Spent the weekend doing some “hardness training” sleeping 3 nights at Wakely Dam in the back of my Outback, drinking cold coffee laced with protein powder for breakfast and tramping through snowy woods all day. I had bins full of winter gear and went through most of it.
This weekend trip was for researching routes and logistics this winter's project.
On day one we did the Twin Blues (Blue Ridge #90 and #99 on the ADK-HH list) from the Cedar River Rd. heading for BR90 first by sliding past Round Top, which we passed to its west. Slithered on our bellies across a fallen tree over a swollen Browns Brook. Was cold, cloudy and windy all day, couldn't stop for more than 5 minutes and fought the cold constantly. Uneventful hike otherwise. Benefited from an old woods road down low as we paralleled our route between the peaks back to our inbound tracks near Browns Brook crossing. Decided for a winter attempt to not do a loop but after 99 to simply follow snowshoe trail back over 90 and out.
Very chilly night and start the next morning for the lengthy Buell-Panther-Brown Pond loop. But, no clouds, no wind and low humidity, plus the hardening of day one's hike made for a stellar hike up Buell, around the circle to Panther and finally up the steep eastern slopes of Brown Pond. Excellent research and route, after some tweaking should be dialed in. Long way home in the chilly late afternoon from Brown Pond. Lots of wide open woods with Glen 30 feet behind me with the compass keeping me on the straight and narrow. The gorgeous sunset faded to black through the various hues and shades of yellows and reds. Just as it was headlamp time we hit an excellent road and rather than stop and change clothes we jogged back to Wakely to keep warm. Once there we walked by a humongous bonfire. It was the boys annual camp-out and we invited ourselves to the party reveling in the intense heat as our hosts plied us with beer. Much easier night at -7 C.
For the final day we drove through Indian Lake (hot coffee!) and did a quick (5-6 hours) trip up Lewey in mostly open woods with blazing sun reflecting off the snow. Wore long-sleeved t-shirts most of the way.
6 peaks, none of which Glen had done, and a lot of talk that revolved around endless logistics, strategies and route ideas.
This weekend trip was for researching routes and logistics this winter's project.
On day one we did the Twin Blues (Blue Ridge #90 and #99 on the ADK-HH list) from the Cedar River Rd. heading for BR90 first by sliding past Round Top, which we passed to its west. Slithered on our bellies across a fallen tree over a swollen Browns Brook. Was cold, cloudy and windy all day, couldn't stop for more than 5 minutes and fought the cold constantly. Uneventful hike otherwise. Benefited from an old woods road down low as we paralleled our route between the peaks back to our inbound tracks near Browns Brook crossing. Decided for a winter attempt to not do a loop but after 99 to simply follow snowshoe trail back over 90 and out.
Very chilly night and start the next morning for the lengthy Buell-Panther-Brown Pond loop. But, no clouds, no wind and low humidity, plus the hardening of day one's hike made for a stellar hike up Buell, around the circle to Panther and finally up the steep eastern slopes of Brown Pond. Excellent research and route, after some tweaking should be dialed in. Long way home in the chilly late afternoon from Brown Pond. Lots of wide open woods with Glen 30 feet behind me with the compass keeping me on the straight and narrow. The gorgeous sunset faded to black through the various hues and shades of yellows and reds. Just as it was headlamp time we hit an excellent road and rather than stop and change clothes we jogged back to Wakely to keep warm. Once there we walked by a humongous bonfire. It was the boys annual camp-out and we invited ourselves to the party reveling in the intense heat as our hosts plied us with beer. Much easier night at -7 C.
For the final day we drove through Indian Lake (hot coffee!) and did a quick (5-6 hours) trip up Lewey in mostly open woods with blazing sun reflecting off the snow. Wore long-sleeved t-shirts most of the way.
6 peaks, none of which Glen had done, and a lot of talk that revolved around endless logistics, strategies and route ideas.
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