF said it had views, but alas there were none tonight.
We then cooked up dinner and discussed pros and cons of various types of backpacking stoves. Bobby, Rols and I also sipped a wee bit of tequila/Sambuca to aid in our sleep. It was then off to bed and before long, guess what? SNORING.
Thank God I brought ear plugs. Unfortunately, Rols did not, but will be sure to do so before his next overnight adventure with those offending parties, who shall remain anonymous. Despite the snoring and rain, I think most of us got some decent sleep. We then arose early, had an early breakfast, packed up and headed down a bit after 7. We got down at a quick pace without anyone falling!
It started raining with about a half mile to go, but didn’t come down hard until we got to the cars. It then proceeded to come down in buckets. Once in a while you get lucky!We then said goodbyes and headed on home.
I look forward to hiking with this esteemed group again! Special thanks go to Tuco for discovering this place, to Sapblatt for planning logistics and for Bobby for driving Larry, Sapblatt and me. I look forward to hiking with y’all again soon and possibly Doublehead in a year or so. Don’t forget to post your photos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Marty
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