bubba
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Santanoni FUN! Extra!! Jeff makes 46!!
Santanoni’s and FUN! – could it be??
The interest started from a Teejay VFTT thread about Seymour. Looked like he was out bagging 46’s. I wanted him to know that I was headed for the Santanoni’s the last weekend of July and that there was company to be had for those “needing” these remote peaks (high and otherwise).
We nearly had a planned party with JoeBoy, Mcorsar, slamdog and HarryK but three had to bail for varying reasons. The three musketeers not Tom, Dick and Harry but Teejay, bubba and slamdog laid plans for FUN!
I picked up Teejay at his home in central NY on my way through and met the lovely Ms Teejay! Took off and headed for the Mtns mid-day Friday. Got to the Tahawas trailhead and tried organizing packs including the first time use of my new BearVault canister. A new packing experience and a learned lesson down the trail – I needed to repack the pack and lower all of the gear so the weight was lower in the pack and off my shoulders (I was going lite at 35-ish pounds – Help! I need lessons!). ETD: around 5:45PM heading for the Bradley Pond Lean-to.
As I imagined, this year’s warm weather has “helped” the Bradley Pond Trail… but it’s still WET and sloppy!! I can’t imagine doing this during a wet spell. I’ve renamed it The Forgotten Trail and anyone who has been on it, understands exactly how fitting this name is (rotted corduroy, no drainage work, wide walk-arounds, etc.—and it’s a maintained trail?) But remember we were out to have fun so take your pick of fun things to do – rock jumping, puddle hopping – it was great! As we passed the cut-off to the Panther Brook herd path and neared the Lean-to I did a log-rolling stunt and tested the murky water/sludge up over my right knee!!
There was room at the lean-to and space near to camp – I opted for soft tenting and Teejay the L/T. We joined a solo MD from Chenango Falls and another couple (Teejay and I can’t remember where they were from) – nice couple. Although they just met, Doc and the couple had hiked the trio of waiting peaks (Panther, Couchsachraga and Santanoni) earlier in the day. The one good piece of advice that they shared was that we needed to pack in plenty of water, as there was NOT water throughout the hike. They had gone through nearly all of the water that they had taken in.
Sleep deprived for the last three days, I headed to the sack early after a quick lite dinner. Plans were to meet up with our VFTT buddy slamdog at 8AM at the junction. Up early, but barely early enough – Teejay and I headed to the trailhead and met up with slamdog aka, Lance. We headed up Panther Brook and followed a very well established herd path upward along Panther Mtn’s rocky flanks. This is a great trail – plenty of elevation gained and just keeps you in an uphill grind. As chance would have it, it seemed that the three of us VFTT’s shared a compatible pace as well as easy conversation – Lance and Teejay had plenty of mutual friends from the Syracuse area – both living in far suburban areas of the Orangeman’s home.
We easily found ourselves at “Harold Square” – the stop before Times Square. There are two distinct trails from the monument rock that stands at the “junction”. One to the right heads over to Panther and going to the left will take you to Times Square. (NOTE: There is a marking “<--S “ scratched in the rock. One would think that only Santanoni is in that direction – this is misleading and I wish someone would put a “T” before the “S” so all knew that Times Square is that-a-way). Several false paths have been very obviously “brushed in”. The true trails are distinct. We headed for Panther and were greeted with open rock space and the summit in a very short while. The views back to the eastern High peaks were exceptional on this wonderfully mostly sunny, low humidity and perfect hiking day!! One could easily call out the peaks and ranges – with tell-tale Wallface out in front showing his/her towering walls for all (well, nearly all – anybody have a map and compass??).
On the summit we had the first chance of the day to greet some fellow hikers. Teejay informed us that he was hanging back due to aches in the hips – and Lance and I joined forces with Jeff and Mark, two fit-looking, Burlington, VT-based guys heading out for the same remaining peaks (Lance, BTW was only after Couchy as he had previously summited P and S).
Once again, chance played out well as the four of us seemed to make pace together. Heading out of Time Square (nearly a 4K’r itself) drops you into a col between itself and Couchy. This is a fairly long drop in elevation, but the trail skirts around the hip and comes around to the infamous swamp or bog below Couchy – threatening all to find a suitable route. Thanks to VFTT’r Gandalf’s Trail Report posted 7-26 highlighting his 7-23 hike to our current destination I had the inside knowledge that we needed to go straight on a timber directly in front of us and head over to the other/right side. Excellent! No time wasted here!! Others we had, and will talk to during this hiking day will share tales of missing the trail, getting lost or abandoning the attempt. Good posting, Gandalf!!
Couchy’s peak is… well… below others. The least of the 46, we could say. Certainly we continue to see fine vistas over to the north of Seymour and the Seward Range. The views -- cascaded peaks behind peaks throughout the day. A fine day to be where we were as we enjoyed getting to know new people and share lunch together. BTW, neither Jeff nor Mark had visited VFTT – they heard all about it from slamdog and bubba (we think we made them believers…)
The trip back was a burn back up the col up to TS. Let’s call this a peak too! In casual conversation coming off Couchsachraga, doesn’t Burlington Jeff mention that Santanoni will be his 46th peak!! Are You Kidding Me?!? Hell – where do you buy Champagne on this mountain? I am now in a place of honor… and Jeff doesn’t appreciate how “we” seek to share our triumphs. This day is getting better by the minute!! Wait – Jeff pulls a leg muscle on the way up to TS – we all stop… halt… and gasp. Is this a peak threatening injury??? He’s winching… come-on my new friend – we have a peak to climb!! My now cast-off “old” friend, Lance aka slamdog, stands there – is this a guy who would rub Jeff’s inner thigh?? Naw… he’ll let him suffer!! (Besides, Mark is the physician in the group and we’re leaving that up to his trained hands!!) I’ll give Jeff credit – he did pull something, but he also pulled it together and we made it up to TS sans tears or whimpers. (Note, along this part of the tour we passed several hikers that were on the trail today).
Top off to Times Square and whose familiar face is waiting but Teejay!! We regroup and fix Jeff up with some salt and whatever else we thought might be good for him. We share more company at the square and soon head off south around the rock toward Santanoni. (BTW, Once you are in TS – if you’ve read anything at all it is very straightforward. This is not tough at all!) Teejay and Lance join forces and head back off the range. Lance is driving back to Speculator to re-group for his next 9-days in the high peak region. My new buddies and I head off for the crowning gem in Jeff’s quest -- again, we drop off into a col between TS and the destination peak. The trail is well-defined and fairly soft coming down and back up to a pre-summit and then to Santanoni itself. A rock face with excellent views hangs just below the signed summit. CONGRATULATIONS JEFF!! Another, the NEWEST – ADK 46r!! Listen up folks – 32 years in the making!!! Newly wed, this professional commercial photographer can now go out and get a LIFE!! And, let’s hear it for Mark – we all need a good friend like him to carry us through our life experiences with support and friendship. So now that we’re arrived, celebrated and taken in the magnificent views – no Champagne, no flags, nor cheering crowds – lets do a mountain top snooze!! Well done and deserved.
Okay – hit the trail. Back to TS – one of those surprise tops – I couldn’t believe we got there as soon as we did! Around TS and out past Harold Square and down Panther’s side. Wow – we climbed ALL this earlier today?? We were all surprised how much down we did to get out. A stop in Panther Brook’s great, cool swimming hole gave us a chance to cool down, freshen up and replenish energy and water. A great stop!
The final push out and down to the Forgotten Trail, muck and floating timbers (that’s it – a moat around our campsite!). Campers around and greetings from all!
I find Teejay with dinner nearly prepared! This is a life, huh?? How come nobody told me to pack red wine? (Note to self…) We have new Lean-to mates – Sarah and Darrell (VFFT member ADackR) with their chocolate lab, Schala. We had a delightful time dining together... and learned plenty from this very trial-wise couple. Sarah dehydrates spaghetti sauce, prep’s dinner with seasoned olive oil and grilled pita/cheese breads. (Did I mention red wine?) A very interesting time-shared among us. Thanks to both – see you on the trail??
CONTINUED -- I didn't know there was a character limit...
Santanoni’s and FUN! – could it be??
The interest started from a Teejay VFTT thread about Seymour. Looked like he was out bagging 46’s. I wanted him to know that I was headed for the Santanoni’s the last weekend of July and that there was company to be had for those “needing” these remote peaks (high and otherwise).
We nearly had a planned party with JoeBoy, Mcorsar, slamdog and HarryK but three had to bail for varying reasons. The three musketeers not Tom, Dick and Harry but Teejay, bubba and slamdog laid plans for FUN!
I picked up Teejay at his home in central NY on my way through and met the lovely Ms Teejay! Took off and headed for the Mtns mid-day Friday. Got to the Tahawas trailhead and tried organizing packs including the first time use of my new BearVault canister. A new packing experience and a learned lesson down the trail – I needed to repack the pack and lower all of the gear so the weight was lower in the pack and off my shoulders (I was going lite at 35-ish pounds – Help! I need lessons!). ETD: around 5:45PM heading for the Bradley Pond Lean-to.
As I imagined, this year’s warm weather has “helped” the Bradley Pond Trail… but it’s still WET and sloppy!! I can’t imagine doing this during a wet spell. I’ve renamed it The Forgotten Trail and anyone who has been on it, understands exactly how fitting this name is (rotted corduroy, no drainage work, wide walk-arounds, etc.—and it’s a maintained trail?) But remember we were out to have fun so take your pick of fun things to do – rock jumping, puddle hopping – it was great! As we passed the cut-off to the Panther Brook herd path and neared the Lean-to I did a log-rolling stunt and tested the murky water/sludge up over my right knee!!
There was room at the lean-to and space near to camp – I opted for soft tenting and Teejay the L/T. We joined a solo MD from Chenango Falls and another couple (Teejay and I can’t remember where they were from) – nice couple. Although they just met, Doc and the couple had hiked the trio of waiting peaks (Panther, Couchsachraga and Santanoni) earlier in the day. The one good piece of advice that they shared was that we needed to pack in plenty of water, as there was NOT water throughout the hike. They had gone through nearly all of the water that they had taken in.
Sleep deprived for the last three days, I headed to the sack early after a quick lite dinner. Plans were to meet up with our VFTT buddy slamdog at 8AM at the junction. Up early, but barely early enough – Teejay and I headed to the trailhead and met up with slamdog aka, Lance. We headed up Panther Brook and followed a very well established herd path upward along Panther Mtn’s rocky flanks. This is a great trail – plenty of elevation gained and just keeps you in an uphill grind. As chance would have it, it seemed that the three of us VFTT’s shared a compatible pace as well as easy conversation – Lance and Teejay had plenty of mutual friends from the Syracuse area – both living in far suburban areas of the Orangeman’s home.
We easily found ourselves at “Harold Square” – the stop before Times Square. There are two distinct trails from the monument rock that stands at the “junction”. One to the right heads over to Panther and going to the left will take you to Times Square. (NOTE: There is a marking “<--S “ scratched in the rock. One would think that only Santanoni is in that direction – this is misleading and I wish someone would put a “T” before the “S” so all knew that Times Square is that-a-way). Several false paths have been very obviously “brushed in”. The true trails are distinct. We headed for Panther and were greeted with open rock space and the summit in a very short while. The views back to the eastern High peaks were exceptional on this wonderfully mostly sunny, low humidity and perfect hiking day!! One could easily call out the peaks and ranges – with tell-tale Wallface out in front showing his/her towering walls for all (well, nearly all – anybody have a map and compass??).
On the summit we had the first chance of the day to greet some fellow hikers. Teejay informed us that he was hanging back due to aches in the hips – and Lance and I joined forces with Jeff and Mark, two fit-looking, Burlington, VT-based guys heading out for the same remaining peaks (Lance, BTW was only after Couchy as he had previously summited P and S).
Once again, chance played out well as the four of us seemed to make pace together. Heading out of Time Square (nearly a 4K’r itself) drops you into a col between itself and Couchy. This is a fairly long drop in elevation, but the trail skirts around the hip and comes around to the infamous swamp or bog below Couchy – threatening all to find a suitable route. Thanks to VFTT’r Gandalf’s Trail Report posted 7-26 highlighting his 7-23 hike to our current destination I had the inside knowledge that we needed to go straight on a timber directly in front of us and head over to the other/right side. Excellent! No time wasted here!! Others we had, and will talk to during this hiking day will share tales of missing the trail, getting lost or abandoning the attempt. Good posting, Gandalf!!
Couchy’s peak is… well… below others. The least of the 46, we could say. Certainly we continue to see fine vistas over to the north of Seymour and the Seward Range. The views -- cascaded peaks behind peaks throughout the day. A fine day to be where we were as we enjoyed getting to know new people and share lunch together. BTW, neither Jeff nor Mark had visited VFTT – they heard all about it from slamdog and bubba (we think we made them believers…)
The trip back was a burn back up the col up to TS. Let’s call this a peak too! In casual conversation coming off Couchsachraga, doesn’t Burlington Jeff mention that Santanoni will be his 46th peak!! Are You Kidding Me?!? Hell – where do you buy Champagne on this mountain? I am now in a place of honor… and Jeff doesn’t appreciate how “we” seek to share our triumphs. This day is getting better by the minute!! Wait – Jeff pulls a leg muscle on the way up to TS – we all stop… halt… and gasp. Is this a peak threatening injury??? He’s winching… come-on my new friend – we have a peak to climb!! My now cast-off “old” friend, Lance aka slamdog, stands there – is this a guy who would rub Jeff’s inner thigh?? Naw… he’ll let him suffer!! (Besides, Mark is the physician in the group and we’re leaving that up to his trained hands!!) I’ll give Jeff credit – he did pull something, but he also pulled it together and we made it up to TS sans tears or whimpers. (Note, along this part of the tour we passed several hikers that were on the trail today).
Top off to Times Square and whose familiar face is waiting but Teejay!! We regroup and fix Jeff up with some salt and whatever else we thought might be good for him. We share more company at the square and soon head off south around the rock toward Santanoni. (BTW, Once you are in TS – if you’ve read anything at all it is very straightforward. This is not tough at all!) Teejay and Lance join forces and head back off the range. Lance is driving back to Speculator to re-group for his next 9-days in the high peak region. My new buddies and I head off for the crowning gem in Jeff’s quest -- again, we drop off into a col between TS and the destination peak. The trail is well-defined and fairly soft coming down and back up to a pre-summit and then to Santanoni itself. A rock face with excellent views hangs just below the signed summit. CONGRATULATIONS JEFF!! Another, the NEWEST – ADK 46r!! Listen up folks – 32 years in the making!!! Newly wed, this professional commercial photographer can now go out and get a LIFE!! And, let’s hear it for Mark – we all need a good friend like him to carry us through our life experiences with support and friendship. So now that we’re arrived, celebrated and taken in the magnificent views – no Champagne, no flags, nor cheering crowds – lets do a mountain top snooze!! Well done and deserved.
Okay – hit the trail. Back to TS – one of those surprise tops – I couldn’t believe we got there as soon as we did! Around TS and out past Harold Square and down Panther’s side. Wow – we climbed ALL this earlier today?? We were all surprised how much down we did to get out. A stop in Panther Brook’s great, cool swimming hole gave us a chance to cool down, freshen up and replenish energy and water. A great stop!
The final push out and down to the Forgotten Trail, muck and floating timbers (that’s it – a moat around our campsite!). Campers around and greetings from all!
I find Teejay with dinner nearly prepared! This is a life, huh?? How come nobody told me to pack red wine? (Note to self…) We have new Lean-to mates – Sarah and Darrell (VFFT member ADackR) with their chocolate lab, Schala. We had a delightful time dining together... and learned plenty from this very trial-wise couple. Sarah dehydrates spaghetti sauce, prep’s dinner with seasoned olive oil and grilled pita/cheese breads. (Did I mention red wine?) A very interesting time-shared among us. Thanks to both – see you on the trail??
CONTINUED -- I didn't know there was a character limit...
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