Ed'n Lauky
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- Joined
- Feb 15, 2007
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Why bushwhack up a mountain that already has five perfectly good trails? I answer with a question. After climbing a mountain at least 150 times what do you do to come up with something different? You bushwhack it to see what else is there. Pleasant Mt is a delightful 2K mountain with spectacular views from the top. Having so often climbed it by so many different trails I had for some time been thinking about a bushwhack to the top. Today was the day. After a long walk with Lauky on the long abandoned narrow gage railroad bed near out house, I put him to bed for his morning nap and took off for Pleasant Mt. This was the day for a bushwhack up this very popular and rewarding mountain.
As bushwhacks go, this one was not particularly hard. It certainly was no Scar Ridge or Vose spur. I started the hike at The Ledges trailhead. At the point where the ledges trail veers left from the old logging road I continued straight on the logging road for a ways then turned left and headed straight up. The good part was that there was almost no spruce. There were, however, blowdowns and some fairly thick growth in places.
The climb at first was not particularly steep. As I went up the slope became progressively steeper. Around 1200’ I had to work my way through a boulder field. Then at about 1400' I was confronted by the ledges. These ledges were like enormous 10' to 20' walls that had to be scaled. Duffy had become very proficient at climbing ledges, however, these were particularly difficult and I wondered how he would have made out. This was certainly the most difficult part of the trip.
Above the wall like ledges were large open meadow like ledges that afforded a great view toward the east. This was a great spot that probably has not been seen by many (if any) people. I put a waypoint on my GPS marking that field and I definitely will return there.
Shortly before the summit I went up over two small peaks that I didn't know existed. For the want of a better name I decided to christen them Duffy's peaks. I hit the summit from the east side just below the helicopter landing mark.
Since I was running late for an afternoon appointment I took the Ledges trail back to the car, but next time I plan to go down from the top from a slightly different spot. I also want to check out the mountain from the west side as there appear to be some interesting possibilities on that side also.
As great as it is to have a good trail, there is still something special about doing a mountain your own way and I’m looking forward to doing more hikes like that on this very special mountain.
As bushwhacks go, this one was not particularly hard. It certainly was no Scar Ridge or Vose spur. I started the hike at The Ledges trailhead. At the point where the ledges trail veers left from the old logging road I continued straight on the logging road for a ways then turned left and headed straight up. The good part was that there was almost no spruce. There were, however, blowdowns and some fairly thick growth in places.
The climb at first was not particularly steep. As I went up the slope became progressively steeper. Around 1200’ I had to work my way through a boulder field. Then at about 1400' I was confronted by the ledges. These ledges were like enormous 10' to 20' walls that had to be scaled. Duffy had become very proficient at climbing ledges, however, these were particularly difficult and I wondered how he would have made out. This was certainly the most difficult part of the trip.
Above the wall like ledges were large open meadow like ledges that afforded a great view toward the east. This was a great spot that probably has not been seen by many (if any) people. I put a waypoint on my GPS marking that field and I definitely will return there.
Shortly before the summit I went up over two small peaks that I didn't know existed. For the want of a better name I decided to christen them Duffy's peaks. I hit the summit from the east side just below the helicopter landing mark.
Since I was running late for an afternoon appointment I took the Ledges trail back to the car, but next time I plan to go down from the top from a slightly different spot. I also want to check out the mountain from the west side as there appear to be some interesting possibilities on that side also.
As great as it is to have a good trail, there is still something special about doing a mountain your own way and I’m looking forward to doing more hikes like that on this very special mountain.
