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Bushwhack range, 2014-07-19/21

Post future hikes, Looking for hiking partners.
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kennykb
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Bushwhack range, 2014-07-19/21

Unread post by kennykb »

A friend of mine and I have tentative plans to do the Bushwhack Range as a backpack on Saturday/Sunday/Monday, July 19-21. (Schedule may need to be altered, depending on some family issues that my buddy is dealing with. We'll likely be able to nail things down more firmly in a few days.) I might decide to get a head start and hike in to the campsite near where the Fisherman's Path leaves the trail to Table Mountain on the Friday night.

We're planning a relaxed pace, because I'm a slower hiker than just about everyone. :) But of course this is a difficult bushwhack, so plan accordingly.

I'm looking at the "sneak up on the peaks from behind" approach. I've been looking at some Landsat imagery of the area, and I think I can distinguish the dense spruce from the other growth. It looks to me as if there are some interesting possibilites starting from the place near the head of the East Branch where four forks all come together in a short distance.

It looks as if ascending eastward from there following one of the streams and then continuing on the same line after the stream peters out is a near-beeline to the overlook on the north side of Balsam Cap. It also looks as if this route avoids steep ascents, and that there is very little spruce that can't be passed on one side or the other. It looks as if there's a narrow band at about 3360 feet, and otherwise it's in deciduous or mixed vegetation all the way to the ridge. This looks like possibly a nice approach. It's surely a lot less climbing than coming up from Maltby Hollow!

Friday can be done from Balsam Cap using the instructions on this site, and that looks as good as anything. There ain't no graceful way.

It looks as if Rocky isn't atrociously steep following the ridge up from where the four streams join. (Somewhere near there, far enough from the water to be legal, might be a nice base camp for this trip.) Falling a little bit off the ridge to the west might be easiest. Again, it avoids entering heavy conifer forest for as long as possible. An alternative is the route on this site, up the brook nearly to the col between Rocky and Lone.

For Lone, the key looks to be working around the cliff to the southeast. From Rocky, it looks to be best to follow herd paths until we lost them, then try to get onto the 3400 foot ledge below the cliff and work around the cliff on whichever side looks better. (Most likely the west, which is reported to have a viewpoint or two even in summer.)

Which way to go off Lone depends on whether my buddy wants to do Table. Although if he does, I'm likely to suggest reversing Rocky and Lone, doing Lone first from Table.

If we get all four done in two days, then I'd like to satisfy my own curiosity about getting onto the Garden Path between Slide and Cornell from the Neversink. It's another whack that doesn't look horrible on the map or the Landsat photos. It looks as if the lightest vegetation is reached by approximately bisecting the angle between the two uppermost forks shown on the NYNJTC map, maybe 15 degrees west of true north from the confluence. That path looks like a gradual ascent with no conifers until you break out on the ridge.

I know that summer is a rough time for bushwhacking, but someone else who was up on BC and Friday in June said that the nettles and prickers aren't too bad this year. The deerflies were pretty thick, but I was out in thick deerflies a couple of weeks ago on Vly and Bearpen and had fun anyway.

We might come back with our tails between our legs, but we'll never know until we've tried it!

Anyway, if anyone is interested in exploring this area with me, drop me a line!
I'm not lost. I know exactly where I am. I'm right here.
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kennykb
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Re: Bushwhack range, 2014-07-19/21

Unread post by kennykb »

For what it's worth, here's a screenshot of my GIS when I was looking at estimated land cover and topography together. You can see what I'm talking about when I say there look to be a few spots where you can walk up almost onto the ridges without hitting any of the dark green conifer forest. (Click on the image to see it full size.)

Image
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mike
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Re: Bushwhack range, 2014-07-19/21

Unread post by mike »

Your camping spot is good. From there I would hike up to Lone and Rocky. From Rocky, you can hike off the North or East side and do Balsam Cap, and then Friday. I think that you can do all 4 in one day. Even if you hike slowly. Hiking up to your campsite is probably around 4 miles one-way. Once there, the mileage isn't so bad. Bushwhacking in June is tough.

If you need Table, then all of this is tough. The hike bushwhacking from Table to Lone is TOUGH! Thick balsam firs from Table to the col. The hike from the col up to Lone is hard. Mainly at the beginning. After you get up the steep ledge like area, the hiking isn't bad.

You could also hike up the Fisherman's Path and knock off Lone and Rocky. Then knock off BC and Friday the next day and hike out.

Easy to get lost on Rocky. Most people get lost on the way down.

Really like your map.
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kennykb
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Re: Bushwhack range, 2014-07-19/21

Unread post by kennykb »

Thanks for the tip on avoiding the ridge between Table and Lone. Looking at a higher-res IR image that I didn't post, I can see exactly what you're talking about. It looks like a narrow band of conifer forest, not even 100 yards wide, right on the top of the ridge, with the topo map looking like nasty ledges on both sides keeping you in the balsam and spruce. The band is narrow enough that it shows up as 'mixed forest' in the land cover analysis, which uses 100 meter pixels.

Since we both have the time to make a three-day weekend of it, I thought I'd allow lots of extra time. Lone and Rocky one day, Balsam Cap and Friday another, and on the remaining day either just tag Peekamoose and maybe Table - on the trail, not whacking up - or try to find where the Fishermen's Path once climbed all the way up to the Garden Path. I've heard from several people that it once did. It kind of depends on whether my buddy needs Cornell or Table. He's a good enough climber that he'd think the east side of Slide is fun.

And I know that summer bushwhacks are tough. I did Rusk and Southwest about this time of year. I couldn't follow the ridge over East Rusk with all the blowdown near the summit and spent the next few hours backing and filling through spruce trying to find a way through a maze of ledges. I should have gone around the blowdown to the north rather than the south. Southwest was a piece of cake by comparison, even if I did lose the herd path once after it turned off the old rail grade. I figured I'd pick it up farther up, and just climbed. I swear I walked DOWN to the canister from where I got to.

But if I'm going to do it with the partner I have in mind, I'm kind of running out of time. His wife's expecting this fall, and he wants to get some time in the woods before she pops.
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mike
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Re: Bushwhack range, 2014-07-19/21

Unread post by mike »

Yeah, on day 3 you could hike down the fisherman's path, and then tag Peekamoose and Table.
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