Santa and Couch 9/14/09

Our route was N/O trail to Santa, over to Times Square, out and back to Couch, and down the Panther trail to Blue and out. Total time was just under 12 hours. we never needed lamps though the walk down the gravel rd was pretty dark at 6:00 AM. The N/O trail was beautiful, now one of my favorites. The trail over to TS was fun and took about an hour, longer and with more elevation loss than I expected. To Couch was long, as expected, but easy to follow and pretty dry. Even the bog which gets so much press was tame and didn't get our boot tops wet. Perhaps the N/O trail would have been a better choice for return but the idea of climbing back up Santa wasn't attractive. Down the Panther brook trail, I think thats what its called, was pretty easy to follow and we made good time. This trail is rocky and eroded but was pretty dry and the last section toward Blue trail was very enjoyable. The biggest bummer of this hike was the Blue trail. It's sad to see a trail in this condition and this is probably as good as it gets. It was much worse in July. The weather was stellar so we kept our unintended record of no rain through 44 peaks. We have toted rain gear around for 8 years and its never seen the light of day! Maybe we'll leave it home for Cliff and Redfield. [email protected]