Howdy y'all. First post 'round here. Posted this on the sister forum last week, thought I'd share things over on this side:
The Cheney Cobble Triathlon for #100:
Leg 1: Bike in to the dam at Boreas Ponds
Leg 2: Hike the old logging roads from Boreas Ponds to White Lily Pond
Leg 3: Spruce-Swim to the summit of Cheney Cobble
…and then repeat in reverse!
My good buddy TBPDPTI and I arrived at the parking area halfway up Gulf Brook Road shortly before 6:30 AM. Minutes later we were coasting along the remaining ~3.5 miles to Boreas Ponds on our bikes. This is a great road to bike - nice, rolling hills but nothing too steep. Easy to make good time. It took about 25 minutes to reach the Dam, where we stopped to enjoy the stupendous views and stash our bikes.
We walked the ~4.0 miles on the east side of Boreas Ponds until we reached White Lily Pond. Along the way we scouted potential routes for future trips up Boreas/Boreas North, Moose Mountain and more. Lots of possibilities back there. The walking was easy with many wildflowers dotting the side and plentiful moose prints in the mud.
Oh and the bugs…Black flies + mosquitos + deer flies. All day. Relentless.
White Lily Pond is an absolute gem with excellent views of Allen and Moose Mountains as well as their reflections in the water. We followed old roads for about ~0.5 mile west of White Lily Pond until we reached the planned starting point for our bushwhack.
Our off-trail route was only ~1.2 miles from road to summit, climbing along the southeastern ridge of the mountain. It took just north of 2.5 hours. The first 1/2 mile was pretty easy and only took ~30 mins: open hardwoods with moderate grades. Lots of old logging roads criss-crossing our route. The last 1/2 mile really made us work for it. Crazy steep and at times crazy thick. A fair amount of blowdown to contend with. Femur eaters. Cliffs. Occasional views. Bugs.
Internal celebration commenced as we got within 0.1 mile of the summit proper.
Then we saw the crown.
With only ~350 lateral feet to the top, we had to climb a seemingly insurmountable wall of cliffs lined with thick spruce. Amazingly, we found a cleft which delivered us right to the fairly narrow summit ridge, although even that was a little precarious. Minutes later we were at the old canister straps marking the top. There is a ledge on the summit with an absolutely stunning view of White Lily Pond below framed by Moose Mountain, the Blake / Pinnacle Ridge, Nippletop, Dix & more. Obviously I drank a celebratory summit tallboy for #100.
For our descent, we veered to the north of our ascent route. We found more agreeable woods (for the most part) and ended up bushwhacking directly back to White Lily Pond. The woods were pretty scratchy near the pond - or maybe we were just exhausted after 5+ hours of intense bushwhacking - but it was great to finally reach the water and go for a celebratory boat ride.
We hiked out along the west side of Boreas Ponds where we found plenty more moose tracks in the mud. After being relentlessly assaulted all day long by biting insects, it was amazing to hop on the bikes and immediately leave them in the dust. We were back to the car by 4 PM, thereby completing the Cheney Cobble Triathlon.
Where do I get my medal?
Some photos: http://ift.tt/2rLDfld
The Cheney Cobble Triathlon for #100:
Leg 1: Bike in to the dam at Boreas Ponds
Leg 2: Hike the old logging roads from Boreas Ponds to White Lily Pond
Leg 3: Spruce-Swim to the summit of Cheney Cobble
…and then repeat in reverse!
My good buddy TBPDPTI and I arrived at the parking area halfway up Gulf Brook Road shortly before 6:30 AM. Minutes later we were coasting along the remaining ~3.5 miles to Boreas Ponds on our bikes. This is a great road to bike - nice, rolling hills but nothing too steep. Easy to make good time. It took about 25 minutes to reach the Dam, where we stopped to enjoy the stupendous views and stash our bikes.
We walked the ~4.0 miles on the east side of Boreas Ponds until we reached White Lily Pond. Along the way we scouted potential routes for future trips up Boreas/Boreas North, Moose Mountain and more. Lots of possibilities back there. The walking was easy with many wildflowers dotting the side and plentiful moose prints in the mud.
Oh and the bugs…Black flies + mosquitos + deer flies. All day. Relentless.
White Lily Pond is an absolute gem with excellent views of Allen and Moose Mountains as well as their reflections in the water. We followed old roads for about ~0.5 mile west of White Lily Pond until we reached the planned starting point for our bushwhack.
Our off-trail route was only ~1.2 miles from road to summit, climbing along the southeastern ridge of the mountain. It took just north of 2.5 hours. The first 1/2 mile was pretty easy and only took ~30 mins: open hardwoods with moderate grades. Lots of old logging roads criss-crossing our route. The last 1/2 mile really made us work for it. Crazy steep and at times crazy thick. A fair amount of blowdown to contend with. Femur eaters. Cliffs. Occasional views. Bugs.
Internal celebration commenced as we got within 0.1 mile of the summit proper.
Then we saw the crown.
With only ~350 lateral feet to the top, we had to climb a seemingly insurmountable wall of cliffs lined with thick spruce. Amazingly, we found a cleft which delivered us right to the fairly narrow summit ridge, although even that was a little precarious. Minutes later we were at the old canister straps marking the top. There is a ledge on the summit with an absolutely stunning view of White Lily Pond below framed by Moose Mountain, the Blake / Pinnacle Ridge, Nippletop, Dix & more. Obviously I drank a celebratory summit tallboy for #100.
For our descent, we veered to the north of our ascent route. We found more agreeable woods (for the most part) and ended up bushwhacking directly back to White Lily Pond. The woods were pretty scratchy near the pond - or maybe we were just exhausted after 5+ hours of intense bushwhacking - but it was great to finally reach the water and go for a celebratory boat ride.
We hiked out along the west side of Boreas Ponds where we found plenty more moose tracks in the mud. After being relentlessly assaulted all day long by biting insects, it was amazing to hop on the bikes and immediately leave them in the dust. We were back to the car by 4 PM, thereby completing the Cheney Cobble Triathlon.
Where do I get my medal?
Some photos: http://ift.tt/2rLDfld
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