Blake Peak Bushwhack

[Neil]

At 9:30 am I re-materialized at Elk Pass and waited for a few seconds until my hiking partner, NP, also re-materialized. Just how it came to pass that we did such a thing I am not authorized to share with anyone, not even NP who still doesn’t know anything about it. He still believes we hiked in from St Huberts.

Anyway, enough of that. It was a gorgeous day to be out and so we began to hike. We headed down the drainage that leads to the Nippletop Slide and on to Elk Lake. It was very nice to travel along the cliffy lower flanks of Colvin. We stuck very close to the brook and either rock-hopped in it or bushwhacked alongside. Just before the Nippletop Slide there is now a very small beaver pond and dam, which serves as an obvious indicator. We climbed a short way up the base of the headwall and turned around to get a good look at Colvin (lots of cliffs) and Blake.

Speaking of Blake, if you had told me 7 years ago that I would climb it 7 times in this lifetime I would have said you were crazy. Fortunately, no one did tell me that so I don’t have to eat words that I never uttered. Progress along the brook went quite quickly and easily in the woods to the left until the blowdown started. This was all new blowdown as compared to my previous visits down this drainage (last visit = 4 years ago IIRC). The blowdown wasn’t horrendous but it definitely slowed us down as there was quite a bit of it. In looking for the best lines of travel we alternated between each side of the brook or directly in the brook itself until we hit the falls. The falls are very pretty and they sit in a semi-circle of a vegetation-covered rock wall that horse-shoes them in but I wouldn’t make the trip all that way just to see that.

I filled my bladder, popped 2 pills in order to obtain a biocidal effect and we continued downstream for 5 minutes before the blowdown provoked a keen desire within us to leave the brook so we headed up towards the summit of Blake. But first, I whipped out my map and determined that we wanted to follow a certain bearing (I have already forgotten it) and off we went. It was hot and there was no shade as we were in a predominantly hard-wooded forest. We caught a glimpse of some bulgy, chunky cliffs way up above us and I made a wee adjustment to the compass dial.

By now I bet you can guess what the goal was. Lowly Blake Peak, which I have visited twice now via the incorrectly named Blake Slide which is not on Blake at all but on Blake South, an entirely different mountain altogether. In spite of two ascents of the Blake South Slide I have yet to count Blake “North” as a bushwhack because the slide brings you out at the trail much too far away, thereby disqualifying it. However, those previous visits afforded me with views and photos of the summit area of Blake, which you now know to be cliffy. I looked at those cliffs more carefully on Google Earth before heading out and I even put 3 waypoints into my GPS, just in case. The GPS was in my pack, also just in case.

As we were ascending we soon noticed an area that appeared to be devoid of trees just off to our right. I said to NP that it must be a terrible blowdown field but that we should go have a look, just in case. It turned out to be a brand new slide that not even Mudrat has yet to climb. This slide had plenty of slippery mud on it but it had more than plenty of good old anorthosite, studded with even better Feldspar chunks. The slide split into two and the left fork was composed of mud and stones with nary a tree or shrub. The right fork which was our correct direction of travel was mostly bare rock with a covering of powdery material. We gained 400 vertical feet on this slide before it came to an abrupt end.

As for the white powdery material I supposed it was pulverized rock that would wash down to the base of the slide where the mucky organic soil was covered with a chaotic mess of dead trees. The exposure to the sun, the nutrient rich rock powder and the rotting trees would combine with the organic soil to produce new luxuriant growth over the coming decades. This has nothing to do with this trip report but things like this tend to waft through my mind as I hike.

At the top of the slide I re-checked the map and guestimated our desired direction of travel to be 305. Just to be sure I fired up the trusty GPS, which indicated 310 to the summit. So far, so good. It was a relief to enter cool and shady coniferous woods, which were surprisingly open for a south-eastern exposure. We climbed and climbed for a long time and the woods got thicker and thicker but we never faced anything truly horrendous. Finally, we arrived at the cliffs and it was impossible to say exactly where within the cliffs so I fired up the GPS again and it said we were exactly where we were supposed to be, between 2 waypoints. The cliffs were very impressive and so were the views, so we pressed the buttons on our cameras multiple times. It was fairly easy to ascend between the cliffs even though it was extremely steep. We followed Hickey’s Law of Up and after 2:40 after leaving the creek we intersected the trail about a minute from the summit. It took us 2:40 to go ¾ of a horizontal mile. This is the price one pays for increasing relentlessly in age perhaps.

We sat around with our shoes off eating and drinking when a lone hiker arrived from Vermont. He did not just materialize there but had driven over and hiked to Blake via Dial, Nippletop and Colvin. Blake was his 8th High Peak. We all hiked out together and after doing Blake twice in winter I found the trail down Blake to be horrendously bad. Bushwhacking is much safer if you ask me. Down at the col I pointed into the thick and gnarly, sinister-looking woods and said to NP that if we were doing a whack of Colvin today we would be going “down there”. The wind-exposed, SW ridge of Colvin looked very gnarly and unfriendly from Blake so we were quite content to grunt our way up Colvin on the (very muddy) trail and then and sit on the second, southernmost lookout for a good 20 minutes taking it all in. The hike out to the parking area was pleasant and uneventful.

I had forgotten my Spot device on the roof of my car and some friends from Montreal who had hiked Dial-Nippletop left a funny note under it. We got in (the car, not the Spot device) and drove home. My heart rate monitor said that I had burned through 8000 calories. When I walk 1.5 sidewalk miles it says I burn 170 calories so Lowly Blake peak turned out to be quite the endeavor, the equivalent of walking 70.6 sidewalk miles (!!) but a lot more fun.
-PICTURES-

[Commissionpoint]

Nice one Neil. Saturday was definately a perfect day to be out there. Love the pics.

[Blackbear]

Beautiful pics Neil .. The slide looks amazing . I hope someday I don't say I've been on Blake 7 times.

[nangaparbat]

Well, when Neil invited me to join him along this adventurous day (at least for me), it was an opportunity to better know the man which I have dubbed "The Master of Ceremony" and also a lesson in naviguation, all in all it was a great day with him, I just could not believe, I was climbing this mountain again after my last ascen tof it during the previous winter gathering event.

My Pics are to be found here

http://www.fousderando.com/viewtopic...14ce913#p64431

[mudrat]

Your transporter was calibrated wrong. Had it been correctly dialed, you would have materialized on the summit of Blake thus saving yourself that nasty bushwhack. Plan ahead next time on that one, just make sure it doesn't drop you in a fir wave or in the core of a mountain.

Seriously, nice pics and hike!

[nangaparbat]

Originally Posted by Neil

At 9:30 am I re-materialized at Elk Pass and waited for a few seconds until my hiking partner, NP, also re-materialized. Just how it came to pass that we did such a thing I am not authorized to share with anyone, not even NP who still doesn’t know anything about it. He still believes we hiked in from St Huberts.

!!!!?

Originally Posted by Neil

It took us 2:40 to go ¾ of a horizontal mile. This is the price one pays for increasing relentlessly in age perhaps.

Well it was very Hot on these slopes, your body has not adjust to this fact yet. same for me. Also we did take our time enjoying the place, if I was you,I would not feel too bad about it.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by nangaparbat

if I was you,I would not feel too bad about it.

Trop tard. Je me suis déjà ouvert les veines.

I think it was because it was my first "real" hike after a winter of smooth sailing and a month of gentle hikes in Quebec.

There's no way to train for hikes like this beyond maintaining a certain base level of hardening.

[ADKJack]

Nice use of telportation
Really, 7 times on Blake, heck I have only done it 3 times and all via trails. My life is really getting boring, better do something about that soon.
Nice Trip

[AdkWalrus]

Originally Posted by Neil

At 9:30 am I re-materialized at Elk Pass and waited for a few seconds until my hiking partner, NP, also re-materialized. Just how it came to pass that we did such a thing I am not authorized to share with anyone, not even NP who still doesn’t know anything about it. He still believes we hiked in from St Huberts.

Scotty, beam me to the Scooter Slide!

Originally Posted by Neil

Speaking of Blake, if you had told me 7 years ago that I would climb it 7 times in this lifetime I would have said you were crazy.

Is there anyone else on boards who's climbed Blake 7 times (or more) besides Neil and me? I may be the only person here who's climbed Blake more than Colvin (only 6 times)...

[AdkWalrus]

Originally Posted by Rik

Not sure exactly how many times but I'm pretty sure I've been there a dozen times. Would have to check my journal to get an exact number...

Pretty sure Randomscooter and Joe Cedar have been there at least 12 times. Probably CoryD and HOL as well. I'm sure there are others...

I was about to comment that it's nice to know there are folks more insane than I am out in the woods, but then I realized I already knew that about everyone you mentioned.

I still wonder if there's anyone else who's climbed Blake more often than Colvin.

[Neil]

I know someone who has climbed Blake at least 100 times.

Additionally, there are about 10-12 gridders our there getting beamed from peak to peak even as we speak.

7 is actually a fairly paltry figure in that context. Plus, I'm sure I've wasted a few of those climbs by doing then in the same month.

Interesting doing Blake more often than Colvin. Up via Pinnacle and out via the Lake and then onward to Sawteeth or Panther Gorge?
Or none of the above?

[Gregory Karl]

Great report and pics Neil! Question: Does the drainage of the new slide converge with the one from the old, or is it completely separate?

When standing at the footwall of the Nippletop Slide, I found the cliffs on Colvin visible from there intriguing. Will have to get in there soon.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Gregory Karl

Question: Does the drainage of the new slide converge with the one from the old, or is it completely separate?

Completely separate. Never the twain shall meet.

[Prino]

Nice to see that the Map, Compass and Hickey's rule of up beat out the GPS again. Good read as usual.

[krummholz]

Originally Posted by Neil

Progress along the brook went quite quickly and easily in the woods to the left until the blowdown started. This was all new blowdown as compared to my previous visits down this drainage (last visit = 4 years ago IIRC). The blowdown wasn’t horrendous but it definitely slowed us down as there was quite a bit of it. In looking for the best lines of travel we alternated between each side of the brook or directly in the brook itself until we hit the falls. The falls are very pretty and they sit in a semi-circle of a vegetation-covered rock wall that horse-shoes them in but I wouldn’t make the trip all that way just to see that.

-PICTURES-

Is the waterfall you saw the one referred to as "The Falls" on some of the topo maps? If so, I have been under the impression that there is a trail up from the Elk Lake Preserve. This assumption is based on the map that they give guests at the EL Lodge that someone scanned me a copy a few years ago. Have you seen any sign of a trail coming up from the south on your journeys in that area?

I look forward to hopefully climbing over all that blowdown in the pass this summer

[Neil]

Originally Posted by krummholz

Is the waterfall you saw the one referred to as "The Falls" on some of the topo maps? If so, I have been under the impression that there is a trail up from the Elk Lake Preserve. This assumption is based on the map that they give guests at the EL Lodge that someone scanned me a copy a few years ago. Have you seen any sign of a trail coming up from the south on your journeys in that area?

I look forward to hopefully climbing over all that blowdown in the pass this summer

Last time I went there was a trail and an ELL sign that said, "Falls .2 mi". Blowdown 2 feet in diameter had been sawed through. It's anybody's guess just how much fresh blowdown there is between Elk Lake and the falls and whether it's been cleared or not.

[Trail Boss]

"Never the twain shall meet." - Elmer Fudd

Hey there Neilga Parbat, you guys are a rugged duo! Terrain that slows you down to 3 hours per mile! I'm in awe of your sheer bloody-mindedness. That must have been some special kind of "fun"!

Many thanks for the TR and especially the photos of places few people see.