Mt Washington Via the Ammonousic Ravine Trail 12/22/2007

So Rols (Paul) has been planning to hit Washington in the winter for a couple of years now but has never felt the forecast was right on days it was planned.  Until yesterday.  So Paul, Andy and I headed to the Ammo to push for Washington.  At first skiers cleared the trail so it was an easy push; then when crossing over the river the skiers went right and the trail was unpacked.  Andy led the way breaking until we hit the gem pool. After a break we pushed up- Andy and Paul breaking the trail and it was tough work.  Deep soft powder-  at times taking 5 minutes to go 5 feet. We finally got above treeline and it was a clear blue sky- unreal.  We pushed our way up to Lakes Hut and blazed our own way.  Lunch at the Hut-  it was like a spring day.

We headed to Washington and looked back and could see a sea of clouds hovering below the peaks of the Southern Presis. On the Summit-  25 mph winds but 20 degrees-  so basically comfortable.  Back to the hut for another spinglike break.  Going down the steep parts of the ammo-  the soft snow was hard to stand up on-  so we made amazing time going down  :D

Headed out to a beautiful full moon over the blue skies near Washington.

Snowshes all the way.  Paul and Andy were awesome- did all the breaking.  At times off trail there was 2 feet of soft snow- poles dissapeared. 

A truly amazing winter day in the Whites.

Pix  http://tuco.smugmug.com/gallery/4036949#235005297

 North Twin- Persistence Pays Off- December 1, 2007

Rols (Paul) and I planned on a trip up to North Twin, with a possible traverse over and back to South Twin if conditions allowed.

The National Forest Service road closings on Thursday said Haystack Road was open, but when we got there it was not.  We drove to Twin River road and went down to the end where the snow plows turn around and parked out of the way so he would have room to move around.

We crossed over the bridge and make a quick left onto the herd path to Haystack Road.  It’s a VERY obvious path, easy to follow and flat, about a mile long.  The path lets out on Haystack Road right before the parking lot, and we got there and had some food- it was around 8am, already late for us. Temps were around 10 at this time; snow was around 3-4 inches of fluffy stuff.

We got to the first river crossing and determined pretty quickly with the snow and ice we were going to “bushwhack” to the second crossing. No good spots to cross without getting wet.  Paul led the way, but the whack was fairly obvious and easy to follow. We got to the spot where it crossed back and we cruised along the trail. Finally, to the third crossing.  We walked around for a while, up and down from where the trail would cross.  The water was mildly high, no where were there rocks that crossed the river all the way.  Plus, the rocks had snow and ice on them.  We saw a spot downstream and decided to try it- when I got mid crossing the rock that seemed near the surface was a few feet further away than it appeared and I had to turn back.  This is where I started to wonder what place we would have lunch after having to turn back early.  We went back to a large downed tree across the river and noticed enough rock on both sides that we could use with the tree to get over, and finally we did.

The trail starts going up at this point, and the snow depth went up to 4-6 inches. Temps were down between 0 and 5.  We started to notice as it got steeper that there was ice below the snow and we put on Stabilicers; although they were not as effective as usual. Another group caught up to us near treeline and they went ahead and moved the snow around. We geared up and then moved out in the open- temps were below zero.  We got some nice views and the stunted trees always look cool with snow on them. We crossed over to the summit, and the snow was up near 10 inches and the trees closed in and slapped us around as we trudged in the snow.  Short distance but tough going.  We got to the summit and decided South was out, we had lost a bit of time already and it would have been very late- plus I was tired.  We quickly turned around and headed back.  Going down was quick and fairly easy, although I was tired. We did the last mile in the dark, but it was no issue. 

Although not an “official” winter hike- this was as much winter and more and may of my winter hikes.  Ten inches of fresh powder, below zero temps, ice, etc.  Close to snowshoe conditions near the summit but not enough to use them.  Ice, but not crampon necessary.  My stabilicers lost all their studs except one.  These new ones seem to be made cheaply and stink.

Pix here-  http://tuco.smugmug.com/gallery/3922075#227754008

Whiteface & Passaconaway 11/10/2007 #'s 47 & 48

Raining Wildcats and Dogs- Wildcat A-D 10/27/2007

Mt Jefferson Via Six Husbands Trail September 29, 2007

Rols (Paul) has been Great Gulf bagging this summer so Farmer (Ryan) Paul and I headed out to try again this weekend.  This was a hike we were going to try a couple of weeks ago if not for the rain, Great Gulf Trail to Six Husbands up to Jefferson Summit and down the Caps Ridge Trail, in essence a traverse over the Presi Ridge the short way.

After the car spot at Caps Ridge, we headed to the GG trailhead.  There was promise of nice weather, but the only cloud cover we saw was over the Northern Presi’s.  We headed up the trail, which is very easy, and stopped off at the Bluff camping spot for a snack and some pix.  Here, Ryan became inspired by Mats Roing and started doing pushups. Blue sky all around, except over the Ridge.  We crossed the bridge and headed along the river up to the Six Husbands junction.  Snacked here, and could feel the breezes and still no clearing up high.  We crossed the river (easy) and headed around to the start of “The Climb”.  We enjoyed the area back in the Pemi, rough and close to the river and sited a bunch of neat campsites.

We finally headed up and right away some easy scrambling.  After a few minutes, we came to the “where do we go?” spots.  A couple of tight fits (with packs) under and through huge boulders.  Ryan, by far the youngest of the group, excitedly looked forward to each new move. I had to admit climbing through and up the caves was fun. Views started to open up and we could see the Auto road, but still none over Jefferson.  Next up were the ladders. I really don’t like the ladders- any ladders, but going up is not really a big deal.  After the first two ladders, the second pair is a bit more of a hands and feet climb.  Over the final ladders, there’s a 10-15 foot ledge that on the surface is no big deal but just highlighted my anxiety when doing ledges and exposed areas.  Made it up OK, and of course there were more scrambles going up but all with good hand holds and decent footing.  Wind picked up and the mist was rolling up fast.  We took a break in the scrub and put on hats, gloves and shells- oh and of course more food.  We moved up and it was very windy- gusts likely up to 25-30 mph.  WE hadn’t seen anybody to this point but a group of three came up and were also doing Jefferson. Visibility was pretty good but still clouds over the summit- we could not see it yet.  We finally moved over the summit and the winds were gusting closer to 35-40 mph.  We quickly dropped over the other side and the winds were blocked.  It was cool, temp wise.  Ryan found a spot for another round of push ups.  We headed down, and due to the mist were not positive we were on the correct trail but eventually we figured it was; the Castles became clear in the distance.  We dropped down on the Caps, another type of hiking that makes me nuts, steep drops without great footing.  The average hiker likely flies down this but I took lots of time finding footing or sliding down. There were views in the valley so we took more time for pix.  After the last Cap we hung out at the views and then cruised out. 

We were out a long time, but covered lots of new trails for Ryan and I and saw lots of different types of terrain. Six Husbands was tough work, but felt good after finishing.

Maybe next time out we’ll hike that easy hike we keep talking about…..

Pix can be found here..    http://tuco.smugmug.com/gallery/3564441#202141097

Pemi Wilderness 23 Mile Rainfest September 15, 2007

Crazy? One has to wonder somtimes when we head out what motivates us to get out.  Physical effort? Hanging out with good friends? Satisfaction of hard work done?  All of the above.  So Mike, Larry and I headed down the Wilderness Trail in the pouring rain at 645 or so.  I begged, no implored, lets go get pancakes but clearly Mike and Larry were motivated so off we went.  There was water everywhere on the trail, we dodged around it as we sped down the easy trail. We quickly (yes I can say that on the Wilderness trail) moved past Franconia Falls, crossed the Bridge and headed to Bondcliff Trail. Mike and I noted that we think it always rains at the jct. of the Bondcliff trail! Keeping on, it was new territory.  We passed the old bridge and then crossed over the suspension bridge. The three of us had that sucker swaying nicely :) . We took a break at the jct of Thoreau Falls trail for a snack in the rain. It was raining less than before but we were already soaked.  We crossed over the bridge on the Thoreau Falls trail which has, a slick angled approach, is warped to the right at the beginning of the bridge and is oily as well.  I hope this bridge gets checked regularly. The start of the trail is very easy, but then starts a bunch of PUD's. None too steep, but annoying enough.  We did get lost at one point, but backtracked and found the trail.  There are a lot of trail re-routes in the northen half of the trail, marked by branches laying across the old trail. The river was FLOWING.  Very deep and raging fast, it was an impressive view.  Made us wonder about the crossing of the river at the top of the falls. We got to the top, and a quick look showed there was no way we could cross at the trail, so we ate lunch (in the light rain) and then looked around for a good crossing.  No dice, so we looked for a woods bushwhack that took us up to the next bridge.  Woods were deep nothing going.  We since have found out that if we stayed along the shore and went .3 miles, we could have gotten there.  The plan was to cross the river, head along the Ethan Pond Trail to Zealand Trail and out to Zealand Road.  With no bushwhacking experience, we decided to backtrack the 11+ miles to Lincoln Woods. Ugh-  Instead of another 5 miles we had another 11.5.  I was beat but for us it made sense since rumbling around without knowing what we were doing could have wasted time.  We went fast down the Thoreau Falls trail and I was falling back- a little sore and just plain tired. We got back to the Wilderness Trail and I felt better since the rest of the trail was pretty flat.  It was hard to stop, all of our muscles were sore.  Mike started to not feel well and you could see he was struggling too.  We just kept at it, resting occassionally and going as fast as possible and finally got out after 22+ miles and 12 hours.  And we also got the benefit of the rain starting again for the last few miles.One of those hikes that the day after it feels great to make the effort, but I couldn't help think of that panckae breakfast we could have had instead.  Oh, and we had tons of laughs along the way anyhow.  Rols (Paul), you are a smart man!

Took lots of pix but for some reason a lot came out poorly so I deleted them, here are the rest... http://tuco.smugmug.com/gallery/3485010#196238617

Also a very short video near the falls-  http://youtube.com/watch?v=nipyT2YyDB0

Crazy? One has to wonder somtimes when we head out what motivates us to get out.  Physical effort? Hanging out with good friends? Satisfaction of hard work done?  All of the above.  So Mike, Larry and I headed down the Wilderness Trail in the pouring rain at 645 or so.  I begged, no implored, lets go get pancakes but clearly Mike and Larry were motivated so off we went.  There was water everywhere on the trail, we dodged around it as we sped down the easy trail. We quickly (yes I can say that on the Wilderness trail) moved past Franconia Falls, crossed the Bridge and headed to Bondcliff Trail. Mike and I noted that we think it always rains at the jct. of the Bondcliff trail! Keeping on, it was new territory.  We passed the old bridge and then crossed over the suspension bridge. The three of us had that sucker swaying nicely :) . We took a break at the jct of Thoreau Falls trail for a snack in the rain. It was raining less than before but we were already soaked.  We crossed over the bridge on the Thoreau Falls trail which has, a slick angled approach, is warped to the right at the beginning of the bridge and is oily as well.  I hope this bridge gets checked regularly. The start of the trail is very easy, but then starts a bunch of PUD's. None too steep, but annoying enough.  We did get lost at one point, but backtracked and found the trail.  There are a lot of trail re-routes in the northen half of the trail, marked by branches laying across the old trail. The river was FLOWING.  Very deep and raging fast, it was an impressive view.  Made us wonder about the crossing of the river at the top of the falls. We got to the top, and a quick look showed there was no way we could cross at the trail, so we ate lunch (in the light rain) and then looked around for a good crossing.  No dice, so we looked for a woods bushwhack that took us up to the next bridge.  Woods were deep nothing going.  We since have found out that if we stayed along the shore and went .3 miles, we could have gotten there.  The plan was to cross the river, head along the Ethan Pond Trail to Zealand Trail and out to Zealand Road.  With no bushwhacking experience, we decided to backtrack the 11+ miles to Lincoln Woods. Ugh-  Instead of another 5 miles we had another 11.5.  I was beat but for us it made sense since rumbling around without knowing what we were doing could have wasted time.  We went fast down the Thoreau Falls trail and I was falling back- a little sore and just plain tired. We got back to the Wilderness Trail and I felt better since the rest of the trail was pretty flat.  It was hard to stop, all of our muscles were sore.  Mike started to not feel well and you could see he was struggling too.  We just kept at it, resting occassionally and going as fast as possible and finally got out after 22+ miles and 12 hours.  And we also got the benefit of the rain starting again for the last few miles.One of those hikes that the day after it feels great to make the effort, but I couldn't help think of that panckae breakfast we could have had instead.  Oh, and we had tons of laughs along the way anyhow.  Rols (Paul), you are a smart man!

Took lots of pix but for some reason a lot came out poorly so I deleted them, here are the rest... http://tuco.smugmug.com/gallery/3485010#196238617

Also a very short video near the falls-  http://youtube.com/watch?v=nipyT2YyDB0

Crazy? One has to wonder somtimes when we head out what motivates us to get out.  Physical effort? Hanging out with good friends? Satisfaction of hard work done?  All of the above.  So Mike, Larry and I headed down the Wilderness Trail in the pouring rain at 645 or so.  I begged, no implored, lets go get pancakes but clearly Mike and Larry were motivated so off we went.  There was water everywhere on the trail, we dodged around it as we sped down the easy trail. We quickly (yes I can say that on the Wilderness trail) moved past Franconia Falls, crossed the Bridge and headed to Bondcliff Trail. Mike and I noted that we think it always rains at the jct. of the Bondcliff trail! Keeping on, it was new territory.  We passed the old bridge and then crossed over the suspension bridge. The three of us had that sucker swaying nicely :) . We took a break at the jct of Thoreau Falls trail for a snack in the rain. It was raining less than before but we were already soaked.  We crossed over the bridge on the Thoreau Falls trail which has, a slick angled approach, is warped to the right at the beginning of the bridge and is oily as well.  I hope this bridge gets checked regularly. The start of the trail is very easy, but then starts a bunch of PUD's. None too steep, but annoying enough.  We did get lost at one point, but backtracked and found the trail.  There are a lot of trail re-routes in the northen half of the trail, marked by branches laying across the old trail. The river was FLOWING.  Very deep and raging fast, it was an impressive view.  Made us wonder about the crossing of the river at the top of the falls. We got to the top, and a quick look showed there was no way we could cross at the trail, so we ate lunch (in the light rain) and then looked around for a good crossing.  No dice, so we looked for a woods bushwhack that took us up to the next bridge.  Woods were deep nothing going.  We since have found out that if we stayed along the shore and went .3 miles, we could have gotten there.  The plan was to cross the river, head along the Ethan Pond Trail to Zealand Trail and out to Zealand Road.  With no bushwhacking experience, we decided to backtrack the 11+ miles to Lincoln Woods. Ugh-  Instead of another 5 miles we had another 11.5.  I was beat but for us it made sense since rumbling around without knowing what we were doing could have wasted time.  We went fast down the Thoreau Falls trail and I was falling back- a little sore and just plain tired. We got back to the Wilderness Trail and I felt better since the rest of the trail was pretty flat.  It was hard to stop, all of our muscles were sore.  Mike started to not feel well and you could see he was struggling too.  We just kept at it, resting occassionally and going as fast as possible and finally got out after 22+ miles and 12 hours.  And we also got the benefit of the rain starting again for the last few miles.One of those hikes that the day after it feels great to make the effort, but I couldn't help think of that panckae breakfast we could have had instead.  Oh, and we had tons of laughs along the way anyhow.  Rols (Paul), you are a smart man!

Took lots of pix but for some reason a lot came out poorly so I deleted them, here are the rest... http://tuco.smugmug.com/gallery/3485010#196238617

Also a very short video near the falls-  http://youtube.com/watch?v=nipyT2YyDB0

Mt. Willey Via Ethan Pond Trail and Willey Range Trail- September 2, 2007

After not hiking or excersizing the last few weeks, I wanted to get out, do a short hike and visit another new place (meaning add another to my NH 48 list).  The only solo peaks I had left were Canon and Willey.  Don't knnow why, but I decided on Willey.  I got to the trailhead early and headed up.  At first Ethan Pond headed up but then basically levelled off nicely until the JCT with Willey Range Trail.  I stopped to eat something here- it was a quick 1.6 so there was plenty of time.  Headed up Willey Range Trail; which started up after crossing a running brook that would have been good for water if needed. Not much to say, other than its a steady steep incline over the 1.1 miles to the summit.  I must say that I do hate the ladders, for some reason I have this stupid fear of falling off them.  Going up was not a big deal, though. I was fresh for a while but the legs got tired near the summit. I took pix at the outlook and then quickly hit the summit in around 2 hours. I rested and ate a little.  great weather, sunny and cool.  I headed down and went very slowly down the ladders.  I Must have looked funny going so slowly and was happy to be off them. After getting back to Ethan Pond Jct I decided to jog every time the trail would allow it- no rocks or roots.  I wanted to add some work since it was such a short hike. I enjoyed it, I miss running quite a bit. I got back to the parking lot in a little over 3.5 hours.  Man, it was like 10am!  I drove home and got back to the family around 1230.  I wish I could have done a long hike above treeline on this glorious day, but family first.

Pix here  http://tuco.smugmug.com/gallery/3408175/15/190728990#P-1-15

Franconia Traverse-  July 28, 2007

We had a full ridge traverse planned from the Skookumchuk trail to the Wilderness trail covering all summits along the way.  Forecasts had been for rain and T-showers all week but at the end all of us but BigEarl decided to go –sorry Earl.

I’ll cover the hike by summit-

Lafayette-  we headed up Skookumchuk, which was great. Easy grades, soft bed, this is really a great trail.  Never really any difficult footing, and covers all of the elevation nicely.  Half way up, Ryan realized that he had left his keys in my car at the trailhead, and with his car at Lincoln Woods we had to cut the trip short to end at Liberty.  We used this for a regular assault on Ryan all day J.  We broke out above treeline and it got windier but was comfortable and we headed over North Lafayette and up to Lafayette.  We already started to see a lot of people.  On the summit, one of the hut workers kind of lectured Ryan about White Mountain weather and from there on all of us seemed to be on the assault verbally for anybody.  Amongst ourselves, anyway.  Funny stuff all day.  We ate a bit, it started to drizzle and then we moved on.

Lincoln- There was fog between the summits, and we hiked along.  We got up to the Lincoln summit and there was already a big group hanging around.  We had a quick snack and left as more people headed over from Little Haystack. I could only imagine on a perfect day what the crowds would have been like.

Little Haystack- More Fog, occasional views on the way.  We passed a couple of guys heading down over the ridge to likely do Owlshead.  As usual, the summit was crowded with people.  I called it a freak show, all kinds of people up there in varying states of readiness.  Some of it was good, eh Ryan?  We hung out and thought about our plan, Paul’s car was at Falling Waters trailhead.  We all felt good so we decided to head to Liberty and head down and walk the bike path to the car.

Liberty- Add one to the 48 list for Ryan.  The trip off Little Haystack is some rock hopping, but afterwards moderates down and then up.  We got up to Liberty and the weather was the same, cloudy, nice breeze, and a little cool. There was a large group there that was very noisy and stayed a while, then went down the wrong trail and came back! We passed them at the Liberty springs junction and to keep it simple they were annoying and in the way.

The rest of the trip down was Liberty springs usual, down and rocky.  After we got off the rocks, we cruised pretty quickly to the bike path and then picked up the pace back to the car.  This was a good workout; we guessed around 15 miles and 5000 feet of elevation gain.  Could be wrong, but who knows.  A great day was had by all.

I forgot the camera, damn.  Some very cool cloud activity all day below and above us.

Update-  Thanks for the pix Paul!:  pix removed due to page issues....

Not So Great Gulf – 7/13/2007

OK, so the title is a bit unfair, the Great Gulf and its trail are really amazing, but the title speaks more to the day I had than the trail and area itself.   I decided to hike the Great Gulf trail from Rt 16 to the Gulfside trail, and then see how I felt and plan from there.  Warning, long trip report coming, I can feel it J.  Some of the thoughts to be discussed here:

1)      When is the weatherman right?

2)      How cool does it have to be for me not to sweat profusely?

3)      How beautiful is the Great Gulf Trail?

4)      Is my body falling apart?

5)      What does this day mean for a successful John Muir Trail trip?

1)      OK, so I planned this hike last minute, and the forecast was 40% chance of rain after 8am with thunder showers by 2pm.  The last two hikes, the forecasts were right on, and I hiked in pouring rain, 40 degree weather and heavy winds.  I decided based on the last two times to heed the forecasts and if things looked bad not head up to the ridge and get caught in rain there.

2)      I started early, weather around 50 degrees and easily made my way through the early part of the trail.  I quickly started to sweat and drank quite a bit.  This theme kept up early in the hike, and I frequently stopped to wipe my face and changed my shirt one time.

3)      The early stages of the Great Gulf trail are nice.  Easy grades, good footing so its easy to make good time.  After crossing back over the river on the long bridge to the junction near the Old Jackson Road, the roller coaster starts a little with the rocks also increasing.  Such a sight to keep following along the flowing river. After passing the Chandler Brook junction, a little more increase and then back across the river to near the Sphinx Trail junction.  This is the second time I have back there, and no place I have ever been seems more like Wilderness than back here.  Don’t know why, just feels that way.  After crossing back again, the rockier ledges and rock hopping started, which were somewhat wet and things got tougher.  But man, the waterfalls.  One after the other, it just didn’t stop.  Has to be the best stretch of trail in the Whites for visuals IMO.

4)      So now it’s around 8am and I am .5 miles from Spaulding Lake, and the clouds are rolling in, wind picks up, and it starts getting cool.  I didn’t feel too great, and I had ZERO interest in getting rained on again so I headed back.  After a short while my legs really started to cramp up and I had to stretch every few minutes. The cramping moved all over my legs-  it was weird how the locations kept changing.  Then, my back started to ached.  Hopping from the rocks was jarring and I constantly felt it. Finally, the knee pains.  Not too bad, but little by little they were coming on.  By the time I got to the Osgood Cutoff trail I was shocked at how badly I felt and could not wait to finish.  The last two miles are easy so it went well but wow, I felt so sore I couldn’t believe it.  Oh, and by the way, at The Osgood Cutoff junction the sun formally came back out and it was a beautiful day again. 

5)      It ended up being around 11.5 miles RT and 2400 feet or so of elevation gain.  Do I worry about this for the JMT hike?  Guess not, whats the sense.  I’ll try a hard month of training and then see how it goes.  But maybe after the JMT, I should ease up the hikes a little and let my body recover…..

Some pix can be found here:  http://tuco.smugmug.com/gallery/3148520#172836391

Madison Hut  6/23/2007

General

For months we had planned on doing a Presi Traverse on this day.  One of the great challenges of having specified hiking days in advance is you have to deal with whatever comes up weather wise. 

Planned to join me was Rols, Ryan and BigEarl.  Rols went up to grab a campsite so we could crash after the hike for the night.  The rest of us would meet at the Clinton Rd parking lot at 1130pm Friday-  we were hoping to get up on the Gulfside trail in time to see the sunrise.  During the week, the forecasts started to get worse and finally by Friday the higher summits forecast was 35 degrees with wind chills in the 20’s and fog and rain.  BigEarl called me and decided to cancel, I could certainly understand.  The forecast looked bad and potentially dangerous.  I went up as it was my hiking day, plus I wanted to meet Paul who I knew was there.

I got to Clinton Rd and crashed for a while in the car and when I woke up Rols and Ryan were there.  We spotted a car at the Cog and headed to Appalachia.  The plan was up Airline and then across the Presi Ridge and summit as desired.  We headed up Airline and almost immediately we had to take off layers.  Odd, it was cold out but damp and warm on the trail.  At another stop I changed shirts to dry off.  We moved up at a good pace, and had no problem locating the trail in the dark.  Fog and mist started to roll in around 3500 feet, as BigEarl had mentioned it would.  It was a very odd combination of cold air, wet air but I felt warm.  When we got above treeline we put on out wool caps, gloves and additional layers.

Visibility was 5-10 feet, and on occasion we could not see where the trail went.  We did fine, but had to slow down to make sure we were heading the right way.  As we went up Airlines knife edge, the wind blasted over the ravine what felt like 40 mph.  Visibility continued to be tough and it was cold.  We finally decided to take the cutoff to Madison Hut since it seemed unsafe to head across the ridge in the current conditions.  We waited at the hut for a while, napped a bit, and then decided to head down.  The weather hadn’t changed much and we had gotten very cold in the hut, it must have been in the 30’s.  An AT thruhiker woke up from a table and decided to go back into her sleeping bag and not go it was so bad.

The trip down was fine, it actually started to clear up away from the ridge and we got down off the mountain earlier than we ever did.

Looking back on the trip, it made sense to go back.  At the time of the morning we were on the ridge, the weather was terrible and it could certainly have gotten worse.  Even if it didn’t get worse, it was so cold and damp I can’t imagine the trip being fun.

Airline and Valley way were in good shape, the rocks were a little slick from the weather but that could only be expected. Good company as always.  Then to the “Wagon” Wheel for a fun breakfast.

Very few pictures can be found at this link- http://tuco.smugmug.com/gallery/3046228#165812293

General

For months we had planned on doing a Presi Traverse on this day.  One of the great challenges of having specified hiking days in advance is you have to deal with whatever comes up weather wise. 

Planned to join me was Rols, Ryan and BigEarl.  Rols went up to grab a campsite so we could crash after the hike for the night.  The rest of us would meet at the Clinton Rd parking lot at 1130pm Friday-  we were hoping to get up on the Gulfside trail in time to see the sunrise.  During the week, the forecasts started to get worse and finally by Friday the higher summits forecast was 35 degrees with wind chills in the 20’s and fog and rain.  BigEarl called me and decided to cancel, I could certainly understand.  The forecast looked bad and potentially dangerous.  I went up as it was my hiking day, plus I wanted to meet Paul who I knew was there.

I got to Clinton Rd and crashed for a while in the car and when I woke up Rols and Ryan were there.  We spotted a car at the Cog and headed to Appalachia.  The plan was up Airline and then across the Presi Ridge and summit as desired.  We headed up Airline and almost immediately we had to take off layers.  Odd, it was cold out but damp and warm on the trail.  At another stop I changed shirts to dry off.  We moved up at a good pace, and had no problem locating the trail in the dark.  Fog and mist started to roll in around 3500 feet, as BigEarl had mentioned it would.  It was a very odd combination of cold air, wet air but I felt warm.  When we got above treeline we put on out wool caps, gloves and additional layers.

Visibility was 5-10 feet, and on occasion we could not see where the trail went.  We did fine, but had to slow down to make sure we were heading the right way.  As we went up Airlines knife edge, the wind blasted over the ravine what felt like 40 mph.  Visibility continued to be tough and it was cold.  We finally decided to take the cutoff to Madison Hut since it seemed unsafe to head across the ridge in the current conditions.  We waited at the hut for a while, napped a bit, and then decided to head down.  The weather hadn’t changed much and we had gotten very cold in the hut, it must have been in the 30’s.  An AT thruhiker woke up from a table and decided to go back into her sleeping bag and not go it was so bad.

The trip down was fine, it actually started to clear up away from the ridge and we got down off the mountain earlier than we ever did.

Looking back on the trip, it made sense to go back.  At the time of the morning we were on the ridge, the weather was terrible and it could certainly have gotten worse.  Even if it didn’t get worse, it was so cold and damp I can’t imagine the trip being fun.

Airline and Valley way were in good shape, the rocks were a little slick from the weather but that could only be expected. Good company as always.  Then to the “Wagon” Wheel for a fun breakfast.

Very few pictures can be found at this link- http://tuco.smugmug.com/gallery/3046228#165812293