SteveHiker
New member
Given all the rainy weather this past week, I decided to sleep late this morning. Imagine my surprise when I woke up about 8 and saw that there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I quickly threw my stuff together and thought about where to go. Remembering my little fiasco from last weekend, I looked at the guidebook before I went, instead of after. I was originally planning on going up Downes Brook trail to the Sleepers, figuring that if it did rain, that they were wooded and I wouldn't be missing much. But after reading how the trail crosses the brook 10 times, I quickly looked for something else. I decided to give Webster Cliff a try.
Things didn't start out so well. In between exit 29 and exit 30, there were two state troopers walking out into the road and waving people over. Unfortunately, I was one of them. I pulled right over and rolled down the window. He told me that I was going 79 and asked for just my license and "what year is your jeep?" He came back about a minute later, gave me back my license and said have a nice day. So I'm a little confused over this. Was that a warning? Am I going to get a ticket in the mail later? Amazingly enough, they were still there at 6 o'clock when I went home. Lucky for me they were still on the northbound side, although I wasn't speeding at that point anyway.
Then crusing down 302, I nearly drove past the trailhead parking place. I opened up the hatchback put my sunglasses down and starting fiddling with my pack, which I then set down on the sunglasses. Nice. Bent frame and one lens fell out.
But it was a very nice day. Almost a little too warm and within minutes I was sweating more than the average NBA team. The trail was very dry, which I didn't expect. As I got to the first set of ledges, I met MadRiver, his wife Sue and Pauline. I hope I got the names right, I'm not always that good at remembering them. They had been doing trailwork and were taking a break before heading back down. Had a nice chat with them before continuing. I soon caught up to another guy named Steve (that one is easy) and his two kids who looked to be around 10 or 11. I went along with them across the ledges to the summit. They were very excited and hearing their reactions to the view down into the notch and over towards Washington would have been enough to make the trip worth it. It's good to see kids outdoors instead of watching tv all day. They asked a lot of questions about the different mountains we were looking at, and seemed in awe that most every one they pointed to I had climbed. They were also impressed with the patches of snow and ice still left up there. I think they're hooked. When we got to the junction just below the summit, they were wearing down and turned left and planned to walk down the road back to their car. I turned right and headed for Jackson.
They really would have been impressed with the amount of snow between Webster and Jackson. Snow, ice and mud most of the way. Most of the boardwalks (or whatever they're called) were still under the snow. Some spots were posthole city. Luckily somebody else found most of them first. I only made a couple of new ones. I got to the summit of Jackson just in time for a rain shower. I took a couple of pictures and headed down the Webster-Jackson trail, intending to turn left back onto the Webster Cliff trail and make a big loop. I made it almost all the way down to the junction without mishap despite the amount of ice on the steep sections and the rain for about half way down. At this point I was debating if I really wanted to climb back over Webster. Then I twisted my ankle and that settled it. I decided to head down and go back down the road to the car.
I headed down the shoulder of the uphill (northbound?) lane. Nice soft sand to walk on. That feels pretty good after all the rocks. I had only been walking for a couple minutes and was right near the first scenic turnout, when up the hill came a familar looking car. I stuck out my hand and turned around, wondering if they saw me. Sure enough they turned around and offered me a ride. It was Sherpa John and Sarah. Thansk alot. I hope it wasn't too far out of your way and that I didn't get your car too dirty.
Things didn't start out so well. In between exit 29 and exit 30, there were two state troopers walking out into the road and waving people over. Unfortunately, I was one of them. I pulled right over and rolled down the window. He told me that I was going 79 and asked for just my license and "what year is your jeep?" He came back about a minute later, gave me back my license and said have a nice day. So I'm a little confused over this. Was that a warning? Am I going to get a ticket in the mail later? Amazingly enough, they were still there at 6 o'clock when I went home. Lucky for me they were still on the northbound side, although I wasn't speeding at that point anyway.
Then crusing down 302, I nearly drove past the trailhead parking place. I opened up the hatchback put my sunglasses down and starting fiddling with my pack, which I then set down on the sunglasses. Nice. Bent frame and one lens fell out.
But it was a very nice day. Almost a little too warm and within minutes I was sweating more than the average NBA team. The trail was very dry, which I didn't expect. As I got to the first set of ledges, I met MadRiver, his wife Sue and Pauline. I hope I got the names right, I'm not always that good at remembering them. They had been doing trailwork and were taking a break before heading back down. Had a nice chat with them before continuing. I soon caught up to another guy named Steve (that one is easy) and his two kids who looked to be around 10 or 11. I went along with them across the ledges to the summit. They were very excited and hearing their reactions to the view down into the notch and over towards Washington would have been enough to make the trip worth it. It's good to see kids outdoors instead of watching tv all day. They asked a lot of questions about the different mountains we were looking at, and seemed in awe that most every one they pointed to I had climbed. They were also impressed with the patches of snow and ice still left up there. I think they're hooked. When we got to the junction just below the summit, they were wearing down and turned left and planned to walk down the road back to their car. I turned right and headed for Jackson.
They really would have been impressed with the amount of snow between Webster and Jackson. Snow, ice and mud most of the way. Most of the boardwalks (or whatever they're called) were still under the snow. Some spots were posthole city. Luckily somebody else found most of them first. I only made a couple of new ones. I got to the summit of Jackson just in time for a rain shower. I took a couple of pictures and headed down the Webster-Jackson trail, intending to turn left back onto the Webster Cliff trail and make a big loop. I made it almost all the way down to the junction without mishap despite the amount of ice on the steep sections and the rain for about half way down. At this point I was debating if I really wanted to climb back over Webster. Then I twisted my ankle and that settled it. I decided to head down and go back down the road to the car.
I headed down the shoulder of the uphill (northbound?) lane. Nice soft sand to walk on. That feels pretty good after all the rocks. I had only been walking for a couple minutes and was right near the first scenic turnout, when up the hill came a familar looking car. I stuck out my hand and turned around, wondering if they saw me. Sure enough they turned around and offered me a ride. It was Sherpa John and Sarah. Thansk alot. I hope it wasn't too far out of your way and that I didn't get your car too dirty.
