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Balsam 1-28-2012

Balsam Mtn (3602), Beaver Kill Range, Big Indian Mtn, Eagle, Hayes, Hirams Knob, Fir, Hemlock, High Falls Ridge, Mongaup, Sand Pond Mtn, Spruce, Willowemoc, Winnisock Lake Mt,
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Jon
Posts: 324
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2011 9:43 pm
Location: Bangor, PA

Balsam 1-28-2012

Unread post by Jon »

Sorry have had some things happening lately haven't been around to post.

Anyways decided to summit the last of my 4 winter peaks for the 3500 club. Left NJ at 7 and drove up to 28 and took that around to the belleyaire ski area road and took that to the Rider Hollow. This is probably the longest I've had to drive to any mtn here yet.
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Started out at 9:30 and decided to take the mine hollow route up. The trail is extremely washed out. You lose it before even getting to the junction with the yellow trail. There is a small detour that goes steeply up the hill to the left, since the stream is pretty deep unless you have waist high boots on you'll want to risk it on the steep slope. I was more focused on figuring out where the trail went than taking pictures at this point, since most of the trees with markers were washed downstream. Sorry that I didn't record any of the detours or washouts for you guys =/

Here's the first good shot I got, by the trail junction.
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The yellow trail was pretty bad, but there are some fresh slides that we had to traverse. Like so fresh you would put weight on rocks and they would all start to move. We wound up just climbing strait up above it to avoid risk of starting a landslide. After we got up the slope, we went back down it toward the stream again and joined the yellow trail up right where it starts into the mine hollow. From there on the trail is pretty unbroken, and we stopped to take in the view of the mountain

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Saw this interesting formation.....Freud would have something to say about this I'm sure.
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In some spots the lack of snow was disappointing...glad I left the snowshoes in the car.
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Junction with the blue trail which traverses the summit
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Mountain started growing as we got closer, the steep incline became apparent as we could see the packed snow line snake up the mountain even from a great distance.

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After the first good pitch, took out my camera for a shot down it.
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passing 3500 only a few inches of snow...
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coyotoes I'm guessing.
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View east through the trees
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I was wearing my crampons after I got fed up trying to avoid the ice on the way up. I set the camera up at this viewpoint and started down to the edge, and John was going with me hurrying to not miss the timer and he damn near slid strait off. I didn't even realize how it was basically a sheet of ice right next to the cliff.
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Luckily he didn't slide too far, and was around for another shot
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I think that's plateau or maybe hunter off in the distance.
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Clouds were cool lookin
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after this we followed the blue trail over to the summit, stood there for a minute and headed down the other side.
I took this shot after we came out of the pine forest rather abruptly. I was kinda sad since most mountains you're in the pines for a while, this one is very short comparably.
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Trail junction with the red trail
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Here's the little waterfalls
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can always count on lens flair to ruin a shot.
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After these I made the mistake of removing my crampons, and the trail was still pretty slick and I slipped and fell. Didn't get too hurt, just wished I hadn't taken them off!

Here's heading back around the mountain toward the lean-to
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The stream crossings were easy, except the one by the lean-to. Luckily there were some ice-covered logs that we barely made it across. Then there was this bridge, which is a bit skinny.

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here's one of the new freshly built bridges. Looks like post Irene.
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Back to the lot by 1:45
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So now the 4 winter summits are done, although I feel like I cheated since I didn't have to snowshoe to the top of a single one of them.
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mike
Posts: 1442
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2009 9:20 pm
Location: Ravena, NY

Re: Balsam 1-28-2012

Unread post by mike »

Nice trail report. I like that hike. I did it with snowshoes. Looks like you had a good time. The view is pretty good. I haven't been up there since Irene.
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