buddy
Member
Had planned to camp and slide climb in the Dix's northern watershed over the holiday weekend, but due to the marginal weather decided to spend a couple of days exploring the West Mill brook valley. On Sunday we were suprised to be able to drive to the trail head. The river crossing on the approach road was just low enough to allow us to drive through. We were hiking by 9 AM and were delighted to find the brook running full. It was obvious right from the start that we were entering a truly pristine wilderness area. The skies were bright overcast which gave all of the moist vegetation a luminescent appearance. We proceeded up the road/trail along the brook until it petered out then followed the north branch of the brook untill we reached the watershed between East Dix and Wyman. We followed the watershed up a ways the went up a south east shoulder over a rocky knob then east to the summit. The views of the lower lands and the flanks of Macomb, East and South Dix were dramatic with mixed clouds and saturated colors. We went back west along our route a little then plunged south into a trough that curved easterly back to West Mill . We loitered along the brook, enjoying the last light untill dark, then headed down to the trailhead. We stayed in Scrhoon Lake Sunday night then headed back to the trailhead Monday morning. We went back up West Mill again but this time we headed up to the deep saddle between Wyman and Bear. There's a beautiful vertical gorge waterfall at the south end of the saddle that is worth the trip in itself. We crossed over past the top of the waterfall and headed up the west shoulder of Bear favoring open slabs towards the SW untill the vegetation opened and we turned more directly to the summit. We endured the only rain while hiking for about half an hour while on the summit (no views), checked out natures pristine garden, enjoyed the rocky out crops then headed down pretty much south. When we first left the summit I was trying to decide which way around a 15' ledge to go when I spotted movement below me. It was a fisher, and as soon as it saw me it came running right up the ledge toward me and stopped 6 feet away. I was a little puzzled because I'm used to wild animals running the other way once they've detected my presence. We had a staring match for about 10 seconds, after which it turned around and ran back the way it came. How often do you come across fishers in the wild? That's my first one. Continued south to the brook, found a deep pool, went for a swim brrrrrrrr!!!!! then back to the car for another night in Scroon. On Tues. we went back again and visited a beautiful waterfall about 1 mi. to the SW of the bog where the trail peters out. Beautiful, remote, and difficult to approach due to severe blow down, but worth the effort. Back to the car at dark. This valley is worth exploring, I'll be back again and again I'm sure. The weather kept us low exploring places we otherwise probably wouldn't. There,s always the option to go high from there with the Dix's so close buy and totally accessible. If you like low use areas with diverse topograghy and vegetation check out whacking around this valley. Tread softly and leave the big stick at home. Good orienteering skills a must. Except for the approach road/trail, there are no trails or even herd paths or even traces of either. Happy whacking Buddy
