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Derrick, George, and Tracey (ADK Lab #2) I met at the Wanakena tennis courts and hit the trail around 4:30PM. It was warm and sunny and we hiked in shorts and T-Shirts. We arrived at the turn off to High Rock around at 6:15 and decided we could make it to Campsite 28 (aka Red October) before dark. We were right. The site was unoccupied so we grilled bratwurst, drank the beers we carried with us and finished off the evening with a fine puro.
We awoke early Saturday morning, not by choice but by the whine of a squadron of mosquitoes that had entered our tent through the open door. Too many to kill so we got up, ate a lazy breakfast and hiked up to High Falls. It was blazing hot and bright sun. It felt like ninety but WeatherUnderground for Tupper said the high was only 75F. I don't believe it.
We cleaned up junk around both High Falls lean-to's. There was a fair amount of junk at the upper lean-to that is now in the garbage can in my garage. I don't understand how you can hike/paddle in a full gallon of Coleman fuel, beers, metal bowls, et al but not be able to carry it out.
We fished the falls with limited success and then packed up and headed for Big Shallow. I hooked a nice fish on a tunghead zug bug but lost it when trying to get it out of the water sans net. We made a diversion along the way to fish a beaver pond again with limited success.
We got up to Big Shallow late afternoon, took a bath, had a few more beers, ate dinner and went to bed early. We drank a toast of Jim Beam to Tracey, as it was his 3rd birthday. Finished it all off with another fine puro of course.
Sunday morning we hiked over to Little Shallow and found it in excellent shape. We then did something really stupid and tried to bushwack to Sliding Falls on the Robinson River. Why? I don't know, it sounded like a cool place to visit. We did eventually reach the Robinson River after a fight with much blow down and a swamp. It was really cool back in there, we didn't make it to the Sliding Falls, and decided a better approach would be to try and come at it via a wack from Wolf or by Hornbeck. I like the Hornbeck idea, maybe next year. We fished the Robinson a bit with no success.
We decided that since we were in the area we would summit Partlow Mountain. On the wack from the Robinson River to Partlow we found an old orange disk on a tree that assume at one time marked the upper reaches of the Red Horse Trail. No foot path was visible. The top of Partlow looked like a great hang out for a bear and I was right, we never saw the bear, but we certainly scared the crap out it!
From the top of Partlow we struck basically due West back towards Big Shallow. As we got down lower off the mountain we became more and more ensnared in blowdown. I would never attempt this with leaves on the trees. Eventually brute force and will of stupid men and a dog won out over what Mother Nature threw at us and we came out right at Big Shallow. Battered, scraped, bloodied, and bruised but what a story we have to tell. Thank God there were no bugs or that would have been a suicide mission.
We tried some fishing in Big Shallow and Little Five with no luck. Big Five looks inviting, but the approach to it is choked with blowdown and too steep, yet another reason to return with a Hornbeck or equivalent. I think I posted the same thing after I was here last spring.
We took another bath, drank a few more beers, and smoked our last 'gar, and retired early.
Monday we struck out at 7:20AM and made a bee line for Wanakena, we stopped only long enough to put on rain gear, grab a bag of trash I left at the Five Ponds Trail junction, and eat a power bar and take a picture at High Rock. It rained steadily the whole way out and was noticeable cooler. We got back to the tennis courts in Wanakena at 11:20AM. Without the detour to High Rock I think we could have covered the 10 miles from Big Shallow in ~3 1/4 hours.
All in all a great trip. The weather on Saturday and Sunday was outstanding; it felt more like July than April. We encountered a little snow in the woods, but nothing extraordinary. The black flies are out but not yet swarming, hopefully this weeks temperature will knock back the first flight.
We will return again to attempt Sliding Falls from another angle, and to catch that monster brook trout I know must live in Big Five. Partlow Mountain? Nope, don't need to hack my way back up there again!
I didn't take any pictures, maybe Derrick will post some.
Hooty Hoot,
-george-
We awoke early Saturday morning, not by choice but by the whine of a squadron of mosquitoes that had entered our tent through the open door. Too many to kill so we got up, ate a lazy breakfast and hiked up to High Falls. It was blazing hot and bright sun. It felt like ninety but WeatherUnderground for Tupper said the high was only 75F. I don't believe it.
We cleaned up junk around both High Falls lean-to's. There was a fair amount of junk at the upper lean-to that is now in the garbage can in my garage. I don't understand how you can hike/paddle in a full gallon of Coleman fuel, beers, metal bowls, et al but not be able to carry it out.
We fished the falls with limited success and then packed up and headed for Big Shallow. I hooked a nice fish on a tunghead zug bug but lost it when trying to get it out of the water sans net. We made a diversion along the way to fish a beaver pond again with limited success.
We got up to Big Shallow late afternoon, took a bath, had a few more beers, ate dinner and went to bed early. We drank a toast of Jim Beam to Tracey, as it was his 3rd birthday. Finished it all off with another fine puro of course.
Sunday morning we hiked over to Little Shallow and found it in excellent shape. We then did something really stupid and tried to bushwack to Sliding Falls on the Robinson River. Why? I don't know, it sounded like a cool place to visit. We did eventually reach the Robinson River after a fight with much blow down and a swamp. It was really cool back in there, we didn't make it to the Sliding Falls, and decided a better approach would be to try and come at it via a wack from Wolf or by Hornbeck. I like the Hornbeck idea, maybe next year. We fished the Robinson a bit with no success.
We decided that since we were in the area we would summit Partlow Mountain. On the wack from the Robinson River to Partlow we found an old orange disk on a tree that assume at one time marked the upper reaches of the Red Horse Trail. No foot path was visible. The top of Partlow looked like a great hang out for a bear and I was right, we never saw the bear, but we certainly scared the crap out it!
From the top of Partlow we struck basically due West back towards Big Shallow. As we got down lower off the mountain we became more and more ensnared in blowdown. I would never attempt this with leaves on the trees. Eventually brute force and will of stupid men and a dog won out over what Mother Nature threw at us and we came out right at Big Shallow. Battered, scraped, bloodied, and bruised but what a story we have to tell. Thank God there were no bugs or that would have been a suicide mission.
We tried some fishing in Big Shallow and Little Five with no luck. Big Five looks inviting, but the approach to it is choked with blowdown and too steep, yet another reason to return with a Hornbeck or equivalent. I think I posted the same thing after I was here last spring.
We took another bath, drank a few more beers, and smoked our last 'gar, and retired early.
Monday we struck out at 7:20AM and made a bee line for Wanakena, we stopped only long enough to put on rain gear, grab a bag of trash I left at the Five Ponds Trail junction, and eat a power bar and take a picture at High Rock. It rained steadily the whole way out and was noticeable cooler. We got back to the tennis courts in Wanakena at 11:20AM. Without the detour to High Rock I think we could have covered the 10 miles from Big Shallow in ~3 1/4 hours.
All in all a great trip. The weather on Saturday and Sunday was outstanding; it felt more like July than April. We encountered a little snow in the woods, but nothing extraordinary. The black flies are out but not yet swarming, hopefully this weeks temperature will knock back the first flight.
We will return again to attempt Sliding Falls from another angle, and to catch that monster brook trout I know must live in Big Five. Partlow Mountain? Nope, don't need to hack my way back up there again!
I didn't take any pictures, maybe Derrick will post some.
Hooty Hoot,
-george-
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