Wolfjaws and "Clueless from Quebec" - February 25-27, 2011

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ALGonquin Bob

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The weekend of February 26, I led a small group of people on a hike. We stayed at the Adirondack Mountain Club’s Camp Peggy O’Brien cabin on ADK’s Johns Brook property, just across the bridge from JBL. Our group consisted of 2 university students -Pete and Rico, my co-leader John, and my friend Joe. I know – 5 is a small group for a cabin that sleeps 12, but we were optimistic when booking it. After hiking the 3.5-miles to reach the cabin, we were greeted by the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition magazine laying on the large wooden table inside. Nice. Our plan was to hike 1 or 2 of the 4000-footers nearby, and we settled on doing the Wolfjaws. Since I’m already a Winter 46er and had just been up there six weeks previous with a friend and recently done those and 2 other peaks, it really didn’t matter to me; I went with what John suggested, as he is slowly working toward his 46. With only 5 of us in there, we had our choices of where to sleep. I like it cool, and took a lower bunk (Emmons). Others liked it warmer and selected an upper bunk. Apparently nobody wanted a sauna experience, so the two top beds on the triple bunks (“Marcy” and “Algonquin”) went unused. We enjoyed a good dinner and some fine reading, and then hit the vinyl (mattresses). We didn’t set alarms, but I said if you wake up and it’s light out, wake me up. That works pretty well, unless you need an early start. The unmarked trail behind the cabin meets up with a path that goes to the Ore Bed and Wolfjaw trails, and we were soon on our way.
CLUELESS
As we began our ascent of the WJ trail and approached the lean-to , we came across 2 young men who said they were from Quebec. We chatted briefly about where we were headed, and they said they had hiked in from the AuSable Cub (AMR) the day before, climbing to the top of the Wolfjaw col, then descending to the lean-to. Odd route, but maybe they thought there was a fee to park at The Garden (it’s free in Winter). We told them where we were going, and the young pair said they were going to hike Upper Wolfjaw, Armstrong, and Gothics before returning to their car that day. I thought we had a late start, but they had severely overslept for an itinerary like that. I casually asked if they had a map, and they said “No”…. but they had a digital image of a map in their camera. Right. Joe gave them his photo-copied map of the area. I asked if they had a headlamp or flashlight, and they said “No”. Wrong. I told them that the local incident reports are full of hikers needing rescue for lack of a light, and they had no business being up there without a light source. I gave them one of my headlamps. They also told us how cold they had been the night before (they apparently had the wrong sleeping bags for Winter) and that they had to build a fire to keep warm. I mentioned that fires were illegal there and pointed out the “No Fires” sign on the lean-to. They responded that they buried the ashes in the snow in front of the LT and tossed the burned wood farther away – a mess for someone else to clean up in Spring. They left a pile of cut firewood in the lean-to. Yes – cut firewood. They didn’t bring a map, headlamp, or proper sleeping bags, but they remembered their big bush saw. All this in a 5-minute conversation. I suggested they alter their plans to a more reasonable route, described the Beaver Meadow descent route, and asked them to please not attempt Gothics that day.
LOWER EXPECTATIONS
We were “moving kind of slow” to the junction, and the dynamic duo passed us on the ascent. One had on snowshoes and the other did not. He said he was going bareboot because his snowshoes had no traction. The pretty-looking bent wood footwear strapped to his back would have looked great screwed to the wall of our cabin as a quaint decoration, but the rawhide webbing didn’t offer much in the way of a grip for climbing without any sort of crampons added. I assume that his grandfather lent that gear to the young man. We decided to do Upper first, and as we were still climbing, the 2 young men were coming back. They said they stopped at the top of Upper WJ and turned back when they saw how big the next peak was, and were hiking back to their car. At that point, I could have asked for the return of my headlamp, but I figured they would be back some day, and at least they would have a light source for their next misadventure. I let them keep it.
"FALSE" PRIDE
The tracks of “The Great Unprepared” stopped on the false summit with a good view of both the true top of UWJ, and the imposing summit of Armstrong. That was a lot of work for not achieving so much as one summit, but they survived to attempt another day and, hopefully, a bit wiser.
GLISSADES HAPPEN
We continued to the summit – the slab with a thin rope to help hikers ascend was covered with deep snow and I had walked half-way up before I noticed that I was on the slope that was much more difficult in December when it had only a thin covering of snow and ice, requiring much more effort then. We topped out and returned. John missed a turn when glissading back down and slammed his chest into a tree, so we didn’t go on to Lower WJ that day, but returned to the cabin. As it turned out, John’s injury was only minor bruising, so all was well. The youngsters and oldsters in my group had a great time just hiking in the snow, so we had a successful winter weekend trip. We concluded our big day with a good hot meal at Camp Peggy O., and hiked out the next day. Another good meal at The Noonmark, and our trip was complete. In reflecting on our meeting with the young Canadians, I realized that unprepared hikers like them are out enjoying the wilderness every weekend. They had all of their (inadequate) gear with them, so if they were caught in the dark or lost on the Range Trail, they could have set up camp, but at least we saved them the misery of an unexpected night out. It’s obvious that most people who are that unprepared still manage to survive their mistakes; the rest of them get a mention in the monthly DEC "Incident Report". Just another weekend in the Adirondacks.
 
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MORE PHOTOS http://tinyurl.com/ADK-UB-Feb2011

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AB, That was very kind of you to give them one of your "extra" headlights. I've read a few stories about camping at that cabin, hopefully next year I can go on one of those trips, sounds really nice.

ps, got my butt into my touring kayak today, knees got me in and back out but it was a little tight. Will update you soon for next months trip.
 
My full quote is "As we began our ascent of the WJ trail and approached the lean-to , we came across 2 young men who said they were from Quebec."
The two youngsters offered that information and I merely repeated it without any attempt to cast aspersions on anyone else. My intent was to identify the 2 individuals to the greatest extent possible without using their names. I see over sensitivity here. As someone from the Buffalo area, I know how that feels, but nowhere in my report did I infer that their home town had anything to do with their lack of preparedness. The title of my TR refers specifically to those 2 people; you have obviously misinterpreted my comments. No insult was intended, other than to the two Canadian men who came unprepared and made a mess in front of the lean-to. I think some degree of offense at the 2 hikers who put themselves in a bad position and violated NYS DEC law by cutting wood and building a fire would be more appropriate than against the person who reported the violation and helped the "clueless" hikers.
 
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Maps and headlamps are for sissies, regardless of where they are coming from :D
 
...I see over sensitivity here. As someone from the Buffalo area, I know how that feels, but nowhere in my report did I infer that their home town had anything to do with their lack of preparedness...

I think if someone wrote a trip report with the title Franconia Ridge and "Brainless from Buffalo", you might read that trip report with your antennae up.
 
I think if someone wrote a trip report with the title Franconia Ridge and "Brainless from Buffalo", you might read that trip report with your antennae up.

I'm not from Buffalo, so I wouldn't care. My response in post #5 explains my intent. Note also that my advanced age puts me at a stage in life where I don't care too much what anyone says about me, but I still don't intend to offend any innocent parties.
 
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To all my friends who have been somehow offended by this trip report, I apologize. My intent was to criticize and identify the 2 hikers in question, because I was deeply offended by what they did at the lean-to, and surprised at how unprepared they were. The big saw they carried over the mountain represented a complete ignorance of everything to do with camping in the Adirondack Eastern High Peaks region. To identify them in a meaningful way, I felt the need to include whatever they told me that would help describe them, including their home town, province, or state. If they had told me they were from Syracuse, or Boston, I would have mentioned that as well. Feel free to PM me and help me understand why this is offensive.
 
I'm from Hudson, NY. If you had called this report "Clueless from Hudson," I would have been so mad at the ignorance of these two hikers I would have said, "Who are these idiots?" Not taken offense, at all.

I am rather surprised at the reactions this trip report is receiving.

Sounds like a nice trip, otherwise. You were nice to help those guys out.
 
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My full quote is "As we began our ascent of the WJ trail and approached the lean-to , we came across 2 young men who said they were from Quebec."
Did they say they were "clueless"?

"Hi, I'm from Quebec and guess what? I'm freaking clueless! :D

Lot's of potential for joking around on this thread but I know better. :)

(Psssst! Al. It's the thread title.)
 
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I said they were clueless, because that is an apt description of them. Unfortunately, the title is the one thing that I cannot edit. Moderators - you have my blessing to delete the words "from Quebec" from my title, or even delete this entire thread if you wish.
 
Bob, you can delete the entire thread yourself if you wish to do so. With the software used by VFTT any member can delete a thread of their own creation.
 
Bob - you, me or leave it ?
I understand what you were trying to say and that you meant no offense, but did a small cringe when I first saw the thread knowing how our Canadian friends might take it. Probably have been just as effective if it had omitted the Canadian reference.
Just my opinon as a reader.
 
Bob - you, me or leave it ?
I understand what you were trying to say and that you meant no offense, but did a small cringe when I first saw the thread knowing how our Canadian friends might take it. Probably have been just as effective if it had omitted the Canadian reference.
Just my opinon as a reader.

You're right. I stumbled into an issue that I didn't know existed. Your call on deletion, but I think there are valid issues here that merit having the thread remain, but perhaps closed.
 
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I also noticed the thread and did a bit of a double take, but I have been clueless in Quebec a time or two... ok perhaps a bit more.
It didn't shake me up to much... at days end all was well, and for the adventurers experience is a great teacher.
Lifes little lessons...
 
And all those years, 58.4 to be exact, I thought stupidity transcends nationality... Am I clueless or what?;)
 
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