Rik
06-11-2005, 11:40 AM
Went out yesterday with the hopes that the thunderstorms would wait until late in the day like they had the day before over on Phelps. No such luck. Charlene and I got started from the Ausable Club leaving only one other car in the lot. No one had signed the register for the day. I love hiking during the week! Once through the gate we saw a beautiful doe just off the road near that first building on your right. She was not very timid and we watched her "relieve" herself right there in front of us. That was a first. So with big smiles we headed on down the road. It was still cloudy and very humid. The air quality was not very good. We took a short break at the dam and watched some folks fly fishing. Made me think of this: :whip:
The Weld trail was in good shape. Rainbow falls was flowing nicely but nothing compared to what it must have looked like later in the day. At the col between Sawteeth and Pyramid Charlene took a break while I went up Sawteeth. She had been up this route before and chose to save her energy for Gothics. Sawteeth showed the surrounding summits in and out of the clouds. When I got back to the junction Charlene had started up the trail. I caught her about 10 minutes up the trail. As we got to the Pyramid the clouds had sunk some and our usually spectacular view didn't exist. Charlene had to take my word for it. Just then we started to hear thunder in the distance. We decided to go up over Gothics without stopping as there wasn't going to be a view today. Guess she will need to come back! I think the first 3 times I climbed Gothics I had no view! It got a little scary on the summit as the thunder was getting louder and closer. There was one patch of snow as we started to go down towards the Armstrong/Gothics col. I postholed! We ran into two young guys coming up but didn't chat more than a hello as we were anxious to get lower and I imagine they were too. At the col the rain started. Thoughts of Armstrong were gone as we hurried to get past the ladders on the Beaver Meadows trail. It was pouring now and thundering pretty good so when we got to the "clam rock" or "dinasaur head" we took advantage of the shelter. We spent almost an hour waiting out the storm and having some food. It was great once we were in there and not getting rained on. The thunder echoed off all the surrounding peaks and the rain came down in buckets. When it stopped the sun started peaking out almost immediately. The reflection of the sun off the pools of water hit the underside of the "clams" top rock and danced. The sun also sparkled off all the droplets hanging on to trees. We got moving again on a trail that was a river of water. Footing was sketchy for a while but we were so fascinated with the runoff streams coming in from every angle it wasn't a bother to take our time. As we got closer to Beaver Meadow Falls I was excited thinking how roaring it would be with all this water. I was not disappointed. It was amazing. I'll post pictures eventually but I'm sure they won't do justice. They certainly won't convey the wind and mist produced by the rushing of water. It felt like I was on the "Maid of the Mist" at Niagara Falls. I would take a photo, walk away clean the lens, and then go back in for another shot. Again we had huge smiles as we made our way out to the road. The road walk out was uneventful except that the only place the bugs were an issue was on the lake road. In the morning it was mostly mosquitos but in the afternoon there were some black flies as well. Not enough for me to put bug dope on and I think I got two bites. Not bad for bug season! The next round of storms hit us as we got on the Northway to head home. Great day. #24/46 for Charlene.
The Weld trail was in good shape. Rainbow falls was flowing nicely but nothing compared to what it must have looked like later in the day. At the col between Sawteeth and Pyramid Charlene took a break while I went up Sawteeth. She had been up this route before and chose to save her energy for Gothics. Sawteeth showed the surrounding summits in and out of the clouds. When I got back to the junction Charlene had started up the trail. I caught her about 10 minutes up the trail. As we got to the Pyramid the clouds had sunk some and our usually spectacular view didn't exist. Charlene had to take my word for it. Just then we started to hear thunder in the distance. We decided to go up over Gothics without stopping as there wasn't going to be a view today. Guess she will need to come back! I think the first 3 times I climbed Gothics I had no view! It got a little scary on the summit as the thunder was getting louder and closer. There was one patch of snow as we started to go down towards the Armstrong/Gothics col. I postholed! We ran into two young guys coming up but didn't chat more than a hello as we were anxious to get lower and I imagine they were too. At the col the rain started. Thoughts of Armstrong were gone as we hurried to get past the ladders on the Beaver Meadows trail. It was pouring now and thundering pretty good so when we got to the "clam rock" or "dinasaur head" we took advantage of the shelter. We spent almost an hour waiting out the storm and having some food. It was great once we were in there and not getting rained on. The thunder echoed off all the surrounding peaks and the rain came down in buckets. When it stopped the sun started peaking out almost immediately. The reflection of the sun off the pools of water hit the underside of the "clams" top rock and danced. The sun also sparkled off all the droplets hanging on to trees. We got moving again on a trail that was a river of water. Footing was sketchy for a while but we were so fascinated with the runoff streams coming in from every angle it wasn't a bother to take our time. As we got closer to Beaver Meadow Falls I was excited thinking how roaring it would be with all this water. I was not disappointed. It was amazing. I'll post pictures eventually but I'm sure they won't do justice. They certainly won't convey the wind and mist produced by the rushing of water. It felt like I was on the "Maid of the Mist" at Niagara Falls. I would take a photo, walk away clean the lens, and then go back in for another shot. Again we had huge smiles as we made our way out to the road. The road walk out was uneventful except that the only place the bugs were an issue was on the lake road. In the morning it was mostly mosquitos but in the afternoon there were some black flies as well. Not enough for me to put bug dope on and I think I got two bites. Not bad for bug season! The next round of storms hit us as we got on the Northway to head home. Great day. #24/46 for Charlene.