(Yes, hideously late TR, but I did promise Jazzbo and a trip to CO intervened...)
We started with what's become a tradition for any hike around Crawford: a late breakfast at the Highland Center. Despite the advertising, I've rarely gotten in before 7. Fueled up, it was a quick drive down 302 to the Nancy Pond trail where we parked and got the bikes out. Although we'd asked around a bit, it wound up being just me and Erik on this trip, thus no car spot.
The mile down 302 to Sawyer River Road flew, although I was reminded of how badly my back hates cycling with a full pack. The shoulder was more than adequate and hadn't received the "repaving" like further north. (The new pavement is only going to the middle of the shoulder, leaving a nasty seam at exactly the preferred riding position.) Riding up SRR was a little more tricky, as I was on a folding bike with high pressure slicks. Wishing for a lower gear and knobby tires didn't help much, but bleeding a little pressure did and I was shortly at the Signal Ridge trailhead, where I stashed the bike and waited around for a bit. Let's just say an uphill car spot isn't much fun if you don't get a lot of saddle time, even if you do have a full MTB.
Late breakfast plus slow spot meant a nearly 9:30 start. Both trails were fairly quick going to The Boulder, although the Carrigain Notch trail is definitely quite overgrown and occasionally rough. A couple of crossings were completely dry. The herd path was fairly easy to find and we followed it for a bit. Then what seemed like the clear path bore very severely left of the bearing and somewhat down off the small ridge we were following. Having been lead astray by ghost paths before, we decided to keep to the bearing. This was a mistake, as it brought us into VERY thick spruce with quite poor footing.
40 minutes of slow going later, we gave up on the bearing and cut left, hoping to gain the main spine of the ridge and maybe the herd path. Sure enough, a ten minute struggle brought us out on the clear path. The map is probably in order at this point.
I was under the impression the herd path started fairly near the base of the southeast ridge, about 2100', as that's where I would've started. It actually starts at 2200' and probably goes more directly west to gain the ridge, probably around 2600' instead of the 2800' where we hit it. (The map also hints at the reason for the bike spot...)
Once on the path it's pretty quick, although occasionally steep, going to the slide and its views.
Maybe not the prettiest outlook ever, but my, do you earn it. The exit from the slide is climber's left, leading to more steep uphill through the trees. I suspect the "summit" is somewhat northeast of the true high point, which you pass over anyhow. I was feeling a little silly after the 'whack.
Reading una_dogger's glowing comments in the log contributed somewhat to that state of mind.
The bike spot was, of course, to permit a combo with Nancy, also quite a ways back off the highway. But backtracking down to the trail and back up into the notch seemed crazy when Vose has a relatively gentle northeast slope. The idea was to stay left of the steepest part and rejoin the trail around 2300', just east of the junction with the Nancy Pond trail. So I took a compass bearing from the summit to that point.
Hmmm. Looks a little thick.
It was a little thick.
The footing wasn't great, either. The path of least resistance (which was awkward, but not horrible) kept pushing west, and I was afraid of hitting the Notch trail without knowing which way the Nancy Pond trail was. (The Notch Brook and the trail part company near the junction, but I didn't want to rely on that.) Worse, I was afraid of being pulled into the northwest drainage. So eventually we gave up on good going and started crashing directly on bearing.
We found a Rorschach Tree:
and a brief view of the Rockpile:
Eventually the going became so bad that we cut right (through even worse going) to regain the trail as soon as possible. Because of all the time spent thrashing about, Nancy was out of the question, and we opted for returning to the bikes rather than taking the longer walk to the car.
If someone is into exploring and wants to try this route, following the northwest ridge down to the trail and planning on coming out west of Nancy Pond trail may be better. It certainly seemed easier left than right, both less thick and better footing.
We started with what's become a tradition for any hike around Crawford: a late breakfast at the Highland Center. Despite the advertising, I've rarely gotten in before 7. Fueled up, it was a quick drive down 302 to the Nancy Pond trail where we parked and got the bikes out. Although we'd asked around a bit, it wound up being just me and Erik on this trip, thus no car spot.
The mile down 302 to Sawyer River Road flew, although I was reminded of how badly my back hates cycling with a full pack. The shoulder was more than adequate and hadn't received the "repaving" like further north. (The new pavement is only going to the middle of the shoulder, leaving a nasty seam at exactly the preferred riding position.) Riding up SRR was a little more tricky, as I was on a folding bike with high pressure slicks. Wishing for a lower gear and knobby tires didn't help much, but bleeding a little pressure did and I was shortly at the Signal Ridge trailhead, where I stashed the bike and waited around for a bit. Let's just say an uphill car spot isn't much fun if you don't get a lot of saddle time, even if you do have a full MTB.
Late breakfast plus slow spot meant a nearly 9:30 start. Both trails were fairly quick going to The Boulder, although the Carrigain Notch trail is definitely quite overgrown and occasionally rough. A couple of crossings were completely dry. The herd path was fairly easy to find and we followed it for a bit. Then what seemed like the clear path bore very severely left of the bearing and somewhat down off the small ridge we were following. Having been lead astray by ghost paths before, we decided to keep to the bearing. This was a mistake, as it brought us into VERY thick spruce with quite poor footing.
40 minutes of slow going later, we gave up on the bearing and cut left, hoping to gain the main spine of the ridge and maybe the herd path. Sure enough, a ten minute struggle brought us out on the clear path. The map is probably in order at this point.
I was under the impression the herd path started fairly near the base of the southeast ridge, about 2100', as that's where I would've started. It actually starts at 2200' and probably goes more directly west to gain the ridge, probably around 2600' instead of the 2800' where we hit it. (The map also hints at the reason for the bike spot...)
Once on the path it's pretty quick, although occasionally steep, going to the slide and its views.
Maybe not the prettiest outlook ever, but my, do you earn it. The exit from the slide is climber's left, leading to more steep uphill through the trees. I suspect the "summit" is somewhat northeast of the true high point, which you pass over anyhow. I was feeling a little silly after the 'whack.
Reading una_dogger's glowing comments in the log contributed somewhat to that state of mind.
The bike spot was, of course, to permit a combo with Nancy, also quite a ways back off the highway. But backtracking down to the trail and back up into the notch seemed crazy when Vose has a relatively gentle northeast slope. The idea was to stay left of the steepest part and rejoin the trail around 2300', just east of the junction with the Nancy Pond trail. So I took a compass bearing from the summit to that point.
Hmmm. Looks a little thick.
It was a little thick.
The footing wasn't great, either. The path of least resistance (which was awkward, but not horrible) kept pushing west, and I was afraid of hitting the Notch trail without knowing which way the Nancy Pond trail was. (The Notch Brook and the trail part company near the junction, but I didn't want to rely on that.) Worse, I was afraid of being pulled into the northwest drainage. So eventually we gave up on good going and started crashing directly on bearing.
We found a Rorschach Tree:
and a brief view of the Rockpile:
Eventually the going became so bad that we cut right (through even worse going) to regain the trail as soon as possible. Because of all the time spent thrashing about, Nancy was out of the question, and we opted for returning to the bikes rather than taking the longer walk to the car.
If someone is into exploring and wants to try this route, following the northwest ridge down to the trail and planning on coming out west of Nancy Pond trail may be better. It certainly seemed easier left than right, both less thick and better footing.
