bryan
New member
date: 6/27/13
trails: brown road, atv trail, logging road, bushwack
conditions: drove in meriden hill road from route 3 near columbia to brown road. drove about 1.5 miles on brown road and then parked along with a group of other familiar hikers who happened to have the same plan for west castle and had parked there not knowing what the road ahead looked like. the next hill was washed out a bit, but after that it was fine so continuing up is an option especially in a vehicle with a bit of clearance. parking at the end of brown road could be more difficult as there are multiple camps you won't want to obsruct. i walked the road turning left where it reached a clearing with multiple camps. continued up until it made a hard right turn and took an atv trail to the left as it seemed to lead to the north-south logging road i was hoping to hit a bit higher up. the atv trail eventually deteriorated and i cut up through a short stretch of woods to the logging road where i met back up with the other hikers i had met where we parked. we followed this road to its end in a clearing then began our bushwack to west castle. many hobblebush filled cuts and moose paths to start then good open to moderate woods higher up. we got up near the ridge a bit north of the peak and turned south where the going became a bit thicker with some blowdown before opening up again before the summit. nice directional view from just beyond in a blowdown patch. i parted ways on the summit and headed towards castle intially following the ridgeline before blowdown forced me down a bit to the west. woods were moderate with a couple thick stretches before opening in the col. some good moose paths heading up castle along with some false bumps before reaching the broad and flat summit area. descending i retraced my steps on the moose paths for a bit then headed directly towards the west facing drainage between castle and west castle and followed it back down to the clearing we started our earlier bushwack in. some tougher going near the ridgeline, but i stumbled onto an old road that provided a nice pathway through the thicker growth and into the drainage. the drainage was quite wet, but i found good going slabbing on the west castle side with some sort of old road or trail much of the way and then a nice old logging road lower down that led directly to the clearing. i followed the road farther down on the descent, bypassing the atv trail i used on the way up, turning right onto another road at a gate which led back down to brown road. black flies were in attendance today when stopped.
equipment: nothing in particular.
comments: i'm glad i didn't go by the forecast i saw this morning and headed north as it ended up being a nice day north of the notches. humid and hazy, but it felt cooler by afternoon and views opened up providing some nice looks towards savage, goback, teapot and back to west castle on the hike out this afternoon. was a nice surprise to run into ken, karen, dick, sandy and marianne and hike with them most of the way to west castle. congratulations to marianne on finishing her nh100 yesterday on muise. great day to be out.
bryan
[email protected]
trails: brown road, atv trail, logging road, bushwack
conditions: drove in meriden hill road from route 3 near columbia to brown road. drove about 1.5 miles on brown road and then parked along with a group of other familiar hikers who happened to have the same plan for west castle and had parked there not knowing what the road ahead looked like. the next hill was washed out a bit, but after that it was fine so continuing up is an option especially in a vehicle with a bit of clearance. parking at the end of brown road could be more difficult as there are multiple camps you won't want to obsruct. i walked the road turning left where it reached a clearing with multiple camps. continued up until it made a hard right turn and took an atv trail to the left as it seemed to lead to the north-south logging road i was hoping to hit a bit higher up. the atv trail eventually deteriorated and i cut up through a short stretch of woods to the logging road where i met back up with the other hikers i had met where we parked. we followed this road to its end in a clearing then began our bushwack to west castle. many hobblebush filled cuts and moose paths to start then good open to moderate woods higher up. we got up near the ridge a bit north of the peak and turned south where the going became a bit thicker with some blowdown before opening up again before the summit. nice directional view from just beyond in a blowdown patch. i parted ways on the summit and headed towards castle intially following the ridgeline before blowdown forced me down a bit to the west. woods were moderate with a couple thick stretches before opening in the col. some good moose paths heading up castle along with some false bumps before reaching the broad and flat summit area. descending i retraced my steps on the moose paths for a bit then headed directly towards the west facing drainage between castle and west castle and followed it back down to the clearing we started our earlier bushwack in. some tougher going near the ridgeline, but i stumbled onto an old road that provided a nice pathway through the thicker growth and into the drainage. the drainage was quite wet, but i found good going slabbing on the west castle side with some sort of old road or trail much of the way and then a nice old logging road lower down that led directly to the clearing. i followed the road farther down on the descent, bypassing the atv trail i used on the way up, turning right onto another road at a gate which led back down to brown road. black flies were in attendance today when stopped.
equipment: nothing in particular.
comments: i'm glad i didn't go by the forecast i saw this morning and headed north as it ended up being a nice day north of the notches. humid and hazy, but it felt cooler by afternoon and views opened up providing some nice looks towards savage, goback, teapot and back to west castle on the hike out this afternoon. was a nice surprise to run into ken, karen, dick, sandy and marianne and hike with them most of the way to west castle. congratulations to marianne on finishing her nh100 yesterday on muise. great day to be out.
bryan
[email protected]
