poison ivy
Well-known member
MichaelJ, BobandGeri & I started the weekend with a hike up Snow Mt., (Chain of Ponds) on Saturday and were joined by MEB for a hike over the Crockers & Redington on Sunday. Pictures from both days can be found here
Saturday: We decided on a rather late start time and met up at the Cathedral Pines at 9 a.m., which got us to the trailhead and ready to hike by 10 a.m. It was hot and muggy, which gave me a heat-related headache pretty much right away as we headed up the logging roads toward the summit of Snow Mt. On the good side, it was a very easy hike, we had tons of time to relax and there wasn’t any snow to contend with at all.
We quickly reached Snow Mountain Pond after walking up the very muddy logging road and found a nice group fishing. They drove up to the pond with their canoes fastened on racks to the top of their ATVs. It was a pretty little pond, but I resisted swimming to avoid scaring off the fish.
From there, the route took us off the road to a trail, which was steep in one or two places -- one tricky spot required a small bit of scrambling but otherwise was fairly straight forward. We arrived at the summit after two hours of hiking. We all climbed up the ladder for the fire tower, but found the cab scary looking. It was tilted, had boards that were clearly rotted out and missing, so we decided against climbing inside it. We still had fantastic views, spent plenty of time lounging at the summit and checked another peak off the New England Hundred Highest list to boot.
Sunday: Joined by Mary Ellen, we had a plan to head up South Crocker, bushwhack over to Redington and back, and then continue following the AT over North Crocker to Route 27. This is now in the category of “What was I thinking?” Actually, the trip wasn’t all that bad but I had problems with pain in my feet long before our miles were done.
The first mile up from Caribou Valley Road and up to Crocker Cirque Campsite was pretty easy and passed fairly quickly, even at my pace. With just a few more minutes, we were up above the cirque and on the edge of a slide with fantastic views of the Bigelows and Sugarloaf, as well as North Crocker. It was really steep and really hot so we took our time making it to the summit of South Crocker. MichaelJ, in particular, was suffering from the heat and considered staying on the South Crocker for a nap while the rest of us headed over to Redington (as he had been there before by a different route.)
After a snack break and some convincing, Michael agreed to bushwhack over to Redington with us, lured by MEB’s terrific chocolate chip cookies. The herd path from the summit outlook was very discernable and Bob & Geri had followed the route before so they lead on. Occasionally, we’d lose the herd path and have to push our way through trees and scrub, but it was not particularly thick or difficult. We all came away with quite a collection of cuts -- Bob winning the prize for the worst scrape after scratching the back of his leg on a log.
We realized we were off track and headed too far to the right after a quick compass check and corrected our course. Within about five minutes, we found ourselves in the clearing only a little bit off the herd path. Crossing the clearing we headed up the skidder road and it was an easy walk to the summit. We celebrated by signing the register and relaxing in the sun for lunch. After our break, we headed back down the col and up to South Crocker’s summit again. It seemed a lot easier bushwhacking uphill and our three-mile detour ended quickly. While everyone else said the bushwhack was really easy compared to others they have done, but I found it tough -- guess I’m not cut out to be a bushwhacker! I told Michael that if I were him, I would have definitely stayed on the South Crocker summit to wait for everyone’s return.
Once on South Crocker, we got back onto the AT and headed to North Crocker, which turned out to be an easy climb. As we started uphill, the sunny skies clouded over and it began pouring. I have never enjoyed a rainstorm so much! It cooled us off but wasn’t particularly windy so it made for perfect hiking conditions. We were fortunate to have finished the bushwhack before the rain too.
Upon reaching the summit, Mary Ellen & I spotted a spruce grouse walking around near the summit sign. In the race to get the cameras back out of the packs, we missed him. However, Bob, upon arriving, thought I said there was a moose on the summit and went looking through the woods, confused he couldn’t hear any crashing until we explained it was a much smaller animal!
The skies had cleared for our summit pictures but the rain came back and thunder rumbled as we prepared for the next 5 miles of the hike. I was worried about hiking with the metal trekking poles and for once was at the front of the pack. However, after a mile or so my feet started pounding and I once again fell to the back of the line. I used cheap hiking socks instead of my regular Smartwools and ,boy, did I pay for that decision. Every step was pretty much agony, even though last weekend I hiked the same amount miles with a full backpack and didn’t have a problem!
Geri kindly kept pace with me for the long hike down North Crocker. We passed lots of pretty hobblebush and trillium, did battle with a bazillion black flies and mosquitoes and finally made it out to Route 27 at 5:10 p.m. Overall, it was a great but exhausting hike!!
I have so many numbers in my head, I can't remember the tallies for everyone else. (Sorry!!) But this puts me at 63/67 for the New England Fours & 71/100 for the New England Hundred Highest.
-Ivy
Saturday: We decided on a rather late start time and met up at the Cathedral Pines at 9 a.m., which got us to the trailhead and ready to hike by 10 a.m. It was hot and muggy, which gave me a heat-related headache pretty much right away as we headed up the logging roads toward the summit of Snow Mt. On the good side, it was a very easy hike, we had tons of time to relax and there wasn’t any snow to contend with at all.
We quickly reached Snow Mountain Pond after walking up the very muddy logging road and found a nice group fishing. They drove up to the pond with their canoes fastened on racks to the top of their ATVs. It was a pretty little pond, but I resisted swimming to avoid scaring off the fish.
From there, the route took us off the road to a trail, which was steep in one or two places -- one tricky spot required a small bit of scrambling but otherwise was fairly straight forward. We arrived at the summit after two hours of hiking. We all climbed up the ladder for the fire tower, but found the cab scary looking. It was tilted, had boards that were clearly rotted out and missing, so we decided against climbing inside it. We still had fantastic views, spent plenty of time lounging at the summit and checked another peak off the New England Hundred Highest list to boot.
Sunday: Joined by Mary Ellen, we had a plan to head up South Crocker, bushwhack over to Redington and back, and then continue following the AT over North Crocker to Route 27. This is now in the category of “What was I thinking?” Actually, the trip wasn’t all that bad but I had problems with pain in my feet long before our miles were done.
The first mile up from Caribou Valley Road and up to Crocker Cirque Campsite was pretty easy and passed fairly quickly, even at my pace. With just a few more minutes, we were up above the cirque and on the edge of a slide with fantastic views of the Bigelows and Sugarloaf, as well as North Crocker. It was really steep and really hot so we took our time making it to the summit of South Crocker. MichaelJ, in particular, was suffering from the heat and considered staying on the South Crocker for a nap while the rest of us headed over to Redington (as he had been there before by a different route.)
After a snack break and some convincing, Michael agreed to bushwhack over to Redington with us, lured by MEB’s terrific chocolate chip cookies. The herd path from the summit outlook was very discernable and Bob & Geri had followed the route before so they lead on. Occasionally, we’d lose the herd path and have to push our way through trees and scrub, but it was not particularly thick or difficult. We all came away with quite a collection of cuts -- Bob winning the prize for the worst scrape after scratching the back of his leg on a log.
We realized we were off track and headed too far to the right after a quick compass check and corrected our course. Within about five minutes, we found ourselves in the clearing only a little bit off the herd path. Crossing the clearing we headed up the skidder road and it was an easy walk to the summit. We celebrated by signing the register and relaxing in the sun for lunch. After our break, we headed back down the col and up to South Crocker’s summit again. It seemed a lot easier bushwhacking uphill and our three-mile detour ended quickly. While everyone else said the bushwhack was really easy compared to others they have done, but I found it tough -- guess I’m not cut out to be a bushwhacker! I told Michael that if I were him, I would have definitely stayed on the South Crocker summit to wait for everyone’s return.
Once on South Crocker, we got back onto the AT and headed to North Crocker, which turned out to be an easy climb. As we started uphill, the sunny skies clouded over and it began pouring. I have never enjoyed a rainstorm so much! It cooled us off but wasn’t particularly windy so it made for perfect hiking conditions. We were fortunate to have finished the bushwhack before the rain too.
Upon reaching the summit, Mary Ellen & I spotted a spruce grouse walking around near the summit sign. In the race to get the cameras back out of the packs, we missed him. However, Bob, upon arriving, thought I said there was a moose on the summit and went looking through the woods, confused he couldn’t hear any crashing until we explained it was a much smaller animal!
The skies had cleared for our summit pictures but the rain came back and thunder rumbled as we prepared for the next 5 miles of the hike. I was worried about hiking with the metal trekking poles and for once was at the front of the pack. However, after a mile or so my feet started pounding and I once again fell to the back of the line. I used cheap hiking socks instead of my regular Smartwools and ,boy, did I pay for that decision. Every step was pretty much agony, even though last weekend I hiked the same amount miles with a full backpack and didn’t have a problem!
Geri kindly kept pace with me for the long hike down North Crocker. We passed lots of pretty hobblebush and trillium, did battle with a bazillion black flies and mosquitoes and finally made it out to Route 27 at 5:10 p.m. Overall, it was a great but exhausting hike!!
I have so many numbers in my head, I can't remember the tallies for everyone else. (Sorry!!) But this puts me at 63/67 for the New England Fours & 71/100 for the New England Hundred Highest.
-Ivy
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