Dates ........ Saturday, September 7, 2002
Miles ........ 15.3 Miles, 3850' total climb
From ........ Long Pond Stream Lean-to
To ............. Tent camp West Branch Pleasant River
Weather ... 55degF AM, clear, high, wispy cirrus clouds, 70's day.

Saturday, September 7, 2002

Barren Slide and Mountain 2670', Fourth Mt. 2383', Third Mt. 2061', Columbus Mt.2326', Chairback Mt. 2219', West Branch Pleasant River

Back to serious climbing. Rocky and rooty trail, steep climbs, lots of sweat. But, I'm in better condition now, having hiked three weeks and 233 miles, so the climbs are not as difficult. The morning started with a 2000' climb up Barren Mt. Then it was a series of big bumps, ups and downs, one after another, five peaks in all. On the way up Barren Mt. I checked out the side trail to Barren Slide. It was a fantastic geological anomaly. A big hunk of the mountaintop had separated and fallen away, leaving a trail of jumbled, jagged large scree spread out down the mountainside. Shortly after the slide I came to the ledges. They were awesome. Dome shaped mountaintop, cliff edges falling away to the valley below. They were mighty impressive.

Long Pond from Barren Ledges

I got almost a mile of easy trail between the ledges and the summit, then it was back serious climbing. The views from the ledges and summit were magnificent. I could see White Cap Mountain clearly; tomorrow's challenge. But before I could tackle that, I had to take on Fourth, third, Columbus, and Chairback Mountain, in that order, then descend into the valley so I could climb all over again. On top of Barren Mt. was Cloud Pond lean-to and a much needed water source. But the lean-to was 0.4 miles off the trail and the water another 0.2 mile. I decided to pass up the shelter and the additional 1.2 miles it would add to the day's journey. That was a wise decision. I found lots of water in the notch between Barren and Fourth Mountains, even though none showed on the trail map.

Along with the water I found a beautiful bog, rich with ferns, thick moss and all manner of bog plants, many of which I have never seen the likes of before. It was real natural beauty in its own natural element. It reminded me of a terrarium I made in grade school. Just before the summit of Chairback I met up with a bunch of boy scouts and their out-of-shape leaders. The scouts were raring to go but the leaders wanted to stay at the Chairback Gap shelter. The kids and a lack of water won out. They followed me down the trail to the awesome descent off Chairback's peak. Wow. I did not envy those scout leaders having responsibility for those rambunctious kids on those treacherous rocks. If they were any more vertical and sharp and jagged, they would have been impossible to navigate without climbing gear. As it was, I felt my life was depending on careful hand and foot placement and a serious focus on the matter at hand. The scouts, on the other hand, despite pleas from their leaders scrambled down the steep jagged rocks like they were on a playground. Perhaps they were.

Dome of Third Mt. summit with White Cap Mt. (tomorrow's climb) in background

Sharp, jagged rocks on the steep Chairback Mt. descent.

I met two southbound hikers; one a flip-flopper and the other a late-starting southbounder. Foz and Bigfoot confirmed that the rest of the "wilderness" was very enjoyable. I confirmed that they had some serious work ahead of them once past Monson. I worked my way down the rest of Chairback to the logging road in the valley and then on to the bank of the West Branch of the Pleasant River. I scouted out the river crossing - a tricky rock hop or ford and decided to set up camp on the south bank at a nice flat spot I'd seen. I did not want to venture into the Hermitage, where camping was forbidden. I deposited my gear at the chosen site and took a refreshing bath in the river.

The two blonde brothers, Justin (BeFree) and Spyder came along and set up camp next to mine. They were traveling light. Justin had a hammock he strung between two trees. The advantage of a hammock is that you can sleep just about anywhere there are trees. Spyder slept in a bivy sack, a kind of combination bivy tent shell and sleeping bag. Justin had just graduated from high school and Spyder from college. I envied them their journey together at an age where it was more fun and I envied them having such a grand adventure so early in their lives.

The two flip-floppers came by. They must have been trying to confuse me - they were actually headed north. They had just been dropped off and this was the best way for them to proceed north in this section of trail - by actually hiking north. They went on down the trail a ways and set up camp.

One nasty little thing about camping on a riverbank: lots of teeny little sand fleas. Even though I had just bathed and shampooed they found their way into my hair, eyebrows, ears and everywhere else. The only escape was the bug netting of my tent. An otherwise pleasant social evening was thus cut short and I turned in for the night.

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