Above 3000 feet there is still thick packed ice on the trail. No snow, just packed ice. Microspikes or crampons are a must. My boots are just naturally clinging to snow/ice (I hike in Walmart snow boots) so I could just walk across it as long as I put my weight down and scuffed my feet. My buddy was struggling cause he has really expensive hiking boots which have some fancy "vibram" soles on them which are coincidentally super slippery when they touch any type of ice or water. Once we got into the real thick of the pine forest, it was all ice, and it was hard to avoid it. He was at sometimes just bushwacking through the moss and pines right next to the trail to avoid the ice. It was very slow going, especially since we still had our packs on. I kept having to sit and wait for him, and it was wearing me out.
It took us basically 2 hours to make it from the trail junction to the summit. Got there by about 4 and heard reports from other climbers that the Cornell Crack had a layer of ice in it, and people were using a rope and crampons to get up it. Since we only had a few hours of daylight left, we decided against Cornell and will have to come back another day. Maybe we'll do a traverse sometime across the whole range.
Anyways we hiked/slid back down and found a campsite around 2900 feet, just below the snow(ice) line. The ground was mushy but I had my hammock. We setup camp had a little fire and dozed off. Woke up for 6 am and had a chance to video the sunrise. Was a little chilly at night, but not as bad as camping in the dead of winter. Got up Sunday morning and we just had an easy hike out down the mountain. Back to NJ by lunchtime Sunday.
Here's some pics:
Here the clouds were moving out of the valley. It's hard to see behind all the trees.
One of my favorite things about hiking wittenberg is the transition from deciduous to pines and back. Here is a small pine forest.
peering over the edge
Here's me "hanging out"
Here's about where the ice starts.
I climbed right up it, but he kept slipping
From the picture it doesn't look like much ice, but it was all over the whole trail.
some more ice
was waiting by this cave for a while for my buddy. He was taking forever.
summit
Devil's path. I loved the big blue sky that afternoon.
Here's our campsite, this is my hammock I slept in.
Here's us the next morning. wanted a group shot with our packs on. yes I'm wearing shorts and gaiters.
The hike back was short and uneventful. It was a little warm, and good thing I was wearing shorts. The shadows are very long cause it was so early.
One last shot of the summit before we leave.
done
