HummingBird
01-25-2010, 01:58 PM
On Saturday 01/23/10, I had the pleasure of hiking with Rik, Julie (cantdog), Pete Hickey and Dale Fox (BigD). We all met in the parking lot around 6am and started out on the trail about 6:15am. I began hiking with many layers on and assumed I’d be stopping shortly, after I warmed up. Although it turned out I would keep these layers on for a few more hours! Pete mentioned that the thermometer in his car read -3˚F in the parking lot.
The snow crunched loudly underfoot and we had to stop if we wanted to talk to each other instead of screaming “What?” back and forth! As we passed the Mt Adams trail junction, Rik stopped and pointed out the wonderful view of the Santanonis in the beginning light of the day. The sun was not up yet but the snow on the Santanoni Range seemed to glow in the transition between moonlight and sunlight.
As we made our way to the start of the herdpath, I reminisced about when I was here breaking trail on Jan 3rd. The nicely packed trail and the consolidated snow was completely opposite from a few week ago. Places that we now just breezed through, I remembered the fluffy snow and drifts that were much deeper.
After crossing the Opalescent we stopped for a bite to eat. My fingers didn’t get cold until we started moving again but then they felt very cold and didn’t seem to be warming up. I stopped and put on my down mittens. I knew that would do the trick! Although surprisingly it still took 10 or 15 minutes before my fingers felt better.
Around 8:45am we were at the turn for the herdpath. The sun was finally starting to shine and it was glistening on all the icy tree branches. It was still some time before we started climbing a bit and I started to warm up enough to take some layers off.
I was anxious to see the point where Tom and I had turned around a few weeks earlier. Dale had told me about a spot where he had spent some time wandering around on this trail previously and I suspected it was the same place I had wandered around. As we neared the place where I had turned around on Jan 3rd, I noticed that the broken trail followed my wandering tracks and then wandered some more before we finally got past that part and back to where the herdpath was more evident.
By then Pete had told us to go ahead and not wait for him. So the four of us continued on and soon were at the steep section past Skylight brook. The first part of this section went up and down a bit with many obstacles such as branches and rocks. It would have been nice to have a bit more snow covering this section but I’m certainly not complaining! I was wondering if I’d be able to use my butt-slider because this section seemed pretty treacherous. As we got farther up the trail, the snow cover was better and the obstacles lessened. This would be prefect for the butt-slider!
We noticed smiley faces and messages such as “Fun yet?” that had been left in the snow by previous groups. I also noticed that my thigh muscles were actually sore. They had felt fine walking around at home but apparently they had not fully recuperated from the 34 miles I had done Sunday and Monday. As I climbed the slide, my thighs screamed at me to stop and I just screamed back to them to keep on going!
I took some extra breaks climbing the steep section to rest my thighs. While doing so we looked behind us and saw some great views to which Rik aptly named all the peaks we were seeing. The skies were perfectly blue and the views were crystal clear. There couldn’t be a better day to hike Allen. When I hiked Allen in the summer, I saw nothing but clouds and a mud puddle on top. This trip was already ten times better!
We climbed up the rest of the slide and once it leveled off I knew we were really close to the summit. We stopped briefly and a voice came out of the woods to my right “you’re about 10 feet from the summit.” I just about jumped out of my skin! I hadn’t realized that the solo hiker that had passed us a few hours earlier was there just off the trail about 5 feet to my right! I had wondered earlier when we’d see him coming down but at that moment I had forgot I hadn’t seen him yet.
I bounced up the last few feet of trail until I saw the sign proclaiming the summit of Allen Mountain. “Forty-One! Woo Hoo!” Now that I made it to the summit (12:45pm), my next quest was to find these views that people had told me were there. Rik went down one way and Dale went another. I took a couple quick pictures, grabbed some food and followed Rik down to a ledge overlooking the Dix Range and Dial/Nippletop/Colvin/Blake. Before too long, Dale and Julie joined us. This was so much better than I had imagined! It actually makes climbing Allen on a nice day totally worth it!
Next we headed in the direction Dale had first went from the summit. From there we could see Marcy, Haystack and Panther Gorge. We proceeded back to the summit to make sure we had all the appropriate summit photos before we left and Julie and I got out our butt-sliders. Dale and Rik went ahead while I explained to Julie how to steer and control your speed on the sled since she had never used one before.
We started out on a wooded section near the summit before going out onto the slide so she could get a feel for it. Then I started zooming down the trail and quickly caught up to Dale and Rik. I dug in my snowshoes and poles to stop while they politely stepped off the trail so I could shoot by. Whoosh and there I go! I kept my speed under control since it was pretty steep and there was now another group coming up the trail. A few times I had to stop so I didn’t run over anyone! I actually had to stop in the middle of the slide and it was just a great place to sit and enjoy the views! Then, whoosh and I was at the bottom of the slide. Next came Rik sliding down without a sled, then Dale and finally Julie.
Going up that slide I was wondering if I really wanted to come sliding down since it was so steep. But it was awesome! Julie and I put our sleds away since the next section was full of branches and rocks. It was easier to just walk it rather than try to sled. When we got back to Skylight Brook we all wondered when we would meet back up with Pete. We thought that maybe we’d meet him there but figured he must have started walking back by now.
We got back to the wandering section of trail and were glad to see Pete just a head of us. He told us he had made it a ways up the trail but then decided it was time to start back. I think his knees were bothering him. I went ahead with Rik and Dale, while Julie stayed back with Pete.
I knew the walk out would be long and I expected it. But it actually seemed to go quicker than I had anticipated! That’s always good! I listen to Rik and Dale discuss music while I worried a bit because my feet were starting to feel tender again. I was afraid I’d end up hobbling out but some aspirin seemed to help.
Before I knew it we were at the Mt Adams junction again and I knew we weren’t far from the parking lot now! It was getting close to dark but we were so close that no one really wanted to stop to get headlamps out. We got back to the parking lot at 5:25pm with no headlamps needed!
Click here for pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=146935&id=577661105&l=062fd7cfaf
The snow crunched loudly underfoot and we had to stop if we wanted to talk to each other instead of screaming “What?” back and forth! As we passed the Mt Adams trail junction, Rik stopped and pointed out the wonderful view of the Santanonis in the beginning light of the day. The sun was not up yet but the snow on the Santanoni Range seemed to glow in the transition between moonlight and sunlight.
As we made our way to the start of the herdpath, I reminisced about when I was here breaking trail on Jan 3rd. The nicely packed trail and the consolidated snow was completely opposite from a few week ago. Places that we now just breezed through, I remembered the fluffy snow and drifts that were much deeper.
After crossing the Opalescent we stopped for a bite to eat. My fingers didn’t get cold until we started moving again but then they felt very cold and didn’t seem to be warming up. I stopped and put on my down mittens. I knew that would do the trick! Although surprisingly it still took 10 or 15 minutes before my fingers felt better.
Around 8:45am we were at the turn for the herdpath. The sun was finally starting to shine and it was glistening on all the icy tree branches. It was still some time before we started climbing a bit and I started to warm up enough to take some layers off.
I was anxious to see the point where Tom and I had turned around a few weeks earlier. Dale had told me about a spot where he had spent some time wandering around on this trail previously and I suspected it was the same place I had wandered around. As we neared the place where I had turned around on Jan 3rd, I noticed that the broken trail followed my wandering tracks and then wandered some more before we finally got past that part and back to where the herdpath was more evident.
By then Pete had told us to go ahead and not wait for him. So the four of us continued on and soon were at the steep section past Skylight brook. The first part of this section went up and down a bit with many obstacles such as branches and rocks. It would have been nice to have a bit more snow covering this section but I’m certainly not complaining! I was wondering if I’d be able to use my butt-slider because this section seemed pretty treacherous. As we got farther up the trail, the snow cover was better and the obstacles lessened. This would be prefect for the butt-slider!
We noticed smiley faces and messages such as “Fun yet?” that had been left in the snow by previous groups. I also noticed that my thigh muscles were actually sore. They had felt fine walking around at home but apparently they had not fully recuperated from the 34 miles I had done Sunday and Monday. As I climbed the slide, my thighs screamed at me to stop and I just screamed back to them to keep on going!
I took some extra breaks climbing the steep section to rest my thighs. While doing so we looked behind us and saw some great views to which Rik aptly named all the peaks we were seeing. The skies were perfectly blue and the views were crystal clear. There couldn’t be a better day to hike Allen. When I hiked Allen in the summer, I saw nothing but clouds and a mud puddle on top. This trip was already ten times better!
We climbed up the rest of the slide and once it leveled off I knew we were really close to the summit. We stopped briefly and a voice came out of the woods to my right “you’re about 10 feet from the summit.” I just about jumped out of my skin! I hadn’t realized that the solo hiker that had passed us a few hours earlier was there just off the trail about 5 feet to my right! I had wondered earlier when we’d see him coming down but at that moment I had forgot I hadn’t seen him yet.
I bounced up the last few feet of trail until I saw the sign proclaiming the summit of Allen Mountain. “Forty-One! Woo Hoo!” Now that I made it to the summit (12:45pm), my next quest was to find these views that people had told me were there. Rik went down one way and Dale went another. I took a couple quick pictures, grabbed some food and followed Rik down to a ledge overlooking the Dix Range and Dial/Nippletop/Colvin/Blake. Before too long, Dale and Julie joined us. This was so much better than I had imagined! It actually makes climbing Allen on a nice day totally worth it!
Next we headed in the direction Dale had first went from the summit. From there we could see Marcy, Haystack and Panther Gorge. We proceeded back to the summit to make sure we had all the appropriate summit photos before we left and Julie and I got out our butt-sliders. Dale and Rik went ahead while I explained to Julie how to steer and control your speed on the sled since she had never used one before.
We started out on a wooded section near the summit before going out onto the slide so she could get a feel for it. Then I started zooming down the trail and quickly caught up to Dale and Rik. I dug in my snowshoes and poles to stop while they politely stepped off the trail so I could shoot by. Whoosh and there I go! I kept my speed under control since it was pretty steep and there was now another group coming up the trail. A few times I had to stop so I didn’t run over anyone! I actually had to stop in the middle of the slide and it was just a great place to sit and enjoy the views! Then, whoosh and I was at the bottom of the slide. Next came Rik sliding down without a sled, then Dale and finally Julie.
Going up that slide I was wondering if I really wanted to come sliding down since it was so steep. But it was awesome! Julie and I put our sleds away since the next section was full of branches and rocks. It was easier to just walk it rather than try to sled. When we got back to Skylight Brook we all wondered when we would meet back up with Pete. We thought that maybe we’d meet him there but figured he must have started walking back by now.
We got back to the wandering section of trail and were glad to see Pete just a head of us. He told us he had made it a ways up the trail but then decided it was time to start back. I think his knees were bothering him. I went ahead with Rik and Dale, while Julie stayed back with Pete.
I knew the walk out would be long and I expected it. But it actually seemed to go quicker than I had anticipated! That’s always good! I listen to Rik and Dale discuss music while I worried a bit because my feet were starting to feel tender again. I was afraid I’d end up hobbling out but some aspirin seemed to help.
Before I knew it we were at the Mt Adams junction again and I knew we weren’t far from the parking lot now! It was getting close to dark but we were so close that no one really wanted to stop to get headlamps out. We got back to the parking lot at 5:25pm with no headlamps needed!
Click here for pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=146935&id=577661105&l=062fd7cfaf