Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Wow! What a day! We started out on a short easy firetower, Poke-o-Moonshine, at about 10:30 Saturday. We had heard that it had snowed up in the Adirondacks, and we had seen a tiny amount of snow in a few places as we drove up. There was some snow at the top (only 2100') in drifts mostly, but we were able to bare boot it all the way. We wondered aloud why we always bring so much gear. The tower is in great shape, and we could see the Eastern ADKs in spectacular fashion. We hung out at the top for a while and chatted and soaked in the great views. We got back down around 12:45, and decided that Hurricane wouldn't be too tough either. As we passed an alternate trailhead, we counted 10 cars, and decided that that trail would have been well broken out. We kept going to another trail head that was slightly higher and not as steep. We had to walk .25 miles to get to the real trailhead as the plow had not gone all the way up the road. Oh well, no big deal. We crossed a stream and the hike started for real at about 2:20. After a mile of walking down an old dirt road, we came to a lean-to. The road was clogged with a huge amount of blow down, and we tried to free a few small trees from their prisons of snow. Some jumped up almost vertically when we got most of their snow off, but others were snapped, or buried under too much snow. There was easily a foot of snow here, sometimes more. We felt no sense of urgency, as it was sunny, warm and calm.
After leaving the lean-to and crossing another stream, we were finally on a trail, or something that was supposed to be a trail. It spent quite a bit of time in water courses, and frequently crossed back and over the stream. We noticed that there was quite a bit of water flowing in the streams. Large blobs of snow were constantly falling down from the trees, and some inevitably found their marks, in our faces, arms, shoulders and backs! Soon we were wet from head to foot. We still had half of the ascent to do. We met 2 people coming down, and they told us that they had *NOT* reached the summit. This made us a little nervous. They told us that the trail was choked with blowdown, and they kept losing it and finding it again. They said they had turned around when they got tired of breaking trail and in what amounted to a bushwhack. We thanked them for the advice, but kept going. They also mentioned that 2 other guys were still up ahead of us. When we came to a place where there were tracks all over the place, we decided this must have been where they turned around, so we put on our snow shoes. There was at about 18-24" of snow at this point, but the trail had been well broken up to this point. We crossed the stream for the millionth time, and found that the trail did keep going, still broken. The snowshoes were gathering quite a bit of slush. Soon, we came to a point where the snow shoe track diverged from a bare boot track. Knowing that the snowshoers had lost their way and turned back, we explored the bare boot trail, but it was a dead end. So we kept going up the snow shoe track. Soon, we met the barebooters. They told us that they had gotten in sight of the tower, but could not find a way around the cliffs! Now we were really nervous! It was later than we thought it would be at this point, and they told us that we still had an hour to go! We decided to go on, and the 2 guys actually asked us if we were planning to hike out. We said 'yes', and I can bet they were dubious! I was becoming a little dubious too! We knew that we all had snowshoes and they didn't, so we figured we would make better time than they did.
Eventually, we got to where we too could see the tower, and we realized as we went up that the bareboot/bushwhack trail was taking us too far East. Phil told us that we had to strike back West, but we kept following the trail as long as it was broken. We got to the point where we had to go up and down 2 very steep valleys, and the snow here was up to 5 feet deep!
Laurie fell in up to her arm pits! The bare booters had turned back here, after exploring the cliffs a little. The conditions here were almost unbearable, and we discussed various retreat scenarios. Everyone eventually decided to continue on. I have climbed 200 peaks and never failed to summit. It was stupid to look back on this, but I did *NOT* want a 3600' peak to defeat me in October!!!
We realized the snow by the cliffs was especially deep, so we retreated to the valley floor and continued West, as Phil had previously advised. Soon we came to a Red Trail marker, which was the trail up from the first parking spot I mentioned. It looked like only 1 set of boot prints was on the Red Trail, which was amazing considering how many cars were at the trailhead! In any case, we knew that we were almost there, and in a few minutes we had gained the summit. By now, we were totally soaked and the wind was blowing on the exposed summit. Needless to say, we did not stay long! We had thought about going down the Red Trail, but after seeing the shape it was in, we decided that we would have to slog back the way we came. Going down was difficult in the narrow valleys, but we started making good time after the valleys were behind us. We slogged thru the streams, not caring if we got any wetter; in fact we could not! It took 2 hours to get back, and by now, it was 7:00 and completely dark. We did have headlamps, so we were ok. But it had taken 5 hours to do a 6 mile hike. We were exhausted and soaked thru and thru. Thank God it was not cold. Actually, it almost might have been better if it was colder, as the warm temperatures contributed to making this a miserable hike!
When we got to the car, there was a note stating that if we wanted Pizza and Beer, we should come and see 'Peter and Carolyn'. (Woo hoo!) It turned out that the lone pair of bootprints from the red trail was made by retired Forest Ranger Pete Fish. We had tried to contact him earlier in the day about doing this hike. He knew that we were planning to come up to Hurricane, but when we called him earlier in the day, he must have already been on his way up the mountain. He told us that everyone had turned back at various stages, and he was indeed the only one to summit from that trail. As we were the only group to summit from the North, our dinner was a sweet celebration. We topped it off with "Hurricane Kitty", a fine brew from the Kingston area!
Moral of the story: Any mountain can kick your a$$.
After leaving the lean-to and crossing another stream, we were finally on a trail, or something that was supposed to be a trail. It spent quite a bit of time in water courses, and frequently crossed back and over the stream. We noticed that there was quite a bit of water flowing in the streams. Large blobs of snow were constantly falling down from the trees, and some inevitably found their marks, in our faces, arms, shoulders and backs! Soon we were wet from head to foot. We still had half of the ascent to do. We met 2 people coming down, and they told us that they had *NOT* reached the summit. This made us a little nervous. They told us that the trail was choked with blowdown, and they kept losing it and finding it again. They said they had turned around when they got tired of breaking trail and in what amounted to a bushwhack. We thanked them for the advice, but kept going. They also mentioned that 2 other guys were still up ahead of us. When we came to a place where there were tracks all over the place, we decided this must have been where they turned around, so we put on our snow shoes. There was at about 18-24" of snow at this point, but the trail had been well broken up to this point. We crossed the stream for the millionth time, and found that the trail did keep going, still broken. The snowshoes were gathering quite a bit of slush. Soon, we came to a point where the snow shoe track diverged from a bare boot track. Knowing that the snowshoers had lost their way and turned back, we explored the bare boot trail, but it was a dead end. So we kept going up the snow shoe track. Soon, we met the barebooters. They told us that they had gotten in sight of the tower, but could not find a way around the cliffs! Now we were really nervous! It was later than we thought it would be at this point, and they told us that we still had an hour to go! We decided to go on, and the 2 guys actually asked us if we were planning to hike out. We said 'yes', and I can bet they were dubious! I was becoming a little dubious too! We knew that we all had snowshoes and they didn't, so we figured we would make better time than they did.
Eventually, we got to where we too could see the tower, and we realized as we went up that the bareboot/bushwhack trail was taking us too far East. Phil told us that we had to strike back West, but we kept following the trail as long as it was broken. We got to the point where we had to go up and down 2 very steep valleys, and the snow here was up to 5 feet deep!
Laurie fell in up to her arm pits! The bare booters had turned back here, after exploring the cliffs a little. The conditions here were almost unbearable, and we discussed various retreat scenarios. Everyone eventually decided to continue on. I have climbed 200 peaks and never failed to summit. It was stupid to look back on this, but I did *NOT* want a 3600' peak to defeat me in October!!! We realized the snow by the cliffs was especially deep, so we retreated to the valley floor and continued West, as Phil had previously advised. Soon we came to a Red Trail marker, which was the trail up from the first parking spot I mentioned. It looked like only 1 set of boot prints was on the Red Trail, which was amazing considering how many cars were at the trailhead! In any case, we knew that we were almost there, and in a few minutes we had gained the summit. By now, we were totally soaked and the wind was blowing on the exposed summit. Needless to say, we did not stay long! We had thought about going down the Red Trail, but after seeing the shape it was in, we decided that we would have to slog back the way we came. Going down was difficult in the narrow valleys, but we started making good time after the valleys were behind us. We slogged thru the streams, not caring if we got any wetter; in fact we could not! It took 2 hours to get back, and by now, it was 7:00 and completely dark. We did have headlamps, so we were ok. But it had taken 5 hours to do a 6 mile hike. We were exhausted and soaked thru and thru. Thank God it was not cold. Actually, it almost might have been better if it was colder, as the warm temperatures contributed to making this a miserable hike!
When we got to the car, there was a note stating that if we wanted Pizza and Beer, we should come and see 'Peter and Carolyn'. (Woo hoo!) It turned out that the lone pair of bootprints from the red trail was made by retired Forest Ranger Pete Fish. We had tried to contact him earlier in the day about doing this hike. He knew that we were planning to come up to Hurricane, but when we called him earlier in the day, he must have already been on his way up the mountain. He told us that everyone had turned back at various stages, and he was indeed the only one to summit from that trail. As we were the only group to summit from the North, our dinner was a sweet celebration. We topped it off with "Hurricane Kitty", a fine brew from the Kingston area!
Moral of the story: Any mountain can kick your a$$.
