Fishing Brook 1 and 2; 07-15-11

(Filed under Trip Reports rather than Trail Conditions b/c it was all bushwhack; no trail involved except some overgrown logging roads at the start) There were three of us; Tony, the nominal hike leader; Christine, whose access to the Minerva Club saved us 2.4 mi. of walking; and one tag-along who enjoyed the woods while those two did all the route finding. Logging was going on when we got to the anticipated start. We naturally complied with the logger's request to stay out of where they were working, requiring only a slight adjustment from the course Christine had plotted. I'll borrow from her post-hike summary to tell the rest of it: Left vehicle at 9:10, arrived FB.1 at 10:51 after 2.1 mi. of climbing. Left FB.1 at 11:06, down at col 0.56 mi. away at 11:33. Lunch break. Left col at 11:54. 1.72 mi. walk up ridge to summit FB.2 at 13:25. Elbowed deer flies aside for photo-op. Christine's fourth visit...why? There is no explanation that could possibly be understand by anyone who would ask the question. Abandoned magnificent setting at 13:46 and raced back to col at 14:47 after 1.82 mi. taking slight detour off E. side of ridge with some good views, bypassing the bumps and well worth the extra 0.1 mi. At col, deer flies hovered while we renewed heavy applications of Old Time Woodsman's Fly Dope and DEET before attacking with renewed ferocity. Left col at 14:52 for 2.01 mi. Hobblebush dance to the car, reached at 16:09. A great day in the woods, even though a bit crowded at times.

Pete, I believe at times you could barely see in front of you the way you were collecting a large varieties of species around your head! It’s just too bad you felt like sharing them at times since you really did not need to...

The huge horseflies were the worse by far. Good thing the zillions of pinching flies all hovered barely above ground all along the ridge but the regular deer flies and black flies stayed with us non-stop. Makes one wonder how the moose that seem to inhabit those woods in large numbers don't go crazy?

Great TR. Reminds me of when Bushwhacker, Peak_bgr, Black Spruce and I were there the first time. Christine did them with one arm in a sling from shoulder separation.

Moose flies!!

Great name for those nasty overgrown deer flies!! horse flies or whatever they are called.

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Yes, they are great hiking companions, sort of bushwhacking around a small airport!
Actually there was as well numerous moose droppings and not of the chocolate sorts, but we never saw or heard any moose during our walkabout. Probably why the moose flies were so happy to see us.

Sounds like a nice outing!

I encountered the worst hobble bush ever in that range. We went up the NPT for a while then side-hilled to a notch before going down to Roaring Brook.

There was something powdery coming off the leaves and it made us hack and cough badly. Side-hilling through chest deep hobblebush was very tiring.

Yes, the ridge is very open with views here and there alternating towards North and South. On one of my visit to Middle Fishing Brook we came form the West (Tongue Mt. col) and it was incredibily open all the way to the summit. And there too one could see that it is a large moose population habitat.