NorthShore
Member
Thomas Cole and Black Dome from Barnum Road
Black Dome Range Trail, Saturday June 28, 2008
My 14 year old son and I had planned to backpack in the Blackhead range and along the Escarpment Trail. Because of forecasts of possible severe weather we changed our plans to a day hike to Thomas Cole and Black Dome. When we arrived at the parking area at the end of Barnum Road at roughly 9:45 AM ours was the only car, although before we headed out someone else dropped off a car before shuttling away to another starting point.
We started out in sunshine and very warm conditions. The old woods road from the parking area seems more like a creek bed than a road. It was almost all rocks, much of it was wet and it was extremely slippery in spots. The worst parts are where several small creeks running across the road at right angles have been eating their way into the road “bed”, but the entire length of the trail over the woods road made for a less than pleasant walk. In spots, the path follows along a narrow strip of grass up on the south “bank” of the woods road. I presume this is an informal adaptation to bypass a particularly unpleasant part of the road. It was a relief to leave the woods road as we took the path to the left for the Black Dome Range Trail. We were the first of the day to sign in at the register.
The steep climb from the register to “Caudel” (about a thousand feet in under a mile) was quite a workout in the heat. The trail was damp for significant stretches with a couple of muddy spots. Although it wasn’t as treacherous as the woods road, there were some slippery spots that required great care, especially on the return descent.
We took a break at Camel’s Hump, where we checked the view from the top of the rock as well as from the short path to the left. There is a decent view to the north, but you need to be about 7 or 8 feet tall to really appreciate it. The trees have grown tall enough to obscure the view of the valley floor. I think they were Pin Cherry.
The trail is clear except for one large old blow-down that you have to either pick your way up and over or limbo underneath. There is also a smaller limb that has become part of the trail signage system. It has a red DEC trail marker on it directly over the middle of the trail. That shouldn’t have been an issue except that I turned around to say something to my son at just the right moment to smack my head into it. Fortunately, I did not hit the trail marker, specifically the rusty nail head sticking out roughly half an inch.
The relatively flat spots in the cols were rather wet and in spots buggy. For the most part the insects were not biting, although I did swat one black fly as it bit my leg. There were a few muddy areas, but nothing unmanageable.
Also in the flatter, wetter parts of the trail are considerable stretches where the ground cover is encroaching on the path and in places has almost completely overgrown it. Several areas were inundated with nettle from 1 to nearly 3 feet tall. I’ve not had any experience with nettle and might have passed through blissfully ignorant if not for the mildly unpleasant sensation I started noticing on my legs. I had thought it was only a problem for bushwhackers.
We saw quite a bit of False Hellebore off the sides of the trail and higher up saw a couple of clusters of bunchberry in bloom beneath spruce trees. The sight of the bunchberry with flowers was a real treat.
For a while my son seemed to be dragging his feet and I considered it might be best to forget about goals for the day but then he seemed to get reinvigorated by a couple of short scrambles and started racing up to the summit of Thomas Cole. I worked hard to keep up and when we rested near the top I advised him (in between breaths) against such sprints while at the same time thinking that the days of me being the one that has to wait for him might be just about over.
We then headed over to Black Dome and took a quick look south from the ledge near the summit. We started to head for the next overlook on the east side of the mountain but quickly decided against it and went back to the summit ledge for lunch and a rest. The views were still decent, but a bit hazy and it was beginning to cloud up.
In the “small world” category, we only saw one other person before lunch and it turned out that he is from my neighborhood.
On the way down, perhaps midway between Caudal and the register we met a group of people heading up the trail. It was about 2:30 and some of them were concerned about the slippery conditions and not sure if they wanted to continue. They decided to turn around and within a minute or two it began to rain. It was a refreshing shower and not the severe weather we feared when we decided not to camp, but it did add to the slippery conditions. After signing out at the register, the walk along the woods road to the parking area was treacherous and took over 15 minutes. I heard one of the women in the group behind us fall but her companions helped her up and she made it to the parking area apparently still in one piece. I slipped numerous times during the day but managed to stay on my feet. My son was slipping as well.
The weather turned out better than forecasted and would have been fine for camping, but all’s well that ends well. Instead of a cous cous concoction for dinner and playing cards by flashlight, we had pizza and saw “The Hulk” at the funky movie theater in Windham.
Ed
Pics: http://www.liwoods.com/TripReports/BlackDome.html
Black Dome Range Trail, Saturday June 28, 2008
My 14 year old son and I had planned to backpack in the Blackhead range and along the Escarpment Trail. Because of forecasts of possible severe weather we changed our plans to a day hike to Thomas Cole and Black Dome. When we arrived at the parking area at the end of Barnum Road at roughly 9:45 AM ours was the only car, although before we headed out someone else dropped off a car before shuttling away to another starting point.
We started out in sunshine and very warm conditions. The old woods road from the parking area seems more like a creek bed than a road. It was almost all rocks, much of it was wet and it was extremely slippery in spots. The worst parts are where several small creeks running across the road at right angles have been eating their way into the road “bed”, but the entire length of the trail over the woods road made for a less than pleasant walk. In spots, the path follows along a narrow strip of grass up on the south “bank” of the woods road. I presume this is an informal adaptation to bypass a particularly unpleasant part of the road. It was a relief to leave the woods road as we took the path to the left for the Black Dome Range Trail. We were the first of the day to sign in at the register.
The steep climb from the register to “Caudel” (about a thousand feet in under a mile) was quite a workout in the heat. The trail was damp for significant stretches with a couple of muddy spots. Although it wasn’t as treacherous as the woods road, there were some slippery spots that required great care, especially on the return descent.
We took a break at Camel’s Hump, where we checked the view from the top of the rock as well as from the short path to the left. There is a decent view to the north, but you need to be about 7 or 8 feet tall to really appreciate it. The trees have grown tall enough to obscure the view of the valley floor. I think they were Pin Cherry.
The trail is clear except for one large old blow-down that you have to either pick your way up and over or limbo underneath. There is also a smaller limb that has become part of the trail signage system. It has a red DEC trail marker on it directly over the middle of the trail. That shouldn’t have been an issue except that I turned around to say something to my son at just the right moment to smack my head into it. Fortunately, I did not hit the trail marker, specifically the rusty nail head sticking out roughly half an inch.
The relatively flat spots in the cols were rather wet and in spots buggy. For the most part the insects were not biting, although I did swat one black fly as it bit my leg. There were a few muddy areas, but nothing unmanageable.
Also in the flatter, wetter parts of the trail are considerable stretches where the ground cover is encroaching on the path and in places has almost completely overgrown it. Several areas were inundated with nettle from 1 to nearly 3 feet tall. I’ve not had any experience with nettle and might have passed through blissfully ignorant if not for the mildly unpleasant sensation I started noticing on my legs. I had thought it was only a problem for bushwhackers.
We saw quite a bit of False Hellebore off the sides of the trail and higher up saw a couple of clusters of bunchberry in bloom beneath spruce trees. The sight of the bunchberry with flowers was a real treat.
For a while my son seemed to be dragging his feet and I considered it might be best to forget about goals for the day but then he seemed to get reinvigorated by a couple of short scrambles and started racing up to the summit of Thomas Cole. I worked hard to keep up and when we rested near the top I advised him (in between breaths) against such sprints while at the same time thinking that the days of me being the one that has to wait for him might be just about over.
We then headed over to Black Dome and took a quick look south from the ledge near the summit. We started to head for the next overlook on the east side of the mountain but quickly decided against it and went back to the summit ledge for lunch and a rest. The views were still decent, but a bit hazy and it was beginning to cloud up.
In the “small world” category, we only saw one other person before lunch and it turned out that he is from my neighborhood.
On the way down, perhaps midway between Caudal and the register we met a group of people heading up the trail. It was about 2:30 and some of them were concerned about the slippery conditions and not sure if they wanted to continue. They decided to turn around and within a minute or two it began to rain. It was a refreshing shower and not the severe weather we feared when we decided not to camp, but it did add to the slippery conditions. After signing out at the register, the walk along the woods road to the parking area was treacherous and took over 15 minutes. I heard one of the women in the group behind us fall but her companions helped her up and she made it to the parking area apparently still in one piece. I slipped numerous times during the day but managed to stay on my feet. My son was slipping as well.
The weather turned out better than forecasted and would have been fine for camping, but all’s well that ends well. Instead of a cous cous concoction for dinner and playing cards by flashlight, we had pizza and saw “The Hulk” at the funky movie theater in Windham.
Ed
Pics: http://www.liwoods.com/TripReports/BlackDome.html
