sapblatt
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- Joined
- Oct 22, 2004
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subtitled "Hiking in the Rain"
What a day...happy to report I am back on the 4000 footer scoreboard by bagging numbers 19 and 20 - there is hope for me yet!
After evaluating the weather and figuring I had a good shot at getting over the ledges before the rain started and I hit the Blueberry Ledge Trail at 6:59 for what would prove to be a wet and long day. The ledge trail is really beautiful...it was littered with a lot of moose scat and owl pellets, in fact I am pretty sure I saw two owl's flying away in the woods. The snow was clear of ice and snow until a little short of the junction with the Tom Wiggin trail where it slowly started to get snow covered. From there there was a lot of rotting snow and small amounts of ice. My less than expert c opinion is that there would be no advantage to snowshoes or crampons...I generally sunk in only a couple of inches. The rock scrambles for the most part were pretty tough, in fact tougher than I would have expected. A couple of them were harder than anything on the Wildcat Ridge Trail, and a few of them had were slick with packed snow. It would have been a lot easier if I was only a few inches taller.
After reaching the open ledges I hit the Rollins Trail and this is where the going got to be very slow. This trail has two plus feet of snow just about everywhere. If it were not for the boot prints I doubt I would have been able to follow the trail. This trail was not too tough or dangerous, but it was very slow and tedious. While being on booktime to the ledges I found the Rollins Trail to slow be down a lot. I believe it took me about three hours (1:20 book time.) Somewhere after the Kate Sleeper Trail I summited Mount Whiteface...tough to say exactly where it is.
At long last...the Dicey's Mill Trail was reached, and by the way...the rain has now begun. I had only .9 miles to go! I was pretty beat up at this point from the Rollins Trail and the climb up Passaconaway was a lot slower than I had hoped it would be. All of a sudden around the bend came rushing the happy puppy Genie (instatnly recognizable from her avatar) along with Pat, Audrey and Little Bear. We talked for a few minutes in the rain and they invited me to the Subaru Outback Chalet for post hike refreshment! I carried on...I hit the top at about 2:00pm. stayed for a very brief lunch and began my descent at 2:15.
As I was making my way down I also ran into Arm who hikes very fast and was very supportive. He made a point of waiting up for me a few times on the way back to Ferncroft,. I was particularly grateful for this at the Wonalancet crossing. It was not too deep but it is fairly wide and extremely fast moving today with the rain. During the descent the rain went from light to heavy, but I would stop short of calling it torrential. I stayed reasonably comfortable...feet were dry. This was certainly a day to keep moving. You would get chilled in a hurry if you stopped.
At long last I reached the parking area just before 5:00pm to happily end my ten-hour day. The VFTT crew was still waiting to make sure I made it and we all enjoyed a beverage of our choice and recapped the day. It was great to see all of you and I hope to get out again soon.
What a day...happy to report I am back on the 4000 footer scoreboard by bagging numbers 19 and 20 - there is hope for me yet!
After evaluating the weather and figuring I had a good shot at getting over the ledges before the rain started and I hit the Blueberry Ledge Trail at 6:59 for what would prove to be a wet and long day. The ledge trail is really beautiful...it was littered with a lot of moose scat and owl pellets, in fact I am pretty sure I saw two owl's flying away in the woods. The snow was clear of ice and snow until a little short of the junction with the Tom Wiggin trail where it slowly started to get snow covered. From there there was a lot of rotting snow and small amounts of ice. My less than expert c opinion is that there would be no advantage to snowshoes or crampons...I generally sunk in only a couple of inches. The rock scrambles for the most part were pretty tough, in fact tougher than I would have expected. A couple of them were harder than anything on the Wildcat Ridge Trail, and a few of them had were slick with packed snow. It would have been a lot easier if I was only a few inches taller.
After reaching the open ledges I hit the Rollins Trail and this is where the going got to be very slow. This trail has two plus feet of snow just about everywhere. If it were not for the boot prints I doubt I would have been able to follow the trail. This trail was not too tough or dangerous, but it was very slow and tedious. While being on booktime to the ledges I found the Rollins Trail to slow be down a lot. I believe it took me about three hours (1:20 book time.) Somewhere after the Kate Sleeper Trail I summited Mount Whiteface...tough to say exactly where it is.
At long last...the Dicey's Mill Trail was reached, and by the way...the rain has now begun. I had only .9 miles to go! I was pretty beat up at this point from the Rollins Trail and the climb up Passaconaway was a lot slower than I had hoped it would be. All of a sudden around the bend came rushing the happy puppy Genie (instatnly recognizable from her avatar) along with Pat, Audrey and Little Bear. We talked for a few minutes in the rain and they invited me to the Subaru Outback Chalet for post hike refreshment! I carried on...I hit the top at about 2:00pm. stayed for a very brief lunch and began my descent at 2:15.
As I was making my way down I also ran into Arm who hikes very fast and was very supportive. He made a point of waiting up for me a few times on the way back to Ferncroft,. I was particularly grateful for this at the Wonalancet crossing. It was not too deep but it is fairly wide and extremely fast moving today with the rain. During the descent the rain went from light to heavy, but I would stop short of calling it torrential. I stayed reasonably comfortable...feet were dry. This was certainly a day to keep moving. You would get chilled in a hurry if you stopped.
At long last I reached the parking area just before 5:00pm to happily end my ten-hour day. The VFTT crew was still waiting to make sure I made it and we all enjoyed a beverage of our choice and recapped the day. It was great to see all of you and I hope to get out again soon.
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