Washington: Montalban Ridge (9/3) Southern Ridge (9/4)

Hi All:

On Saturday, 9/3 I'm taking my heavy pack and walking up the Montalban Ridge... that includes Mt. Stanton (1716'). Mt. Pickering (1910'), The Crippies, Mt. Langdon (2390'), Mt. Parker (3004'), Mt. Resolution (3415'), Stairs Mountain (3453'), Mt. Davis (3819') and Mt. Isolation (4003'). The trails are the Mount Stanton Trail, Mt. Parker Trail and Davis Path.

I plan on camping near Isolation, possibly in the site about 3 or 4 miles away at the junction between the Isolation Trail and Dry River Trail. The mileage for Day 1 is about 20 miles +/-.

On day 2, I will make my way back to Davis Path and climb up to Boott Spur, over to the Alpine Garden, Nelson Crag and Ball Crag and then finally, Washington Summit. There I'm hoping to meet MEB, Bob&Geri and whoever else is doing the N-S Presi Traverse. I'll hike out with them along Crawford Path, going over all the Presi Peaks... maybe I could convince them to do Jackson and Webster!!

Hopefully one of them will drive me back to my car and from there I can help anyone that needs a ride back to the Northern Presis parking area. From here I might camp or I might go home, haven't decided yet.

I don't mind doing this hike alone but I thought I'd ask for company as well! Anyone interested in all or part of this hike, I'll be getting an early start (most likely) and I guess I hike at a medium-quick pace. Let me know!

-Dr. Wu

This sounds like a good plan, other hikers in my party would not be able to keep up with the mileage or I would love to join. I am slowly working on having bagged Washington from every ascent route, this would add nicely.

I will be in the Great Gulf Saturday ascending Washington or sunday depending on weather. We can flash the VFTT symbol and talk I would be interested in hearing about your experiences.

wu, could you please bottle up some of that energy and sell it here
enjoy the hike!

arghman said:

wu, could you please bottle up some of that energy and sell it here
enjoy the hike!

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Oh C'mon... you should know that I'm all talk! Read the trip report next Tuesday to see if I actually did this or not!

I think this is doable though. And, it's not like I'm going to have a 99lb pack on my back either -- I'm only camping, most likely, one night. Plus, you can get lunch on Washington and also get Gatorade and a souvineer. I do bring cans of soup though because goddammit, I want my chef boyardee! I may not even bring my large pack, just my winter pack which is a lot smaller.

-Dr. Wu

Holy crap. I'm exausted just reading about it. I did the first part of this hike to resolution shelter by the route you describe and then the second day to isolation (east) and it was a pretty good hike for me many years ago. Granted, I had a much heavier pack in those days but I think this would be a lot more than I could do in one day.

Good luck. Enjoy the isolation of the area. No pun intended. Looking forward to reading the trip report.

Keith

SAR-EMT40 said:

Holy crap. I'm exausted just reading about it. I did the first part of this hike to resolution shelter by the route you describe and then the second day to isolation (east) and it was a pretty good hike for me many years ago. Granted, I had a much heavier pack in those days but I think this would be a lot more than I could do in one day.

Good luck. Enjoy the isolation of the area. No pun intended. Looking forward to reading the trip report.

Keith

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I'm comfortable with hiking 20-25 miles and my day pack is generally fairly heavy. For this hike I will most likely take my winter pack which is only slightly larger than my day pack so I don't think It'll weigh me down too much. My tent is only a few pounds and I only will take a sleeping bag liner for this time of year. Only my cans of Chef Boyardee will make it heavy but I'll soon enough transfer that from pack weight to body weight and so on. And I'll chuck the empty cans in the woods. Just kidding!

ADK4Life said:

We can flash the VFTT symbol and talk I would be interested in hearing about your experiences.

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Hopefully we'll have a consensus before then. I wouldn't want to end up mooning the wrong person!

-Dr. Wu

I only will take a sleeping bag liner for this time of year

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a mistake IMO, as you could easily encounter night-time low temps of upper 30s - low 40s...

ps - what were you planning on wearing on Wash summit when it is 35F w wind chill of 5F - board shorts and tank top?

Gris said:

a mistake IMO, as you could easily encounter night-time low temps of upper 30s - low 40s...

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No Problemo!

-Dr. Wu

Ahem! I am rescheduling this hike for a later date.... Dr. Wu will be in Baxter State Park this weekend!

Anyone that has an idea for a date that you'd like to do this hike, PM me or post here.

-Dr. Wu

you should still have my dates if they work - I would like to do this.

- you going thursday to the beer thing? - we could talk there.