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Participants: Val, myself, Dominic, (Donaldson). Rik, Rik's friend Eric and 2 buddies of his whose names I can't remember(as far as the Calkins brook trail turnoff then on to Seymour).
What a long day! Our start can only be called exquisite. False dawn, crispy neg 8F temps and a waning moon lifted our spirits as we headed into the east and the brightening sky. Except for the downhills, Rik and his gang barebooted as fast as we skied and we all made the summer TH in just over an hour. A little dolefully, I noted no fresh entries in the log book for Calkins vs. at least two for Seymour. I had figured our departure would be at 6am and that it would take 2 hours to get to Calkins creek and another three up to Donaldson’s summit whence it would be 11. From there to Emmons and back: another 2, ditto for Seward so we’d be heading down at 3 and back at the cars at around 8. Ever heard of Steinbeck and his famous book, “Of Mice and Men�
I got my first taste of real Adk winter conditions and it was great. I kept thinking of the line at the beginning of “Into the Voidâ€: “This is what we live forâ€. It took 4 hours to get from Calkins to the ridge just below Donaldson’s summit. There was a very faint, snowed-over trail and progress, especially nearing the ridge was slow and arduous. From time to time we lost the trail and floundered around as our forward rate of progress slowed to a crawl. But what a reward once we got to Donaldson! The snow-caked trees and the views were … well, you had to be there.
From the ridge over to the false summit just South of Donaldson took one and three quarter hours! Val and I kept falling into spruce traps that Dominic had just walked over with impunity. At one point Val fell in to a real deep one and after helping her remove her pack I got right in there and hauled her out by getting my arms under her armpits. I got permission from her to take her picture first – it was so funny! The herd path was never obvious. Dominic, who was totally galvanized with enthusiasm, was tireless in hunting, doubling back and changing directions and he kept us moving forward. I followed and kept checking the GPS and sure enough, we were right on track. The fact that we were not going to make more than one summit was not a problem. The breathtaking beauty of our immediate surroundings made us very happy to be where we were and doing what we were doing. We turned around at 2:45pm on the false summit just South of Donaldson. Emmons was in plain view less than ¾ of a mile away but there was no way we were going there.
We had set up a radio sked with Rik’s team and even though we heard two faint and garbled transmissions, one at 12:30 nearing the ridge and another at 2:30 as they were out from Seward’s shadow, we never benefited from a com link as planned for.
What had taken 5¾ hrs one way took 2 ½ in reverse, our trail and gravity assisting. After a clothing change and some food and drink we steeled ourselves for the fact that we still had 6 ½ miles to cover. Once we got back to the skis I wondered whether it was worth it due to the hassle of changing footwear, attaching the snowshoes to the packs etc. But once we got going it was immediately obvious that the skis were the cat’s pyjamas. The snow had been under the sun all day and by sundown had glazed over. The slight downhill that I hadn’t noticed earlier in the day had us gliding along at 10 mph back to the summer TH. I had just purchased an ultra bright LED headlamp that lit the forest up for 50 feet and this proved to be essential gear for spotting fallen logs across the trail. The road itself was very fast and, other than the uphills, required almost no effort to glide along. We made the cars at 8:45 and as we were skiing the road in the particularly frigid night I was impressed and humbled by the remoteness and fragility of our position.
What has me chuckling is that I've made two trips to the Sewards and I still need Emmons!
Final note: Val, who is a novice on skis, gets a full 5 stars for being such a brave and eager learner. I mean, speeding down hills along a rutted icy road in the dark with a dim LED headlamp is totally beyond the ken of just about everbody.
What a long day! Our start can only be called exquisite. False dawn, crispy neg 8F temps and a waning moon lifted our spirits as we headed into the east and the brightening sky. Except for the downhills, Rik and his gang barebooted as fast as we skied and we all made the summer TH in just over an hour. A little dolefully, I noted no fresh entries in the log book for Calkins vs. at least two for Seymour. I had figured our departure would be at 6am and that it would take 2 hours to get to Calkins creek and another three up to Donaldson’s summit whence it would be 11. From there to Emmons and back: another 2, ditto for Seward so we’d be heading down at 3 and back at the cars at around 8. Ever heard of Steinbeck and his famous book, “Of Mice and Men�
I got my first taste of real Adk winter conditions and it was great. I kept thinking of the line at the beginning of “Into the Voidâ€: “This is what we live forâ€. It took 4 hours to get from Calkins to the ridge just below Donaldson’s summit. There was a very faint, snowed-over trail and progress, especially nearing the ridge was slow and arduous. From time to time we lost the trail and floundered around as our forward rate of progress slowed to a crawl. But what a reward once we got to Donaldson! The snow-caked trees and the views were … well, you had to be there.
From the ridge over to the false summit just South of Donaldson took one and three quarter hours! Val and I kept falling into spruce traps that Dominic had just walked over with impunity. At one point Val fell in to a real deep one and after helping her remove her pack I got right in there and hauled her out by getting my arms under her armpits. I got permission from her to take her picture first – it was so funny! The herd path was never obvious. Dominic, who was totally galvanized with enthusiasm, was tireless in hunting, doubling back and changing directions and he kept us moving forward. I followed and kept checking the GPS and sure enough, we were right on track. The fact that we were not going to make more than one summit was not a problem. The breathtaking beauty of our immediate surroundings made us very happy to be where we were and doing what we were doing. We turned around at 2:45pm on the false summit just South of Donaldson. Emmons was in plain view less than ¾ of a mile away but there was no way we were going there.
We had set up a radio sked with Rik’s team and even though we heard two faint and garbled transmissions, one at 12:30 nearing the ridge and another at 2:30 as they were out from Seward’s shadow, we never benefited from a com link as planned for.
What had taken 5¾ hrs one way took 2 ½ in reverse, our trail and gravity assisting. After a clothing change and some food and drink we steeled ourselves for the fact that we still had 6 ½ miles to cover. Once we got back to the skis I wondered whether it was worth it due to the hassle of changing footwear, attaching the snowshoes to the packs etc. But once we got going it was immediately obvious that the skis were the cat’s pyjamas. The snow had been under the sun all day and by sundown had glazed over. The slight downhill that I hadn’t noticed earlier in the day had us gliding along at 10 mph back to the summer TH. I had just purchased an ultra bright LED headlamp that lit the forest up for 50 feet and this proved to be essential gear for spotting fallen logs across the trail. The road itself was very fast and, other than the uphills, required almost no effort to glide along. We made the cars at 8:45 and as we were skiing the road in the particularly frigid night I was impressed and humbled by the remoteness and fragility of our position.
What has me chuckling is that I've made two trips to the Sewards and I still need Emmons!
Final note: Val, who is a novice on skis, gets a full 5 stars for being such a brave and eager learner. I mean, speeding down hills along a rutted icy road in the dark with a dim LED headlamp is totally beyond the ken of just about everbody.
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