Bob,
As a veteran of the New England Hundred Highest List, these are my
favorite hikes in New England:
1. Katahdin via the Knife Edge
2. Presidential Range - the 22 mile "death march" includes all 8 peaks
but only the hardy can survive that. I split it up into two hikes: Up to
Madison, then Adams, Jefferson, and Washington and down the famous
Tuckerman Ravine. Then the Southern Presidentials can be done from
Ammonoosuc Ravine to Monroe, Franklin, Eisenhower, and Jackson. Sun and
I climbed the steep Great Gulf headwall to Washington.
3. Franconia Ridge, WMNF - the best day hike is up the Falling Water
Trail to Lincoln and Lafayette.
4. Traverse of the Bonds in the Pemigewasset Wilderness - Bondcliff is
not for those with vertigo!
5. The wild Mahoosuc Range including Mahoosuc Notch and Carlo-Goose Eye.
6. Up the Precipice Ladder Trail and down the Beehive Ladder Trail in
Acadia National Park. Beech Cliff ladder trail is also awesome. The
trails from Dorr Mt. to Cadillac Mt. also deserve mention. Acadia is a
hiker's paradise.
7. North Brother, South Brother, Mt. Coe, and the bushwhack to Fort Mt.
in Baxter State Park.
8. Traverse of the Bigelow Range in Maine.
9. Mt. Mansfield in Vermont is a very interesting mountain to explore
with all the different rock formations. Honorable mention to Camel's
Hump.
10. Mt. Carrigain - this remote mountain in WMNF is spectacular.
Other great hikes are: Welch & Dickey; Chocura; Middle Sugarloaf, Mt.
Willard; Baldface Traverse; and Caribou in WMNF. OK in MA you have the
Mt. Tom Range, Holyoke Range, Mt. Sugarloaf and my favorite from Sages
Ravine to Mt. Race - Mt. Everett.
I've only been to the High Peaks in the Adirondacks once. I climbed
Giant Mt. and did the famous Algonquin loop and bagged Iriquois, Wright,
and Algonquin. Backpacker mag said those were the two best in the High
Peaks area so I did them. I don't think I'll ever have the time to bag
all the Dak's 46ers but next month Sun and I are going to the St. Regis
Canoe Area to do the famous "Route of the 7 carries" and I think I'll
try and bag Mt. Marcy. I'd like to the Gothics some day too.
Last year we spent a week down the southern Apps. In the Smokies we did
the Charlie Bunion Trail which was pretty good and then I hiked the cool
Alum Trail to Mt. Le Conte and also hiked the Chimneys which is also not
good for those with vertigo! I heard Gregory was cool when the azaleas
are blooming too but it was too early. In Shenandoah we bagged the
fabulous White Oak Canyon with its cool waterfalls and then I hiked the
real interesting Old Rag. We hiked up as far as we could on Seneca but I
didn't have time to do the North Fork or Mt. Rogers which I read were
two other premier mountains.
I couldn't believe the size of some of the trees I saw in the Smokies -
huge red spruce, tuliptrees, oak, and unfortunately big hemlock
skeletons.
But with all due respect to the southern Apps, I'll take the mountains
of northern New England any day of the week! I like being above timber
line!
I could also compile a list of the lousiest hikes - like some of the
bushwhacks on the hundred highest list - Vose Spur and Scar Ridge were
especially brutal as was the final one on the Quebec border - the
"Unknown Peak". All I used was a shitty map and compass - on the way
back I cut across a bit of Canada! I laugh when I hear of yuppie hikers
getting lost. I call them "IOWA's - Idiots Out Walking Around!
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 8:41 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [ENTS] Re: Eastern and western summits
Mike,
Soooper shots of Katahdin. What other mountain
hikes do you especially like?
Later this month Monica and I will return to the
Catskills to climb Slide, Hunter, Blackhead, and Panther Mtns. The
camera will be working overtime. Beyond the superb scenery, I want to
begin real photographic documentation of the Catskill old growth.
According to Dr. Michael Kudish, the foremost expert on OG in the
Catskills, there is around 64,000 acres of first forest. Most of it is
higher elevation spruce, fir, maple, birch, and cherry. Most hikers
don't realize their walking in a first forest environment.
In the 1800s. the Catskills were hammered
unmercifully by the lumber barons. Virtually all of the big, virgin
hemlocks were cut for the tanneries. Unfortunately, these great
mountains must continue enduring the insults by being named for the
rapacious barons. Hunter, NY is an example. Fortunately, some of the
best peaks have more benign names like Slide, Cornell, Kaaterskill High
Peak, Indian Head, Plateau, Black Dome, Blackhead, Thomas Cole, etc.
that speak to a more refined imagination and appreciation of the
features of the surrounding terrain.
Bob
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Leonard" <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 6:10:07 AM GMT -05:00
US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [ENTS] Re: Eastern and western summits
I agree James. Katahdin and the Knife Edge is the best
hike East of the Mississippi!
I did it again last year with my wife Sun.
First Pic is the view of the peak kayaking from Togue
Pond.
Second is the Knife Edge. Sun is the little figure in
the lower right.
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of JamesRobertSmith
Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 7:11 PM
To: ENTSTrees
Subject: [ENTS] Re: Eastern and western summits
Katahdin is my all-time favorite eastern peak. And I've
hiked a bunch
of them. The only major eastern mountain ranges I've
never set foot in
are the Catskills and Adirondacks. And the Daks are very
high on my
list to someday hike. If I can just get around to doing
it before I
get too old.
I hiked Katahdin a few years ago. I've hiked pretty much
all of the
major southern peaks (with a few exceptions) and several
of the big
peaks in New Hampshire (including Mount Washington). But
Katahdin is
king, in my estimation. Yes, there are higher peaks, but
it holds its
own in pure relief against many other major eastern
mountains, plus it
is so isolated. We did a killer hike:
Entrance to Chimney Pond. Cathedral Trail to Baxter
Peak. Knife's Edge
to Helon Taylor. Helon Taylor back to the Chimney Pond
Trial and out
to our car.
My thigh muscles screamed for two days.
On Jul 28, 4:08 pm, Marcboston
<[email protected]> wrote:
> Bob, I really enjoy your mountain submissions! I
just got back ( 2
> weeks ago) from Baxter State Park. Katahdin is one
truly great east
> coast mountain, not sure if you have been up there
but it worth the
> trip. Though smaller than Washington it is a world
apart. I found it
> to be a tougher climb and much more "frontier" like.
A very steep
> mountain with a superb alpine zone. The knife edge
is unlike
> anything I have seen here in New England.
>
> On Jul 28, 12:09 pm, [email protected] wrote:
>
> > ENTS,
>
> > Oops! My statement, " The second and fourth images
show eastern mountain scenes." obviously was meant to be western
mountain scenes. Alas, as dementia sets in, I make more and more of
these goofs.
>
> > Bob
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: [email protected]
> > To: [email protected],
[email protected], "Sarah Belchetz-Swenson"
<[email protected]>
>
> > Cc: "Paul Dittmer" <[email protected]>,
"Carol Gilmour" <[email protected]>, "Sharl Heller"
<[email protected]>, "Claudia Hurley" <[email protected]>,
"Amy Kaiser" <[email protected]>, "Rob Loomis"
<[email protected]>, "Rod MacIver" <[email protected]>, "Mike Ryan"
<[email protected]>, "Eleanor Tillinghast"
<[email protected]>, "Joseph Zorzin" <[email protected]>,
"Doug Seale" <[email protected]>, "Nancy Weiss"
<[email protected]>, "Phoebe Weil" <[email protected]>, "David
Stahle" <[email protected]>, "celeste rounkles"
<[email protected]>, "Denis Jakuc" <[email protected]>,
[email protected]
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 9:58:11 AM GMT -05:00
US/Canada Eastern
> > Subject: [ENTS] Eastern and western summits
>
> > ENTS,
>
> > I'm convinced that I was born under a curse. I'm
sentenced to compulsively make numerical contrasts and comparisons. And
with no false modesty, I am damned good at it. Where others stumble, I
see the quantitative nuances. For me, rounding off numbers, unless
absolutely necessary, is a vulgar practice.
> > I am not alone in my talent. Lee Frelich and Will
Blozan are equally gifted. Lee would never, say, round the number 1,047
by substituting the vague descriptor "thousands" as newspaper reports
frequently do. I guess reporters think that in introducing imprecision
they are capturing the essence of an idea. Hogwash!
> > Well, I'm expanding my comparative talents with the
camera. I don't yet know what I'm doing, but it feels right. When I
attempt to describe the boldness of the western landscape in words, it
can sound as if I'm diminishing its eastern equivalent. Not so. At
least, not necessarily. However, east and west are qualitatively and
quantitatively different, and where in the past I've concentrated
strictly on numerical measures, I have now added the camera's all seeing
eye.
> > The first and third of the three attached images
show eastern mountain panoramas. The second and fourth images show
eastern mountain scenes. The vertical relief in these images is
approximately the same. Does it look the same to the eye? BTW, a spin
off talent of this cultivated perception is quickly judging the heights
of trees.
> > As a general observation, western mountain panoramic
scenes are usually painted from a broader color pallet. Land shapes are
more angular. Outlines are sharper. The blue haze of the Appalachians
softens features and can diminish the appearance of significant size.
The eastern Catskills are mountains - not just big hills.
> > The vegetative covering of western mountains is
heavily skewed toward conifers,; that of the eastern peaks toward
hardwoods. Neither is better than the other, just different. Viva la
difference.
>
> > Bob- Hide quoted text -
>
> > - Show quoted text -
--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org
Send email to [email protected]
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en
To unsubscribe send email to [email protected]
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
