We made it to the Blue Ridge (near Indian Lake) plane crash site on Monday on our 4th attempt. There's plenty of info on the web about this c46 military twin engine plane and the coordinates can be found on a major geocaching site.
We elected to go via the Pillsbury Mountain trailhead each time to avoid fording the Miami River and because this location starts from a higher elevation but the bushwhack is about the same distance. The Old Military Road is rough going from Sled Harbor but we did it a few times in a Prius. I spoke with a group that said it's easier to access the crash site from the Calhoun Brook trail, wading across the Miami River then climbing to the crash site.
On our first attempt we tried going directly over Page Mountain on Veterans' Day 2012. Big mistake. That hill has lots of low spruce to push through. It was very hard going. We hit unexpected wet snow and ice for which we were not prepared and turned back a mile from the cache. Lots of rock bands (not the musical kind) that we climbed or went around. The second time, we went further down the Military Road trail on Memorial Day 2013. There was a freak snowstorm that year and again the mountain turned us back. It surprised us that we should need snowshoes on Memorial Day. On the third try- Veteran's day 2013 - we tried to take the ridge between Page Mountain and Stony Brook. We got soaked navigating a swamp on that ridge and decided it was unwise to continue while so wet in the cold weather. The crash has been there since 1944 and will wait for us. We were having fun in the woods even without having met our goal.
I read the ADK High Peaks Forum 6/22/13 trip report by rewind which told of an easier route from Camp 22. This is similar to one of Spencer Morrissey's Blue Ridge routes in his book The other 54 . I decided to go all the way to the first bridge and go up the ridge, hoping to find some of those herdpaths. We couldn't find Camp 22, so we backtracked on the trail to the highpoint of land, bushwhacked up near the summit of Blue Ridge, then dropped down to the crash site. We crossed a logging road on our way up but didn't see any of the herdpaths going our way. Even with only Spring leaves on the trees the gps was not reliable, we used the compass more than the gps. The 2 Garmin 62st units we used usually do very well, not this time. At higher elevations we hit thick vegetation and more cliffs. A better route might be to follow Stony Brook. I crossed right over Stony Brook hoping to intersect one of the trails mentioned in rewind's TR.
The crash site is worth visiting. It was special to be there on Memorial Day. 3 airmen lost their lives here on a training mission in 1944. We spent a little while there looking around and reading things left by others. I didn't leave a fresh flag because there are enough there already.
The crash location is just off a north shoulder of Blue Ridge and I wanted to take Stony Brook on the way out. I was overconfident and started downhill without checking the map or compass. In my preparations I had googled the coordinates and it put me on the south side of the ridge. I thought downhill would take me to the Stony Brook drainage. After about 1/2 mile when I checked my location I found I was actually on the north side of the ridge. The brook I was following was Freemont. A straight line back to the car would be the longer route as there are swamps and an amphitheater with a few ridges. We ended up angling along the steep terrain and, at higher elevations, pushing through very thick woods.
The route was beautiful though challenging. Streams, waterfalls, rock faces and Spring flowers. This time of year we had plenty of sunlight and we took occasional breaks to enjoy the remote beauty of the woods. We hit Military Road at about the same place where we left it, 1.3 miles from the car.
For those who plan to visit the crash site I'd like to point out that the east side of the mountain seems to have more deciduous trees than the same altitude on the south side. The coniferous trees on the south side made it slow going at times. Everyone else I spoke to who visited the C-46 crash site went across the Miami River and up the east face. I was told the breached beaver dam is no better than the river in fact, the river has a more solid bed.
If I were to go again from the south I think I'd start from the clearing just before the first footbridge bridge on Military Road. That looked like the most likely location of the elusive camp 22. If I couldn't find those old woods roads I'd follow Stony Brook.
We elected to go via the Pillsbury Mountain trailhead each time to avoid fording the Miami River and because this location starts from a higher elevation but the bushwhack is about the same distance. The Old Military Road is rough going from Sled Harbor but we did it a few times in a Prius. I spoke with a group that said it's easier to access the crash site from the Calhoun Brook trail, wading across the Miami River then climbing to the crash site.
On our first attempt we tried going directly over Page Mountain on Veterans' Day 2012. Big mistake. That hill has lots of low spruce to push through. It was very hard going. We hit unexpected wet snow and ice for which we were not prepared and turned back a mile from the cache. Lots of rock bands (not the musical kind) that we climbed or went around. The second time, we went further down the Military Road trail on Memorial Day 2013. There was a freak snowstorm that year and again the mountain turned us back. It surprised us that we should need snowshoes on Memorial Day. On the third try- Veteran's day 2013 - we tried to take the ridge between Page Mountain and Stony Brook. We got soaked navigating a swamp on that ridge and decided it was unwise to continue while so wet in the cold weather. The crash has been there since 1944 and will wait for us. We were having fun in the woods even without having met our goal.
I read the ADK High Peaks Forum 6/22/13 trip report by rewind which told of an easier route from Camp 22. This is similar to one of Spencer Morrissey's Blue Ridge routes in his book The other 54 . I decided to go all the way to the first bridge and go up the ridge, hoping to find some of those herdpaths. We couldn't find Camp 22, so we backtracked on the trail to the highpoint of land, bushwhacked up near the summit of Blue Ridge, then dropped down to the crash site. We crossed a logging road on our way up but didn't see any of the herdpaths going our way. Even with only Spring leaves on the trees the gps was not reliable, we used the compass more than the gps. The 2 Garmin 62st units we used usually do very well, not this time. At higher elevations we hit thick vegetation and more cliffs. A better route might be to follow Stony Brook. I crossed right over Stony Brook hoping to intersect one of the trails mentioned in rewind's TR.
The crash site is worth visiting. It was special to be there on Memorial Day. 3 airmen lost their lives here on a training mission in 1944. We spent a little while there looking around and reading things left by others. I didn't leave a fresh flag because there are enough there already.
The crash location is just off a north shoulder of Blue Ridge and I wanted to take Stony Brook on the way out. I was overconfident and started downhill without checking the map or compass. In my preparations I had googled the coordinates and it put me on the south side of the ridge. I thought downhill would take me to the Stony Brook drainage. After about 1/2 mile when I checked my location I found I was actually on the north side of the ridge. The brook I was following was Freemont. A straight line back to the car would be the longer route as there are swamps and an amphitheater with a few ridges. We ended up angling along the steep terrain and, at higher elevations, pushing through very thick woods.
The route was beautiful though challenging. Streams, waterfalls, rock faces and Spring flowers. This time of year we had plenty of sunlight and we took occasional breaks to enjoy the remote beauty of the woods. We hit Military Road at about the same place where we left it, 1.3 miles from the car.
For those who plan to visit the crash site I'd like to point out that the east side of the mountain seems to have more deciduous trees than the same altitude on the south side. The coniferous trees on the south side made it slow going at times. Everyone else I spoke to who visited the C-46 crash site went across the Miami River and up the east face. I was told the breached beaver dam is no better than the river in fact, the river has a more solid bed.
If I were to go again from the south I think I'd start from the clearing just before the first footbridge bridge on Military Road. That looked like the most likely location of the elusive camp 22. If I couldn't find those old woods roads I'd follow Stony Brook.
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