Friday, August 3, 2012

Went "All the Way" on my second date. ;-) 8/1/12

Now that I have your attention 8-), I bushwhacked Greens Cliff Wednesday. Fresh legs this time but more important long pants, got me to the summit. I headed out the same way as last time, first on the Sawyer River Trail then took the first right on the snowmobile trail. Crossed Meadow Brook via a bridge and just headed due east from there.  Down low the woods are pretty scrappy, some hobblebush but mostly fairly thick young spruce. It did eventually open up.
I did come across several large boulders which never cease to amaze me. How they were carried for thousands of miles and just plopped down. With nothing for scale you really can't tell how big they are but they were huge. I love the ones with the split in them.
I came to an area that had a few caves. This is just one. Now these give me different thoughts. Is this the home of some Black Bear? Shhhh, be berry, berry quite. :)
I had a route in mind for my ascent but that went out the window as I just made a straight easterly assault. This was one steep B*%#$! As I neared the high point I found what looked to be a lightning strike. If not that, perhaps just spontaneous combustion from heat. It was wierd. It went from one tree, to another about 6 feet away. Could not step back far enough so this is what it looked like from left to right.
About 100yds. from there I hit the summit. Unlike the day I went to the ledges at 2200', my views were not that expansive. First there were no open ledges on the high point and it was overcast. I did have some though. I could have dropped down a couple hundred feet to more open ledge ( which I started to do) but had no inkling to do that. This was going to have to be good enough for views. Since today was about peak-bagging. :D  Here's some of the views I got.

This is perhaps Bear Mtn with the Moats in the back

Tremont and Owls Cliff

Church Ponds with Chocorua in the distance to the right.

When it was time to descend, I decided not to retrace my steps. Because not to mention how steep it was, I'd hit a couple pretty bad blow-down areas. And what doesn't show on the topo, several bumps. So I headed down the NW ridge then circled back to the east to head right for the Sawyer River Tr but maybe a half mile further in than where I started. This route was perfect, it got me from 2900+' to about 1800' in 15 minutes. It was that good. Then, the last .3 miles to get to the trail took at least a half. Thick as it gets young spruce. But I did make it out with one last stop at that beautiful spot on the Swift River.

This took me all of about 4 hours and as they say, "Another bites the dust".

Tracks























5 comments:

  1. Hi Joe . . . first of all, loved the title of your report . . . very clever!

    Wow! From my very inexperienced eye, that does look like the remnants of a lightning strike that you came across. I've never seen anything remotely like that during any of my treks, either while bushwhacking or hiking along a trail.

    On each of my visits to Green's Cliff, I've launched my approach from the north end of the Sawyer POND Trail. In general, this is mostly open hardwoods, until you near the top. However, with the Sawyer River Road being closed for repairs, that approach route is now impractical. But even when the road is open, it seems that many folks still prefer to an approach similar to yours from the Sawyer RIVER Trail. As always, there's no right or wrong way. It simply boils down to individual preference.

    I enjoyed reading about this adventure, as I do for all of your exploits!

    John

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  2. Thanks John, I know the Sawyer River rd. would be an issue right now but I never gave that route a thought. After looking at a map, that looks like a great route. Next time.

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  3. Neat pic of the Lightening Strike. Aren't you glad you weren't around when that occurred!! Yikes! I assume you are tackling that 3k list, how many left?? I saw 2 of your buddies finished theirs with one more near the end! Great Report!

    Hiking Lady

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  5. Yes Hiking Lady, I'm glad I missed that strike. Actually it's the NH200 that Greens Cliff is on. That's the 4K's, 3K's and 20 something more. I'm around 163 I think on the NH200's

    Yes, A couple of the guys finished and another is close. I assume you got that from FB?

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