yogi
New member
Decided, site unseen, that we would pass on attempting to ford the Hancock branch and take East Pond to the Height-of-Land and over the ridge. However, Tripoli Rd. was still gated at Russell Pond Rd. So, plan B was check on the creek level at Big Rock, and if impassable, plan C was to hike up Loon and over from there.
Low and behold, the creek is not at all high. We followed the footpath across from Big Rock used by campers to access the river. From here, we followed along the North side a few hundred feet until the river branches around a small island. Here we found an easy way to cross both branches.
Now from here I would suggest going straight for the peak, and taking the steepest way possible. This took us through open hardwoods with slight scrub patches here and there. No problem at all. It will soon level off for a short ways, and again we aimed for the steep stuff. I recommend this because if you hit the right ridge between the two ravines, the ridge that appears to climb right to the middle peak, you will be forced in to a sweet herd path. This path will take you pretty much to the canister. There are a few areas of scrub that we skirted to the right, but always worked back to the left and the highest point finding the herd path again every time. There were some very minor patches of snow here and there. There are areas that if you are on the right ridgeline heading up, you cannot possibly miss this path. At times it was like a mini knife-edge dropping off into the ravines on either side. Like I said this will put you right at the canister. With threatening weather, we chose to skip the NHHH to the east.
Now the fun begins. We accidentally fell off to the left (west) on the way down. This put us on a very steep slope with quite a lot of snow. I knew what I had done almost immediately, but the thought of backtracking was not a nice one. So we stuck it out trying to slab west. Thick scrub, lots of ice and snow, just a huge mess. We ended up in the ravine and followed the runoff creek out. This was no fun either. Short story long, 2 miles up and 4 miles down. All in all, not nearly as bad as I anticipated. Almost no blowdowns to deal with, and the ones we did were on the way down. If you can stick to this herd path this would be a nice little hike with surprisingly nice views to the North.
Anyone wanting any more information can e-mail me at [email protected].
Low and behold, the creek is not at all high. We followed the footpath across from Big Rock used by campers to access the river. From here, we followed along the North side a few hundred feet until the river branches around a small island. Here we found an easy way to cross both branches.
Now from here I would suggest going straight for the peak, and taking the steepest way possible. This took us through open hardwoods with slight scrub patches here and there. No problem at all. It will soon level off for a short ways, and again we aimed for the steep stuff. I recommend this because if you hit the right ridge between the two ravines, the ridge that appears to climb right to the middle peak, you will be forced in to a sweet herd path. This path will take you pretty much to the canister. There are a few areas of scrub that we skirted to the right, but always worked back to the left and the highest point finding the herd path again every time. There were some very minor patches of snow here and there. There are areas that if you are on the right ridgeline heading up, you cannot possibly miss this path. At times it was like a mini knife-edge dropping off into the ravines on either side. Like I said this will put you right at the canister. With threatening weather, we chose to skip the NHHH to the east.
Now the fun begins. We accidentally fell off to the left (west) on the way down. This put us on a very steep slope with quite a lot of snow. I knew what I had done almost immediately, but the thought of backtracking was not a nice one. So we stuck it out trying to slab west. Thick scrub, lots of ice and snow, just a huge mess. We ended up in the ravine and followed the runoff creek out. This was no fun either. Short story long, 2 miles up and 4 miles down. All in all, not nearly as bad as I anticipated. Almost no blowdowns to deal with, and the ones we did were on the way down. If you can stick to this herd path this would be a nice little hike with surprisingly nice views to the North.
Anyone wanting any more information can e-mail me at [email protected].
