albee
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- Jan 14, 2005
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On Wednesday I had an idea - with all the crummy weather predicted for this weekend (again!) and the forecast calling for a warm, clear day on Thursday, I hatched a plan to call in sick to work and do some bushwhacking. Well, here I am on Friday morning, hoping that nobody notices the fresh scratches on my hands and forearms, or the huge bug bite on my right eyelid... let's all keep this trip a secret, okay?
I took advantage of my day off and slept in until 8:00. I know that a Huntington Traverse is a challenging bushwhack, but I didn't expect to be hiking for more than 8 hours so I was in no rush to get started. I got my gear together, printed out a map from Topozone, hit the road after the traffic died down, and found myself at the Hancock Notch trailhead at 11:15 AM. I loaded up on sunscreen and headed out on the trail.
The plan was to try and tag all 4 of the summits that count towards the NE 3000 list. I would start at West Huntington, work my way over to Middle Huntington, then scoot over to Huntington, and see if I could make it to East Huntington - if not just bail out to the Kanc. Well, I gave it a good effort, but my tank ran out of gas before I could attempt East Huntington and I don't feel too bad about that at all.
The hike started on the Hancock Notch Trail. I followed the trail for about 1 kilometer to the first real brook crossing coming from the right. I planned to follow the right fork of this brook uphill towards the summit, but I found an old logging road that ended up following the left fork for too long. I dropped down and crossed the brook, then headed uphill at a relatively steep grade, all the while "cheating left" since I wanted to end up on the northern side of the peak to avoid the false summit to the south. My plan worked well, and the woods weren't too bad in here - I'd say a 6 out of 10 on the thickness scale. It got pretty thick up on the summit, but thankfully someone had cut down about a dozen thin trees at the high point, so it only took about 5 minutes of searching to find the well-marked summit. I signed in to the red Nalgene cannister, and tried to read the entries from the old register - some went back 19 years to 1988. I saw many names that I recognized, including a number of people that post here. I was getting swarmed with insects so I couldn't stay long. It had taken me 1:45 from the car to get there.
I took a compass bearing for the next summit and headed downhill at a comfortable grade. This section wasn't too bad, but it got tougher in the col before Middle Huntington. I pushed through the thickest stuff for awhile, and eventually came to some nice young spruce on the eastern side of the ridge. I tried to stay on this side of the ridge as much as possible because it was much more open than anything else I had encountered. I slowly made my way upwards but I stayed off the main ridge to avoid the thicker sections. When it finally looked like there was a high point, I climbed to the top and searched around for 20 minutes. I didn't find anything but a tattered old cardboard can with a yellow lid on the ground that looked like a Pringles or Potato Sticks container. Upon consulting the map, it appeared that the ridge kept going and the highest point was farther to the east. Sure enough, the ridge kept going and I eventually climbed about 20 feet higher and came to the jar. There was also a smaller old jar on the ground under it. The logbook is fairly new, and the remains of the original register were nowhere to be found. It had taken me 2 hours to go about a mile between the peaks, but part of that was wasted looking for the jar at the wrong bump.
I shot a compass bearing to the next peak, but it was pretty easy to see where to go since it was so close. I dropped down to the col - steeply at first through some thick stuff, but after a hundred yards it opened up and there was really nice woods for awhile. Lots of moose activity up in there, but I never found a consolidated herd path that went anywhere useful. The bugs that had swarmed me earlier just would not leave, and it was torture to hear them buzzing around my ears and nipping at my neck for hours on end. It got thicker for a bit on the way up to the summit of Huntington, but I had aimed for the southern bump on the flattish ridge, and when I got to the highest point I found that I was only about 40 yards from the jar. I was really getting eaten alive by now, but I took the time to read the logbook for a bit. It was another new logbook with no older register present.
I saw many of the same names from the last register, which is not surprising since it was only 35 minutes away. I was still feeling good and it was only 3:45 PM, so I figured I had a good chance to complete the traverse.
The map showed a real cliffy-looking section between me and my destination, so I had planned to follow the ridge to the south until about 3,200', then bear left on a gradual ridge and aim southeast toward East Huntington. I followed the ridge down for a bit and came up to the cliffs pretty quickly. I got to one area near the top that had an awesome view of Mt Kancamagus and the area to the southeast. Unfortunately there were too many bugs swarming to get my camera out. I navigated my way down the ridge slowly, and it got pretty thick - I would say it was an 8 out of 10 at this point. I struggled for over an hour in dropping down the 500 feet to 3,200. At this point I was getting tired and frustrated, and the buzzing in my ears from the bugs was just about unbearable. I was running a little low on water, so I said the heck with it and gave up on my quest for 4 Huntingtons in a day. I guess I'm just not a strong enough bushwhacker yet.
It takes a certain mentality to venture off trail for hours at a time. Sometimes I like the feeling of solitude and self-reliance, and sometimes I prefer to have some company to rely on if an accident were to happen. I was very cautious today - more cautious than usual in fact. It was so hot out and the woods were so thick that I took my time to avoid overexerting myself. I ended up on the west side of the ridge that I was aiming for, and corrected myself and aimed for the Kanc. I found some open areas and some big moose yards along the way, and the going definitely seemed easier on this side of the ridge. As the sounds of the highway got closer, I started getting glimpses of the road and I tried to navigate towards a stream that I knew would take me straight to the road. I found the stream about 100 vertical feet from the road and I followed it down through a marshy section and finally I made it out just before 6 PM. I had been off-trail for over 6 hours and it felt good to be unencumbered at last. I sucked down the last of my water and alternated walking and jogging for the 1.5 or 2 miles back to the trailhead.
I'd say this trip was a success. I hit the 3 peaks I planned for, and called it quits when it made sense. I hate "leaving stragglers", but in this case it made sense to me at the time and I left myself with plenty of time to drive home in the daylight. This trip left me with more scratches than usual, probably because it was too hot to wear longsleeves and gloves. I did wisely put my pants on at the second peak, and this helped my pace because the branches slid off my legs more easily and painlessly. I stopped at the Mountain Wanderer on my way back through Lincoln, even though I suspected it was closed... Fortunately Steve Smith and his wife had just gotten into their car and I got to chat with him for a few minutes before they went home. Steve had had a great time up on Mt Washington getting a tour of the area from a historian, and his lovely wife Carol had spent the day in the store. It is always such a pleasure to chat with him about what's going on in the Whites... he truly loves these mountains.
Anyway, thanks for reading my ramblings... have a great weekend, everyone!
I took advantage of my day off and slept in until 8:00. I know that a Huntington Traverse is a challenging bushwhack, but I didn't expect to be hiking for more than 8 hours so I was in no rush to get started. I got my gear together, printed out a map from Topozone, hit the road after the traffic died down, and found myself at the Hancock Notch trailhead at 11:15 AM. I loaded up on sunscreen and headed out on the trail.
The plan was to try and tag all 4 of the summits that count towards the NE 3000 list. I would start at West Huntington, work my way over to Middle Huntington, then scoot over to Huntington, and see if I could make it to East Huntington - if not just bail out to the Kanc. Well, I gave it a good effort, but my tank ran out of gas before I could attempt East Huntington and I don't feel too bad about that at all.
The hike started on the Hancock Notch Trail. I followed the trail for about 1 kilometer to the first real brook crossing coming from the right. I planned to follow the right fork of this brook uphill towards the summit, but I found an old logging road that ended up following the left fork for too long. I dropped down and crossed the brook, then headed uphill at a relatively steep grade, all the while "cheating left" since I wanted to end up on the northern side of the peak to avoid the false summit to the south. My plan worked well, and the woods weren't too bad in here - I'd say a 6 out of 10 on the thickness scale. It got pretty thick up on the summit, but thankfully someone had cut down about a dozen thin trees at the high point, so it only took about 5 minutes of searching to find the well-marked summit. I signed in to the red Nalgene cannister, and tried to read the entries from the old register - some went back 19 years to 1988. I saw many names that I recognized, including a number of people that post here. I was getting swarmed with insects so I couldn't stay long. It had taken me 1:45 from the car to get there.
I took a compass bearing for the next summit and headed downhill at a comfortable grade. This section wasn't too bad, but it got tougher in the col before Middle Huntington. I pushed through the thickest stuff for awhile, and eventually came to some nice young spruce on the eastern side of the ridge. I tried to stay on this side of the ridge as much as possible because it was much more open than anything else I had encountered. I slowly made my way upwards but I stayed off the main ridge to avoid the thicker sections. When it finally looked like there was a high point, I climbed to the top and searched around for 20 minutes. I didn't find anything but a tattered old cardboard can with a yellow lid on the ground that looked like a Pringles or Potato Sticks container. Upon consulting the map, it appeared that the ridge kept going and the highest point was farther to the east. Sure enough, the ridge kept going and I eventually climbed about 20 feet higher and came to the jar. There was also a smaller old jar on the ground under it. The logbook is fairly new, and the remains of the original register were nowhere to be found. It had taken me 2 hours to go about a mile between the peaks, but part of that was wasted looking for the jar at the wrong bump.
I shot a compass bearing to the next peak, but it was pretty easy to see where to go since it was so close. I dropped down to the col - steeply at first through some thick stuff, but after a hundred yards it opened up and there was really nice woods for awhile. Lots of moose activity up in there, but I never found a consolidated herd path that went anywhere useful. The bugs that had swarmed me earlier just would not leave, and it was torture to hear them buzzing around my ears and nipping at my neck for hours on end. It got thicker for a bit on the way up to the summit of Huntington, but I had aimed for the southern bump on the flattish ridge, and when I got to the highest point I found that I was only about 40 yards from the jar. I was really getting eaten alive by now, but I took the time to read the logbook for a bit. It was another new logbook with no older register present.
I saw many of the same names from the last register, which is not surprising since it was only 35 minutes away. I was still feeling good and it was only 3:45 PM, so I figured I had a good chance to complete the traverse. The map showed a real cliffy-looking section between me and my destination, so I had planned to follow the ridge to the south until about 3,200', then bear left on a gradual ridge and aim southeast toward East Huntington. I followed the ridge down for a bit and came up to the cliffs pretty quickly. I got to one area near the top that had an awesome view of Mt Kancamagus and the area to the southeast. Unfortunately there were too many bugs swarming to get my camera out. I navigated my way down the ridge slowly, and it got pretty thick - I would say it was an 8 out of 10 at this point. I struggled for over an hour in dropping down the 500 feet to 3,200. At this point I was getting tired and frustrated, and the buzzing in my ears from the bugs was just about unbearable. I was running a little low on water, so I said the heck with it and gave up on my quest for 4 Huntingtons in a day. I guess I'm just not a strong enough bushwhacker yet.
It takes a certain mentality to venture off trail for hours at a time. Sometimes I like the feeling of solitude and self-reliance, and sometimes I prefer to have some company to rely on if an accident were to happen. I was very cautious today - more cautious than usual in fact. It was so hot out and the woods were so thick that I took my time to avoid overexerting myself. I ended up on the west side of the ridge that I was aiming for, and corrected myself and aimed for the Kanc. I found some open areas and some big moose yards along the way, and the going definitely seemed easier on this side of the ridge. As the sounds of the highway got closer, I started getting glimpses of the road and I tried to navigate towards a stream that I knew would take me straight to the road. I found the stream about 100 vertical feet from the road and I followed it down through a marshy section and finally I made it out just before 6 PM. I had been off-trail for over 6 hours and it felt good to be unencumbered at last. I sucked down the last of my water and alternated walking and jogging for the 1.5 or 2 miles back to the trailhead.
I'd say this trip was a success. I hit the 3 peaks I planned for, and called it quits when it made sense. I hate "leaving stragglers", but in this case it made sense to me at the time and I left myself with plenty of time to drive home in the daylight. This trip left me with more scratches than usual, probably because it was too hot to wear longsleeves and gloves. I did wisely put my pants on at the second peak, and this helped my pace because the branches slid off my legs more easily and painlessly. I stopped at the Mountain Wanderer on my way back through Lincoln, even though I suspected it was closed... Fortunately Steve Smith and his wife had just gotten into their car and I got to chat with him for a few minutes before they went home. Steve had had a great time up on Mt Washington getting a tour of the area from a historian, and his lovely wife Carol had spent the day in the store. It is always such a pleasure to chat with him about what's going on in the Whites... he truly loves these mountains.
Anyway, thanks for reading my ramblings... have a great weekend, everyone!
