A Journey to the Far East (of Mt. Hale): 16-May-2010

It's often difficult for me to decide whether to post some of the stuff I do, especially since I realize that the offbeat places I visit are of little or no interest to most folks. But, for those who might have some mild interest, here goes!

On a couple of occasions I've visited the top of East Hale where there are fabulous views. However, this past Sunday, I opted to be lazy and get my "Views From The Top" by NOT going to the top! Instead, I bushwhacked to some ledges that are located several hundred feet below the summit of East Hale on its far eastern end.

As I trekked nearly due west from the Zealand Trail parking area, it wasn't long before I came upon a large patch of skunk cabbage which I thought was worthy of a photo.


It was an easy trek through open hardwoods. In just under an hour from leaving the car, I was sitting on a ledge enjoying the views.
I sort of thought it might be a short and easy bushwhack, but hadn't anticipated it would be that short and that easy! So, with plenty of unexpected time, I ventured a few hundred feet higher to another ledge. Getting there took nearly a half an hour. The terrain was a bit rougher and steeper, and route finding was somewhat more challenging.

Below is a photo looking toward a large scree field that was on the backside of the first ledge that I visited.


In terms of distant vistas, there were two views that I especially liked. One was the view looking eastward toward the Presidential Range. And the other view I found particularly interesting was looking southward toward the Zealand Notch.

The view of the Presidential Range is shown below. Now, I know this is going to sound bizarre, but when I got home and looked at this photo, the first thing I noticed was the big boulder in the foreground. All I could see was the image of a pig (head looking upward) with wings on the side of its body! Hmmm! Yeh-ah! Maybe I've been out in the woods too long!


Okay, below is the Zealand Notch photo (without a winged pig!). In addition to the more prominent landmarks, Zealand Pond also shows up in this photo. It's the small blue spot just to the right of center. With the naked eye (and even better with binoculars), the Zealand Hut could also be seen to the right of the pond.



It was a wonderful day to be out exploring new places in the mountains!

1HappyHiker

That's not skunk cabbage. Skunk cabbage, like cabbage, has broader leaves, with veins branching at angles from a central rib, and never develops much of a stem, staying near the ground with just a few leaves. You would also be able to see some (old, faded) flowers if you looked closely at the bases of the plants.

Your photo shows the parallel leaf ribs of a monocot, probably something in the lily family. There are several species that look similar but false-hellebore, veratrum viride, is one possibility. It does like wet soil.

Edit: just to be confusing, the recent almost-consensus among plant taxonomists seems to be that veratrum belongs to the newly-recognized family Melanthiaceae, a group of almost-lillies that also includes Trillium. So I should have said "lily order", not "lily family".

Skunk Cabbage


JohnL

Nice pics, that snow I see in the deep desolation valley of Carrigain?

-Mattl

John, keep posting those reports, please.
Your discoveries are fascinating. The springtime woods are probably the best time to be out there.

It's funny that Hale is best known as the 4K with no views, but there are beautiful ledges, glades, and mossy dells on all its compass points.

Thanks John for sharing

I especially like the view of the vast birch forest that carpets the north side of Whitewall Mountain. A magical place!

nartreb said:

That's not skunk cabbage. Skunk cabbage, like cabbage, has broader leaves, with veins branching at angles from a central rib, and never develops much of a stem, staying near the ground with just a few leaves . . . Your photo shows the parallel leaf ribs of a monocot . . . probably something in the lily family. There are several species that look similar but false-hellebore, veratrum viride, is one possibility . . .
Edit: just to be confusing, the recent almost-consensus among plant taxonomists seems to be that veratrum belongs to the newly-recognized family Melanthiaceae, a group of almost-lillies that also includes Trillium. So I should have said "lily order", not "lily family".

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Hmmm! There goes my plans for following an alternate career path as a botanist!
Just kidding! Thank you for taking the time to post a very thorough response. I know I learned a lot, and perhaps others did as well.

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JohnL: Thank you for posting a photo a skunk cabbage . . . much appreciated!
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Mattl said:

Nice pics, that snow I see in the deep desolation valley of Carrigain?

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Yup . . . that is snow! Actually, I ran into an occasional patch of snow even on my little trek up to the ledges on East Hale.
Also, maybe I shouldn't have been, but I was somewhat surprised at how little "spring-green" color there was in the Zealand Valley.
If you take another look at my photos, there's still a lot of the drab grays and browns of winter.

audrey said:

John, keep posting those reports, please.
Your discoveries are fascinating . . . It's funny that Hale is best known as the 4K with no views, but there are beautiful ledges, glades, and mossy dells on all its compass points.

Click to expand...

Audrey, thanks for your support! I'll continue posting off-beat adventures, but I'll try to be selective. Quite honestly, not every adventure turns out to be interesting. There are some duds which are boring . . . even to me!

And yes, I completely agree that Mt. Hale (like so many mountains) has so much more to offer than what's on the summit. Sometimes, it takes some off-trail exploring to discover the hidden gems, but they are there!

Jazzbo said:

I especially like the view of the vast birch forest that carpets the north side of Whitewall Mountain. A magical place!

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Ray, as I recall it, you've bushwhacked to Whitewall via that birch forest on the north side of Whitewall. Regardless, I do agree that birch forests are a "magical place", wherever they might be located. Thanks for your reply.

I believe Nartreb is correct, that looks like false-hellbore, which...I believe...is also known as Indian Poke. Kind of funny, I took a picture of it in Chester exactly one month before you took yours. I guess spring is one month ahead of where you were taking that picture.

On my Chester flatland thread, I was told the following pic was Indian Poke...kinda blurry


back to your hike: Looks awesome. And I always think the same thing...The Zealand Valley blooms so darn late. I was up there Memorial Day weekend last year, and at the parking lot for the Zealand trail, things were blooming and beautiful, but by the time we got to the hut, things were just barley beginning.

Great pic of Washington. I think you might want a pet to accompany you, perhaps a pet pig?!

grouseking said:

I think you might want a pet to accompany you, perhaps a pet pig?!

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Hmmm! I think pigs are better suited for use as a dinner accompaniment, if you know what I mean . . . like pork chops for example!

Thanks Phil, for your response, and for providing the photo and additional info about the false-hellebore.

Pigs Smell

There is a barbeque place near us (Andy Nelson's) whose motto is:
Pigs Smell Better Barbequed.

The Flying Pig could be the new state icon! Great report. We were on the Sugarloaf peaks on Sunday and I was looking across the valley to where there are some ledges and a small hill. I wonder if that is where the rock climbers we saw at the parking lot off Zealand Road were heading? Have you been there?

Ellen, to answer your question about the ledges you can see across the valley from the Sugarloafs, assuming we're talking about the same spot, yes I've been there.

And Donna and Ellen, regarding your commentary about pigs . . . hmmmm!
Surely you're not suggesting that this become the new State icon since that would mean modifying the State motto to something such as: Live free or die, and where pigs fly. (Or taking Donna's response into account, perhaps it would be "where pigs fry"?

I saw Micky Mouse on Kilimanjaro. Some would say the trek up that peak is as popular as Disneyland.

"Pigs fly free or die frying." Yecchh.