Five Ponds snow depth, Leary Trail info 3/26

[MarkL]

I hiked out of Wanakena today, starting from the Truck Trail parking lot near the tennis courts. The parking there was plowed out, but not to the full extent of the parking area. Still, enough room for ~8-10 cars.

I turned off onto the officially abandoned, unofficially reopened Leary Trail and hiked it all the way to where it rejoins the Truck Trail, and went the extra 50 steps to the Five Ponds Jct. There were no visible tracks in that area, though a barebooter had taken the Truck Tr. past where I had earlier turned off onto the Leary Tr. On the way back I made it a point to step where I hadn't on the way out, so it's mostly well broken. I stopped doing that when my MSR broke, less than a mile before getting back to the Truck TR. "Breaking" trail wasn't a big deal -mostly I was going down ~4". But the broken trail will be good for skiing.

I wasn't probing for snow depth a lot, but the few times I did it was between a foot to almost two feet.

So there are good tracks to follow, but remember, that area is on the northern fringe of the Lake Effect zone, and flurries and/or snow showers are called for tonight through Friday. YRMV.

[madmike]

I bet MSR will fix/replace that shoe. It can't hurt to call them.

[chairrock]

Nice post...thanks

[DSettahr]

When my snowshoes broke, MSR repaired them for free. I only had to pay for shipping to send them to MSR. I got my snowshoes back, as good as new, within 2 weeks.

[MarkL]

When my snowshoes broke, MSR repaired them for free. I only had to pay for shipping to send them to MSR. I got my snowshoes back, as good as new, within 2 weeks.

The cleat broke at a rivet., so the broken part is easily detachable from the shoe. Should I send the whole shoe in anyway, and the other for inspection, in hopes of getting new shoes? The newer ones, 2011 and later, can take a floatation tail, which would be handy.
I successfully set up an "account" on the Cascade Designs/MSR site, but when I tried to put in for a Return Authorization, their system malfunctioned. I was hoping to get an answer to the above question(minus the wheedling for new shoes ;~) ) directly from MSR

[craigmcg]

Its been years since I hiked the Leary trail. Is it hard to find the intersection with the Truck trail?

[DSettahr]

The cleat broke at a rivet., so the broken part is easily detachable from the shoe. Should I send the whole shoe in anyway, and the other for inspection, in hopes of getting new shoes? The newer ones, 2011 and later, can take a floatation tail, which would be handy.
I successfully set up an "account" on the Cascade Designs/MSR site, but when I tried to put in for a Return Authorization, their system malfunctioned. I was hoping to get an answer to the above question(minus the wheedling for new shoes ;~) ) directly from MSR

Sorry for the late response.

Yes, I sent everything from both shoes back. They ended up repairing/replacing both shoes. It was the rivets that broke for me as well, along with some cracks in the metal frame that the binding is attached to. They kept the plastic decks but put in all new bindings/crampons.

Its been years since I hiked the Leary trail. Is it hard to find the intersection with the Truck trail?

It's pretty obvious at the northern junction. The southern junction is non-existent and impossible to spot. I seem to remember reading somewhere that you can follow the trail to a point about a mile or 2 north of the southern junction, and then it disappears.

[DuctTape]

I believe the southern 1/4 mile and junction are now obvious/marked. I have not confirmed this myself. I hope to in the next few weeks.


Personally I hope it isnt. I would much rather have some of these old trails maintain some mystery and be available for those who seek them out instead of just another marked trail. I like the full continuum to be available.

[Wldrns]

Personally I hope it isnt. I would much rather have some of these old trails maintain some mystery and be available for those who seek them out instead of just another marked trail. I like the full continuum to be available.

I agree. Unfortunately and inevitably, some uninformed person not of like thought will flag their path (trail or not) with ugly colored plastic tape. They may think they are doing a service, but all they are really doing is littering. It is potentially creating a hazard for later hikers who fall into the temptation of following a "trail" without otherwise paying navigation attention to where they are going. If I come across such flagging, and I know it was not put there by DEC for an official reason, it will be removed.

[Bill I.]

Personally I hope it isnt. I would much rather have some of these old trails maintain some mystery and be available for those who seek them out instead of just another marked trail. I like the full continuum to be available.

I agree. Unfortunately and inevitably, some uninformed person not of like thought will flag their path (trail or not) with ugly colored plastic tape. They may think they are doing a service, but all they are really doing is littering. It is potentially creating a hazard for later hikers who fall into the temptation of following a "trail" without otherwise paying navigation attention to where they are going. If I come across such flagging, and I know it was not put there by DEC for an official reason, it will be removed.

This is my understanding of the trails in the Wanakena region of the Five Ponds Wilderness -- or at least, how the situation was explained to me:

1. The Five Ponds UMP was last revised in 1994, the year before the storm. Therefore any state trail that was closed by blowdown in 1995 was technically never abandoned, even if DEC never reopened it. Therefore trails like the Leary Trail can be legally reopened.
2. That same 1994 UMP did call for DEC to stop maintaining certain trails, including those from Cowhorn Pond to Clear and Nicks--but these provisions were phrased so that private groups could maintain them. My understanding is that one of these has been reopened and is marked, although I have been through there since 2008 myself to see it. One of these days.

[Wldrns]

That same 1994 UMP did call for DEC to stop maintaining certain trails, including those from Cowhorn Pond to Clear and Nicks--but these provisions were phrased so that private groups could maintain them. My understanding is that one of these has been reopened and is marked, although I have been through there since 2008 myself to see it. One of these days.[/LIST]

I am usually in the Big Deer Pond and nearby areas almost every year. It is a good area to train guides in the finer details of bushwhack navigation through what is now-aging blowdown. The trail from BDP to Cowhorn was left untouched and officially closed for many years since the 1995 microburst, becoming all but impossible to follow due to the extensive uncleared blowdown. However if you knew what you were doing, a fast and better much different bushwhack route to Cowhorn could be found, featuring very minimal difficulty from blowdown. The original trail path was officially cleared and opened for easy travel a couple of years ago, passing not far from Clear. That's fine, but I would have rather seen it continue to go wild.

There never was much of a trail to Nicks by one popular but unmarked route, though pieces of an ancient trail existed if you knew where to look. A nearby beautiful campsite known as Ranger's Rest was completely decimated in 1995 and has never recovered, and never will. Several other interesting area features of note do get unofficially flagged from time to time. You know what I do then.

[MarkL]

Sorry for the late response.

Yes, I sent everything from both shoes back. They ended up repairing/replacing both shoes. It was the rivets that broke for me as well, along with some cracks in the metal frame that the binding is attached to. They kept the plastic decks but put in all new bindings/crampons.

I talked to someone at MSR and he said just send in the bindings. I didn't see any cracks in the frame, though I didn't inspect them intensely. They sent me back new bindings of a different design. The new have four straps instead of three, and the end of the strap doesn't widen for a good grip with mittens.

[MarkL]

Its been years since I hiked the Leary trail. Is it hard to find the intersection with the Truck trail?

The northern jct. is about 10-20 minutes beyond the water works, and there are a red DEC trail marker and a blue Cranberry Lake 50 marker very close to each other on the right across from where the Leary starts.

Someone nailed up old blue DEC trail markers and blue can lids along the Leary. I first saw them in Fall of 2011, IIRC. I wish they hadn't done that. It gives the impression that the trail is open, but it's not marked as well as an official trail, so less experienced hikers could lose the trail and cause problems for people. The nails were banged in all the way, and the trees are already pushing out against the markers, bending them and maybe soon starting to engulf them. Either they didn't know what they were doing, or they knew someone would pry out the nails and remove the markers.

The Leary X Truck Trail jct. near the Five Ponds jct is about 50 steps east of the 5P jct. Said another way, from the 5P jct walking as if toward High Falls, it's on the left in ~50 steps, just a few feet past a tree on the left with a blue CL-50 marker. When I was there on 3/26, I don't recall if there was any blue indicator at the jct there. A year or so ago there was blue flagging right at the jct, which I removed. Come to think of it, I may have also removed the first blue trail marker at the north end of the Leary when I first noticed it.

[MarkL]

Update, Tuesday 4/7/13

I checked out the Leary trail two days ago, 4/7. There were some dead and down blowdowns, but nothing I wasn't able to remove with a 30" bow saw and a small ax. There are tons of small branches down on the trail, more than I've seen in previous springs. But they're small enough to be flicked away with a hiking stick. So the trail is wide open its full length.
The wettest parts of the whole hike were
1.)about 1/2 mile in where our large rodentate furry woodland friends have caused a backup starting somewhere east of the trail, between the trail and Skate Creek. The full width of the truck trail is wet there, and wearing only trail runners, I couldn't avoid getting wet feet coming and going. Ankle high waterproof boots and careful stepping are all that's needed to keep your feet dry in this area.
2.) Approaching the water works jct, due to general poor drainage.

Spotting the Leary near the Five Ponds Jct: this time I made it a point to notice. At the jct there's length of faded blue cloth flagging, then another one a few yards further in, then a round blue marker beyond that, but also visible from the trail. I briefly thought about removing all that, but was more concerned with getting moving quickly to get back and to avoid the...

...Black flies. They were almost nonexistent unless I stopped for more than a minute. Then they congregated around me. They were especially bad at the 5P jct where I looked around and sat down for several minutes. Even then they were only a bit annoying. As each day passes, YRMV!! No mosquitoes that I recall, and no deer flies which are the dominant life form in this region from ~mid-June through July and maybe into early August. If the Aliens invade Earth in mid-summer, Mankind can retreat to this area where we'll be safe...at least from the Aliens.