spider solo
New member
I went into check out the Dry River Trail for some future hiking etc.
Someone had kindly mentioned in another posting that the suspension bridge was closed so I wanted to be sure to see what that was all about. Sure enough there was a notice posted at the Rte 302 trail head and at the Dry River Campground Trail head which leads to the Dry River Trail.
The trail was easy, mostly flat, and I was at the bridge in short order. I was expecting the bridge to be teetering on it's edge or something like that but it LOOKED to be in fine shape. That, I guess, is what would be so misleading about it. It was clearly marked as being closed because of extensive rot...but it was so tempting to cross it. Had it not been posted with a board across it
I would have crossed without a second thought. Tempted as I was, I resisted ( though if I had a little more of that "daredevil gene" maybe I would have ran across it a few times).
Instead I continued along the river bank, the river was running high with all the snowmelt and heavy rains so I did not remotely consider fording it. I know others have drowned in this river in years gone by and I had no wish to join them.
...the land slide area...
There is a trail path that starts out strong from the bridge and gradually fades out ...after about an 1/2 hr I noticed that the banking was becoming steeper on this side and most peculiarly my ice axe... which I didn't need but often bring with me and use much like a pole or cane... was sinking into the ground much like it would sink into snow.
I was easily able to sink the shaft about 1/2 way and even use it for little self belays any time I wanted better footing . It was noticeable as I edged along this sidehill with the river below. I was thinking "hmm this is a first... I wonder why this is possible?" The answer became apparent when I soon came to the edge of a landslide. I was hiking on gravell with a thin cover of forest on top !!
The slide seemed to be recent or at least part of it was recent and perhaps the other section older. As you looked up the slope the sections were of different color which I fiqured told of the different ages of the slides..The slide itself went well into the river.
Only in one spot did the slide reveal a section of ledge the rest looked for all purposes like two very big gravell pits with boulders half hanging out of them ready to tumble. I could see where different ones had shattered on the lower rocks and could pick up the splintered pieces... in other places I could see the freshly scarred boulders either nicked as they fell or as others fell into them. Still I could not tell if it had happened the night before or several months before when we had the heavy rains. The soil was saturated and unstable.
I crossed the slide low on boulders near the river...I didn't linger.
Continuing on, the slope eased away from the river and I splashed my way through side streams away from the main river. Hiking the little streams made route finding easier. I was looking for the 2nd major stream drainage on this side that would tell me I intersecting the Mt Clinton Trail ...but I turned around before reaching it and saved that for another day.
It was a beautifull day. I enjoyed a sunny river side lunch on this day when the Dry River was anything but dry.
The return to the bridge was much faster, as I now knew my way. I almost chided myself for not pushing on a bit further...
Then again I could just revisit the condemed bridge and ask myself..how lucky do you feel today ? ...as I eyed the other side...
Someone had kindly mentioned in another posting that the suspension bridge was closed so I wanted to be sure to see what that was all about. Sure enough there was a notice posted at the Rte 302 trail head and at the Dry River Campground Trail head which leads to the Dry River Trail.
The trail was easy, mostly flat, and I was at the bridge in short order. I was expecting the bridge to be teetering on it's edge or something like that but it LOOKED to be in fine shape. That, I guess, is what would be so misleading about it. It was clearly marked as being closed because of extensive rot...but it was so tempting to cross it. Had it not been posted with a board across it
I would have crossed without a second thought. Tempted as I was, I resisted ( though if I had a little more of that "daredevil gene" maybe I would have ran across it a few times).
Instead I continued along the river bank, the river was running high with all the snowmelt and heavy rains so I did not remotely consider fording it. I know others have drowned in this river in years gone by and I had no wish to join them.
...the land slide area...
There is a trail path that starts out strong from the bridge and gradually fades out ...after about an 1/2 hr I noticed that the banking was becoming steeper on this side and most peculiarly my ice axe... which I didn't need but often bring with me and use much like a pole or cane... was sinking into the ground much like it would sink into snow.
I was easily able to sink the shaft about 1/2 way and even use it for little self belays any time I wanted better footing . It was noticeable as I edged along this sidehill with the river below. I was thinking "hmm this is a first... I wonder why this is possible?" The answer became apparent when I soon came to the edge of a landslide. I was hiking on gravell with a thin cover of forest on top !!
The slide seemed to be recent or at least part of it was recent and perhaps the other section older. As you looked up the slope the sections were of different color which I fiqured told of the different ages of the slides..The slide itself went well into the river.
Only in one spot did the slide reveal a section of ledge the rest looked for all purposes like two very big gravell pits with boulders half hanging out of them ready to tumble. I could see where different ones had shattered on the lower rocks and could pick up the splintered pieces... in other places I could see the freshly scarred boulders either nicked as they fell or as others fell into them. Still I could not tell if it had happened the night before or several months before when we had the heavy rains. The soil was saturated and unstable.
I crossed the slide low on boulders near the river...I didn't linger.
Continuing on, the slope eased away from the river and I splashed my way through side streams away from the main river. Hiking the little streams made route finding easier. I was looking for the 2nd major stream drainage on this side that would tell me I intersecting the Mt Clinton Trail ...but I turned around before reaching it and saved that for another day.
It was a beautifull day. I enjoyed a sunny river side lunch on this day when the Dry River was anything but dry.
The return to the bridge was much faster, as I now knew my way. I almost chided myself for not pushing on a bit further...
Then again I could just revisit the condemed bridge and ask myself..how lucky do you feel today ? ...as I eyed the other side...
