Neil
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- Apr 26, 2004
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Modern man is hard-wired to be a hunter and a caveman but very recently we have had to learn to run our brains on modern, civilized software, which is still in beta testing mode. Otherwise, we’d be living alone in damp caves with no money and no women or we’d be in jail. Once in a while (ie. often) we need to shut down most of this complicated and buggy software, revert to ancient patterns and run free on our basic hard-wiring. This might explain why people indulge in peakpagging and other seemingly useless activities such as camping, fishing and golf.
On Tuesday, I was answering the call of my primitive urges, albeit in a contrived and limited sense, by pursuing my 28th bushwhacked High Peak. My prey: Lower Wolf Jaw. To achieve increased stimulation of my caveman brain I eschewed GPS technology and carried only a map and a compass along with a photograph of LWJ. The photo I carried was taken from Big Slide by Gregory Karl and he had posted it on the internet. In order to further enhance my contrived return to prehistoric brain activity I added on a couple of goals. My first, a warm-up and rather easy challenge, was a 3000 foot bump, which I’ll call LWJ Northwest. Secondly, and much more challenging and interesting would be to attempt to find a set of dramatic looking cliffs (my guess from the picture was point B on the map linked to above) on LWJ’s north-east side at about 3800 feet. What differentiated me from a true caveman hunter was that my prey was not living and it didn’t matter one bit if I had a successful hunt or not. My woman didn’t care if I brought meat back to the cave. She would be happy if I came home in one piece and went to work the next day.
Hiking in on the North Side trail I got some decent views of my entire plan through the Beech leaves. I had never noticed the cliffs while going up Bennies Brook Slide or while hiking the Johns Brook trail in winter but they were quite impressive. Having gotten a good look at my prey I felt a rush of adrenaline juice me just like my ancient ancestors must have experienced prior to going out on their hunts.
Crossing the bridge by the ranger station showed me what I heard all the way in on the trail – a swollen Johns Brook. It took me 7 minutes to walk downstream to Wolf Jaw Brook, the starting point of the hunt for my 28th High Peak bushwhack.
I had planned on deviating away from the brook right away at a 40 degree angle but it was so beautiful that I followed it for about 20 minutes along wide slabs of open rock taking many pictures. Then I left it for the open hardwood forest using the direction of the slope of the land as a guide to work my way back to my originally planned trajectory. I got glimpses of my 3000 foot bump through the leaves and dialed the direction in to my compass. When the slope’s pitch suddenly increased I was able to use that terrain feature to pinpoint myself on my map. Going up the bump was quite steep and there was lots of decomposing blowdown partially filling in and obscuring the holes between the boulders that littered its flanks. I got some great views off to the north of Big Slide and Yard and further over to the west I could see Howard and Tabletop. Big Slide and Yard would serve as altimeters for a large portion of my hike.
I also got nice views of the Skinny Slide on Upper Wolf Jaw and up to the ridgeline I planned on following. After dropping 50 feet into a tiny col I was surrounded by pretty birch trees that rapidly gave way to scraggly but well-spaced conifers. Then the woods gradually got thicker and thicker and where the ridge flattens out (and where the winds must pound it alternatively from east and west) it was extremely thick with copious amounts of blowdown but it didn’t really bother me because I had lots of time and was totally focussed on finding the cliffs higher up. And of course the woods opened up again a little further on.
I decided it was time to move off the ridgeline and began side-hilling towards my left. I began to see daylight through the trees and found myself overlooking the Bennies Brook Basin but saw no sign of the cliffs. Attempting to find them from above was starting to feel like looking for a needle in a haystack and I started to think I was wasting my time. However, I could see the slide below me and I could also see up to the lesser north-eastern summit of LWJ. I spent a lot of time studying the photograph I had and my map and continued hugging the very steep walls of the ridge, moving very slowly upwards. Several times I cut back directly up the fall-line towards the ridge crest and then made 90 degree left turns towards daylight. I checked my photo and the map over and over again and finally could see nothing but air below me. I very cautiously crept out to the edge of the woods and there I was, at the very edge of the top of my cliffs. I had a cross view of the steeply sloping bare rock that fell away to vertical and disappeared below. Just below me the forest went from thick woods to nothing but air and I proceeded gingerly and with utmost caution to the very edge. There I stood next to a stout tree that appeared to be defying the laws of gravity and snapped a series of pictures before retreating to safety. I repeated this again at the top of a second cliff before heading up to the crest of the ridge. Like a successful hunter I felt a deep sense of satisfaction at having found the cliffs and shooting the pictures I wanted.
Now, I turned my attention to the summit. To get directly under it I planned on cross-sloping on the 1200 meter contour line on my map, which was identifiable on the ground as a sudden steepening of the Lower Wolf Jaw’s flanks. I pushed the button on my watch and after 10 minutes made a 45-degree turn uphill and continued along this rough course until I hit the path one minute from the summit. I tagged it and immediately turned around and walked on the marked trail for 10 minutes until I reached the very obvious Bennies Slide herdpath. I have been up the slide twice but never down it. Higher up it was ledgy, well grown in or sandy and it was easy to descend quickly. Lower down it broadened out and there was much more open rock. It was deadly slippery for the most part and I had to proceed with extreme caution. The highlight was getting to the split in the slide and observing the cliffs where I had been just a short while earlier. I sat down and ate my lunch and took pictures. After that it was an easy walk to the end of the slide and out to the trail along the herd path.
It took 4 hours to bushwhack up to the summit from the trail and 1½ to get back down. The walks in and out each took about 1¼ hours for a total time of 8 hours. After loading my modern-man software I drove home in my air-conditioned car listening to Beethoven’s 9th symphony on the CD player. It was a great day.
I had a good time taking these pictures. Don't forget to hit F11 for best viewing. (Mac users: Command-Shift-F)
On Tuesday, I was answering the call of my primitive urges, albeit in a contrived and limited sense, by pursuing my 28th bushwhacked High Peak. My prey: Lower Wolf Jaw. To achieve increased stimulation of my caveman brain I eschewed GPS technology and carried only a map and a compass along with a photograph of LWJ. The photo I carried was taken from Big Slide by Gregory Karl and he had posted it on the internet. In order to further enhance my contrived return to prehistoric brain activity I added on a couple of goals. My first, a warm-up and rather easy challenge, was a 3000 foot bump, which I’ll call LWJ Northwest. Secondly, and much more challenging and interesting would be to attempt to find a set of dramatic looking cliffs (my guess from the picture was point B on the map linked to above) on LWJ’s north-east side at about 3800 feet. What differentiated me from a true caveman hunter was that my prey was not living and it didn’t matter one bit if I had a successful hunt or not. My woman didn’t care if I brought meat back to the cave. She would be happy if I came home in one piece and went to work the next day.
Hiking in on the North Side trail I got some decent views of my entire plan through the Beech leaves. I had never noticed the cliffs while going up Bennies Brook Slide or while hiking the Johns Brook trail in winter but they were quite impressive. Having gotten a good look at my prey I felt a rush of adrenaline juice me just like my ancient ancestors must have experienced prior to going out on their hunts.
Crossing the bridge by the ranger station showed me what I heard all the way in on the trail – a swollen Johns Brook. It took me 7 minutes to walk downstream to Wolf Jaw Brook, the starting point of the hunt for my 28th High Peak bushwhack.
I had planned on deviating away from the brook right away at a 40 degree angle but it was so beautiful that I followed it for about 20 minutes along wide slabs of open rock taking many pictures. Then I left it for the open hardwood forest using the direction of the slope of the land as a guide to work my way back to my originally planned trajectory. I got glimpses of my 3000 foot bump through the leaves and dialed the direction in to my compass. When the slope’s pitch suddenly increased I was able to use that terrain feature to pinpoint myself on my map. Going up the bump was quite steep and there was lots of decomposing blowdown partially filling in and obscuring the holes between the boulders that littered its flanks. I got some great views off to the north of Big Slide and Yard and further over to the west I could see Howard and Tabletop. Big Slide and Yard would serve as altimeters for a large portion of my hike.
I also got nice views of the Skinny Slide on Upper Wolf Jaw and up to the ridgeline I planned on following. After dropping 50 feet into a tiny col I was surrounded by pretty birch trees that rapidly gave way to scraggly but well-spaced conifers. Then the woods gradually got thicker and thicker and where the ridge flattens out (and where the winds must pound it alternatively from east and west) it was extremely thick with copious amounts of blowdown but it didn’t really bother me because I had lots of time and was totally focussed on finding the cliffs higher up. And of course the woods opened up again a little further on.
I decided it was time to move off the ridgeline and began side-hilling towards my left. I began to see daylight through the trees and found myself overlooking the Bennies Brook Basin but saw no sign of the cliffs. Attempting to find them from above was starting to feel like looking for a needle in a haystack and I started to think I was wasting my time. However, I could see the slide below me and I could also see up to the lesser north-eastern summit of LWJ. I spent a lot of time studying the photograph I had and my map and continued hugging the very steep walls of the ridge, moving very slowly upwards. Several times I cut back directly up the fall-line towards the ridge crest and then made 90 degree left turns towards daylight. I checked my photo and the map over and over again and finally could see nothing but air below me. I very cautiously crept out to the edge of the woods and there I was, at the very edge of the top of my cliffs. I had a cross view of the steeply sloping bare rock that fell away to vertical and disappeared below. Just below me the forest went from thick woods to nothing but air and I proceeded gingerly and with utmost caution to the very edge. There I stood next to a stout tree that appeared to be defying the laws of gravity and snapped a series of pictures before retreating to safety. I repeated this again at the top of a second cliff before heading up to the crest of the ridge. Like a successful hunter I felt a deep sense of satisfaction at having found the cliffs and shooting the pictures I wanted.
Now, I turned my attention to the summit. To get directly under it I planned on cross-sloping on the 1200 meter contour line on my map, which was identifiable on the ground as a sudden steepening of the Lower Wolf Jaw’s flanks. I pushed the button on my watch and after 10 minutes made a 45-degree turn uphill and continued along this rough course until I hit the path one minute from the summit. I tagged it and immediately turned around and walked on the marked trail for 10 minutes until I reached the very obvious Bennies Slide herdpath. I have been up the slide twice but never down it. Higher up it was ledgy, well grown in or sandy and it was easy to descend quickly. Lower down it broadened out and there was much more open rock. It was deadly slippery for the most part and I had to proceed with extreme caution. The highlight was getting to the split in the slide and observing the cliffs where I had been just a short while earlier. I sat down and ate my lunch and took pictures. After that it was an easy walk to the end of the slide and out to the trail along the herd path.
It took 4 hours to bushwhack up to the summit from the trail and 1½ to get back down. The walks in and out each took about 1¼ hours for a total time of 8 hours. After loading my modern-man software I drove home in my air-conditioned car listening to Beethoven’s 9th symphony on the CD player. It was a great day.
I had a good time taking these pictures. Don't forget to hit F11 for best viewing. (Mac users: Command-Shift-F)
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