| September 06, 2005 |
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Leaving Logan Lean-to at 8:10am.
Headed for the White Cap Mountain. It's about 2 miles straight
up! |
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I have a great view from on top. I'm
looking down on top of all the pine trees. Looking out over
into the valley, the lower lands and the smaller mountains that I
just came over yesterday. Nice big lake in the valley. I
can see 4 lakes from here. I can also see Mt. Katahdin from
here. A little on the hazy side. but the sun is starting top
come up and I'm looking for it to be a beautiful day. It's
warming up, so I had to pull off my rain coat and rain pants. |
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The climb coming up was extremely steep and
got into some larges boulders for steps. Most of it was
extremely rooty from the pines. I think I'm getting pretty
close to the summit now. |
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The trail is very narrow and I'm in a dense
pine forest. The pine are right up against you. You
brush up against them with your poles or arms or legs. You can
really smell the aroma with the pines. Most of these are
spruces. I also saw a couple pieces of quarts which I haven't
seen for several days. I going up the stone stair way to the
heavens. This make about 3 sets of these boulder steps, that I
had to go up. They have certainly have done a nice job putting
all this in. I have to really hand it to them for the good
work they do. I'm not quite at the top yet, but the pine trees
are real scrubby short pine trees. Most of the ground is
covered with moss mixed with a real short shrub. Of course you
have rock piles one right after the another. |
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I can see about 180 degrees from where I am
right now, I counted 13 large lakes I can see from a distance. I can
still see Katahdin. When you up here on this mountain; down in
the valley you can tell where the bigger hills are. Most of
the valleys in between looks flat. |
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I'm at the White Cap Summit elevation is
3,344 feet. Sidney Tappan Campsite is 3.5 miles from here and
the west branch of the Pleasant River is 10.1. The west branch
was where people had difficulty crossing because it had been so
swollen form the rains. |
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The view is gorgeous form here. There
is no way I could take a picture of all of this area that would do
it justice. As far as I can see; I can mountains, just
one right after another. Ponds one right after another.
Looks like mostly pines, bit I know from hiking through them that
there is lot of hardwoods in there. I can also look to the
south and see the high mountains where I'll be going. Since
I've been on the summit I have met 6 north bounders. Four
older people and two young girls. |
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It's nice and sunny coming of the summit.
The air is cool though. The sky is hazy, so whenever you look
off into the distance, it looks liking you're looking through a
film. This is the first summit that I've been in that I
haven't had a down pour of rain or hail or snow and sleet. I
had almost 360 degrees of beautiful scenery for a change. |
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I'm still hiking on a rocky narrow rooty
trail, where the pine and shrubs are very close to you. I bet
this would be a beautiful area to hike in the spring. It looks
I'll be climbing Hay Mountain in six tenths of a mile, 3,244 feet.
Then after that in a mile one eight, then after that I'll' be
climbing West Peak which is 3,181 feet, Paul Hagas Mt is 2,662 feet,
so I'll have 3 mountains is distance of 3 miles. The West Peak
Mt. on the map looks like an ice cream cone turned upside down.
Straight up and straight down and real pointed. |
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A lot of dead undergrowth in this area,
make the area kind of dark and spooky looking. Of course you
still have your green carpet of moss underneath. I must be
starting up Hay Mountain now, it's gradually getting steeper.
Well, the a north bound said that I would be disappointed when I get
there because it's nothing but a little cleared patch with a sign.
He was exactly right! Getting a good view of
the highest mountain range that I could see to the south from White
Cap Mountain; I can definitely tell where I'm going. They are
going to be steep and rocky and hard to climb. |
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Coming up West Mountain was steep and
rough. Some big boulders with some water in the trail, but it
was short duration. The descent down was a different story, it
was very long boulders, roots and a series of rock steps makes it a
whole lot easier to get down. It's kind of flat right now,
maybe I can make a little time in here. |
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I'm at the Sidney Tappan Campsite. I
got here sooner than I thought I would. I've already come 4.9
miles. Left at 2:20pm coming through a weedy area with lot of
ferns, but they show a lot of frost bite. This must be an area
that has been hit hard by frost. A lot of the bushes are even
starting to turn color. The ferns are almost gone. A lot
of briars in the area. |
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In the trail in a sunny spot I noticed that
the grass was all padded down, It was just the size that a moose
maybe stopped there at night. I'm definitely coming across a
saddle, that accounts for the frost in that area. Now I'm
getting ready to go up a huge rock boulder pile. I've counted
16 north bound hikers that I've met today. The trail is really
closed in here, I'm side swiping pines and briars. I'm on top
of a Mountain, I don't remember the name of it. Those big
boulders back there was another lesson in rock climbing. The
only way I can step up over those things and to get a good foot hold
was to get some place to anchor my foot, drop my poles and pull
myself up and push the weight of my pack up on my back and then
stand up. I think I'm going to be seeing a lot of that in the
next few days. I don't remember the name of this Mountain
without looking at my map, but it sure is a steep one. |
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I think I've reached the peak because I'm
hiking a solid flat rocks. Coming off the mountain, I met
Fetch and Throw, it's not hard to figure out who is the dog and who
is the person. |
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The mountain that I just come off is one of
the toughest I've come off of today. It was extremely steep,
washed out roots, washed out rocks and the soil was damp which mad
it very slippery and about a mile in length. I'm glad I didn't
have to go up it. |
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I'm at the Carl A. Newhall Lean-to. I
haven't made up my mind yet if I'm going to stay, I'll have to pull
out my map and take a look. The next shelter is 10 miles away
to far for me to go. By the way I just came off of Gulf Hagas
Mountain. That was the worst of any of the mountain that I've
crossed. It's 5 miles to pleasant Road where there is camping
and I just talked to north bounder that came up the trail and he was
telling me that even thought the next hill is down hill, it's still
rocky and rooty. So I'm going to stay here tonight. It
is 3:35pm. It's a little early for me to stay, but I'm not
able to make 2 miles an hour in this rough terrain. That would
get me to the campsite to late, so I'll just call it a day.
Talk to you tomorrow. |
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Swing'n Jane |
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