buckyball1
New member
5 x 3ks NW of Stratton
This hike was satisfying, but overly ambitious bordering on stupid and close to my limits. Thanks to DR and jt; they helped me get the logistics spot on which prevented a bad situation from becoming a real mess
After visiting a daughter in G-burg, PA, we drove home 12 hours on Friday and I decided to drive to Stratton and hike Saturday-not real bright. The drive was uneventful, but nearing Stratton, I noted a number of State police (as I would both days) which is very unusual for the area- there to keep tabs on potential issues with an environmentalist gathering. There was absolutely NOTHING going on at the wind farm-deserted. I stayed at the Roadhouse where i've been alone 3 times this year and the place was “jumping”-7 thru hikers and a family of 6.---fauna report: several moose and a fox.
Up at 4, drove to Woburn and turned out Rt 212 to Notre Dame de Bois; turned left in the center of town onto Rue 10, drove about 5 miles to the “T”, turned left and parked -obvious lot at base of the hill. Already warm and would be cloudless sky in high 80s by midday—ouch.
The plan was Barker, Twin Peaks, E Saddle, Saddle and perhaps Marble-all a bit over 3k- Against good advice, I planned to go counter clockwise. The area between the SF lot and the Barker/Marble/Saddle part of the Boundary is littered with all sorts of trails and roads, but they are confusing and nobody I talked with has been able to make very efficient use of them.
I drank a quart of water at the car and took 4 quarts of water/Gatorade-it would not be nearly enough. About 6 AM I headed up one of the old roads to the swath. As I’d find all day, there was lots of water/bog everywhere on my route and I got boots wet early. I hit the swath, turned left and headed for Barker. The swath was moderately to hellaciously tough much of day-growth, slash, steeps, etc. I didn’t realize there were nice “bypass” SF trails cut (and marked) around the steep sections between where I went up and Marble and slogged up/down the steeps. I got to height of land near Barker and headed straight up. It wasn’t as easy as I hoped with blowdowns and ferns/hobblebush hiding everything. Jar was easy find with Marc/DR/jt + KEDS and Oncoman latest entries. Bad blowdown patch on descent and first inkling of “hmmm this may not be an easy day”
Back on the swath for some distance and then across to east of Twin Peaks on older overgrown roads-very wet in places. I whacked up about 0.9 miles (moderate woods) with plan to avoid the West knob and find jar on East knob. I missed my line just enough to be on side near the top of west knob and find sizeable cliffs (35-40’) on direct path to East. I had to whack thru thick stuff to top of West, float around to a less steep col to East. This is when I realized I was in for a tough day and felt first small cramps in upper legs (electrolytes? too much hiking on toes going up?). The east knob was very thick on upper part as advertised by beta providers and I wandered a bit before finding a nice lookout and the jar nearby—same signers as on Barker. The descent off Twin wasn’t as easy as it should have been. Considerable blowdown and lots of rocks/holes all hidden by lush growth-go earlier in year as my beta guys did. My falls today were numerous, most not very hard-however any fall is a potential disaster when solo—the terrain was lumpy with all the obstacles hidden by growth .. mix this with a tired hiker and…..
I hit a road at base of Twin and followed it to a spot below E Saddle. By now the sun/heat had been beating the hell out of me and I knew dehydration was becoming an issue –was rationing the 4 quarts of liquid. As I started another whack back up to the swath, the leg cramps were more serious and I thought “am I going to be able to get out of here today?”. I knew I wasn’t in “serious” trouble, but if I didn’t call home by say 6 or 7, well…… Reached the swath and “holy sh..”, I was facing the longest really steep “up” I’ve seen in a lot of swath walking -first step was a 200’ vertical that looked almost like a climbing wall-no joke. The sun was now searing me as I literally clawed my way up grabbing and pulling on all the slash. I make it up to a just normally steep section and ughh…...i see another 200+ foot wall. About this time I really need the moral support of a partner and thought, “i’m not going to make this today”..of course I did and then had only moderately steep going to the jar-easy find, similar “signees” minus Oncoman. (I now know he grabbed Saddle and E Saddle another day and avoided the "walls")
I was starting to zone a bit as I plunged down/up to Saddle -another easy jar that I almost didn’t bother with as I don’t “need” Saddle for my little list. I did open the jar (similar signers to E Saddle of course) and wrote “buckyball1-exhausted”. Headed down to Saddle/Marble col with no idea exactly where to turn toward car. In my daze, I decided to “do Marble” since it was close-that’s how stupid/using poor judgment I’d become-water long gone by now. Touched the high point of Marble, didn’t even move toward the jar-retraced steps back toward Saddle. I made several false starts “down” toward car (route not obvious/fatigue?) , but finally just plunged into the woods about half way back to Saddle on a direct line toward the parking area-a very long 2.5 miles away. I hit a trail now and then, but none seemed useful so on I went-took a really bad face first full out dive when a stick caught between my feet-and sprained an ankle pretty badly (hardly noticed it until later in the day). I finally hit a “good looking” dirt path/road that I remembered from sat pics as “maybe” taking a curved route to the parking area. I soon saw some ATVers (one insisted on giving me a bottle of water as I probably looked/sounded pretty messed up-thank you)-Finally, the car-immediate downing of a 16 oz Gatorade and then a 20 oz soda. -it was exactly 10 hours in the woods upon my return to the car
Felt OK driving home-today I’m tired, but only lasting damage is ankle which will take some time to rehab (do it way too often whacking slopes)
In retrospect… pleased with what I did, but overreached badly on this one. The heat turned a hard hike into something a bit worse
5 and holding for some weeks
jim
This hike was satisfying, but overly ambitious bordering on stupid and close to my limits. Thanks to DR and jt; they helped me get the logistics spot on which prevented a bad situation from becoming a real mess
After visiting a daughter in G-burg, PA, we drove home 12 hours on Friday and I decided to drive to Stratton and hike Saturday-not real bright. The drive was uneventful, but nearing Stratton, I noted a number of State police (as I would both days) which is very unusual for the area- there to keep tabs on potential issues with an environmentalist gathering. There was absolutely NOTHING going on at the wind farm-deserted. I stayed at the Roadhouse where i've been alone 3 times this year and the place was “jumping”-7 thru hikers and a family of 6.---fauna report: several moose and a fox.
Up at 4, drove to Woburn and turned out Rt 212 to Notre Dame de Bois; turned left in the center of town onto Rue 10, drove about 5 miles to the “T”, turned left and parked -obvious lot at base of the hill. Already warm and would be cloudless sky in high 80s by midday—ouch.
The plan was Barker, Twin Peaks, E Saddle, Saddle and perhaps Marble-all a bit over 3k- Against good advice, I planned to go counter clockwise. The area between the SF lot and the Barker/Marble/Saddle part of the Boundary is littered with all sorts of trails and roads, but they are confusing and nobody I talked with has been able to make very efficient use of them.
I drank a quart of water at the car and took 4 quarts of water/Gatorade-it would not be nearly enough. About 6 AM I headed up one of the old roads to the swath. As I’d find all day, there was lots of water/bog everywhere on my route and I got boots wet early. I hit the swath, turned left and headed for Barker. The swath was moderately to hellaciously tough much of day-growth, slash, steeps, etc. I didn’t realize there were nice “bypass” SF trails cut (and marked) around the steep sections between where I went up and Marble and slogged up/down the steeps. I got to height of land near Barker and headed straight up. It wasn’t as easy as I hoped with blowdowns and ferns/hobblebush hiding everything. Jar was easy find with Marc/DR/jt + KEDS and Oncoman latest entries. Bad blowdown patch on descent and first inkling of “hmmm this may not be an easy day”
Back on the swath for some distance and then across to east of Twin Peaks on older overgrown roads-very wet in places. I whacked up about 0.9 miles (moderate woods) with plan to avoid the West knob and find jar on East knob. I missed my line just enough to be on side near the top of west knob and find sizeable cliffs (35-40’) on direct path to East. I had to whack thru thick stuff to top of West, float around to a less steep col to East. This is when I realized I was in for a tough day and felt first small cramps in upper legs (electrolytes? too much hiking on toes going up?). The east knob was very thick on upper part as advertised by beta providers and I wandered a bit before finding a nice lookout and the jar nearby—same signers as on Barker. The descent off Twin wasn’t as easy as it should have been. Considerable blowdown and lots of rocks/holes all hidden by lush growth-go earlier in year as my beta guys did. My falls today were numerous, most not very hard-however any fall is a potential disaster when solo—the terrain was lumpy with all the obstacles hidden by growth .. mix this with a tired hiker and…..
I hit a road at base of Twin and followed it to a spot below E Saddle. By now the sun/heat had been beating the hell out of me and I knew dehydration was becoming an issue –was rationing the 4 quarts of liquid. As I started another whack back up to the swath, the leg cramps were more serious and I thought “am I going to be able to get out of here today?”. I knew I wasn’t in “serious” trouble, but if I didn’t call home by say 6 or 7, well…… Reached the swath and “holy sh..”, I was facing the longest really steep “up” I’ve seen in a lot of swath walking -first step was a 200’ vertical that looked almost like a climbing wall-no joke. The sun was now searing me as I literally clawed my way up grabbing and pulling on all the slash. I make it up to a just normally steep section and ughh…...i see another 200+ foot wall. About this time I really need the moral support of a partner and thought, “i’m not going to make this today”..of course I did and then had only moderately steep going to the jar-easy find, similar “signees” minus Oncoman. (I now know he grabbed Saddle and E Saddle another day and avoided the "walls")
I was starting to zone a bit as I plunged down/up to Saddle -another easy jar that I almost didn’t bother with as I don’t “need” Saddle for my little list. I did open the jar (similar signers to E Saddle of course) and wrote “buckyball1-exhausted”. Headed down to Saddle/Marble col with no idea exactly where to turn toward car. In my daze, I decided to “do Marble” since it was close-that’s how stupid/using poor judgment I’d become-water long gone by now. Touched the high point of Marble, didn’t even move toward the jar-retraced steps back toward Saddle. I made several false starts “down” toward car (route not obvious/fatigue?) , but finally just plunged into the woods about half way back to Saddle on a direct line toward the parking area-a very long 2.5 miles away. I hit a trail now and then, but none seemed useful so on I went-took a really bad face first full out dive when a stick caught between my feet-and sprained an ankle pretty badly (hardly noticed it until later in the day). I finally hit a “good looking” dirt path/road that I remembered from sat pics as “maybe” taking a curved route to the parking area. I soon saw some ATVers (one insisted on giving me a bottle of water as I probably looked/sounded pretty messed up-thank you)-Finally, the car-immediate downing of a 16 oz Gatorade and then a 20 oz soda. -it was exactly 10 hours in the woods upon my return to the car
Felt OK driving home-today I’m tired, but only lasting damage is ankle which will take some time to rehab (do it way too often whacking slopes)
In retrospect… pleased with what I did, but overreached badly on this one. The heat turned a hard hike into something a bit worse
5 and holding for some weeks
jim
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