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Hunter & SW hunter

Balsam, Hunter, Leavitt Peak, North Dome, Sheridan, Sherrill
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Jon
Posts: 324
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2011 9:43 pm
Location: Bangor, PA

Hunter & SW hunter

Unread post by Jon »

Hiked up from Becker Hollow. We left NJ early and got to the PA by 9:30 and started out on the trail. The first 2 miles was a drag, no switchbacks or anything and it got progressively steeper. We got to the Yellow trail and took that past the spring to the fire tower. After climbing the tower we descended and took the blue trail over to the other Yellow trail and took that down to the Devil's path and checked out the Devil's Acre lean-to. We passed that and took the unmaintained trail to the top of SW Hunter or Leavitt mountain. After signing the canister we headed back out to the DP, and then up Hunter mountain again to the blue trail for Becker Hollow. When we started descending we hadn't realized how steep the terrain was, I guess we went up too quick to notice. It took us around 7 hours and we hiked 9.1 miles.

The weather was nice, it was 70s and not that humid and there was a little bit of a breeze, however there was some haze which restricted the visibility limit, and things further than 10 miles were quite hazy. I still got some nice shots, and added 2 more peaks to my list.

Looks like this bridge actually stood up to Irene, amazing with all the rocks piled against it.
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Was basically this for 1.75 miles:
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Then this for .25 miles
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After turning onto the yellow trail, we finally made it to the conifers
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Summit rock
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What's engraved and painted on the summit rock:
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Summit cabin and fire tower
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There were a lot of panes of glass in the way, but the view in person was amazing. It was a bit scary climbing the tower with the wind above the treeline
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The cabin from the tower
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Burrough's Range from the southern viewpoint
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Devil's Acre lean-to
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Summit canister on Southwest Hunter
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John gave up on trying to figure out which direction we were heading...these signs offered no solice.
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The steep rocky descent down the becker hollow, that neither of us remembered climbing on the way up. The rocks here are very loose and the dirt is dry so everything gives way easily. We slipped and fell on our rears several times, and caused many small rock slides, but nothing serious
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Last shot I took before we just got down to the cars.
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TrunksWD
Posts: 91
Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2012 3:38 pm

Re: Hunter & SW hunter

Unread post by TrunksWD »

Nice shots! I hiked Hunter and SW Hunter in April from the Devil's Path on 214. Seemed a little bit easier than the way you went up. I didn't fall at least coming back down. The fire tower was closed when I did it, so you got a nice treat with it being opened.
mtnclimber
Posts: 496
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2009 10:46 pm

Re: Hunter & SW hunter

Unread post by mtnclimber »

Nice trip guys. Don't think I have been in the tower on Hunter. Nice views.
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