Blue Ridge (3497') and Blue Ridge (3436') - Blue Ridge Wilderness - 10/10/15

There are just too many mountains named Blue Ridge.  There are four on the ADK hundred highest list alone.  I had already done the one in Indian Lake and the one in Schroon, so it was time to grab these last two.

Spencer Morrissey, in his book "The Other 54", said "The twin Blue Ridges are very inviting, especially on paper, with an attractive 2.5 mile ridge between the two.  Climbing both in a day, however, would make for a trying adventure."  He admitted though that he had not tried doing this. This gave me perfect incentive to give it a go.

I got a late start and didn't get on the trail until 9 AM.  I parked at a pulloff on Cedar River Road directly south of Round Top Mountain.  My plan was to skirt the west side of Round Top, then do a counterclockwise loop of the two Blue Ridges, thereby tackling the eastern one first.

A section of the Northville Placid trail (NPT) has recently been re-routed to get it off of Cedar River Road.  It now leaves the road at Wakely Pond and goes west of Round Top en route to Stephens Pond.  This alleviates hikers from a 5 mile stretch of road walking.  Hurray!  There is still a 2.5 mile road walk, but it is better than 7.5.

I knew that I would cross the NPT as well as the old Dishrag Pond tote road pretty earlier on in my hike.  The trees were wet from rain the day before so I soaked rather quickly.  My camera also got wet so I don't have many pictures of this trip.

It took me about 15 minutes to reach the NPT and once I reached it, I followed it northward for a quarter mile or so.  Very nice re-route.  I had to leave the trail to continue my NW direction.  After 45 minutes I passed the tote road.

As I continued to climb, I passed through some sections of Witch Hobble that slowed me down a little, but I was able to avoid blowdown and thick spruce for the most part.  After 2.5 hours, I was on the summit.  I did not find any ribbon or pipe hanger remains of a cannister holder, but it was the high point of ground and it had been trod on by others.  I scouted around a bit but didn't see any other points that looked higher.

There were no views here (or anywhere during this day).  It was just a quiet day in the woods.  There were not even any chipmunks or small animals to catch Rev's attention.

Blue Ridge (3497') ... the eastern one. 

Rev had no issues going over or under blowdown.

It looks worse than it was.

Since it was not even noon yet, I set off to follow the ridge westward 3 miles to Blue Ridge (3436'). It took me another 2.5 hours to complete the ridge.  Again, the woods weren't super dense, so even though there was quite a bit of blowdown, I could walk around most of it.

This time on the summit, I found the old strap that used to hold the cannister.  Now it just held a stick that someone put there.   I was surprised that I was still not hungry or or thisty.  I made myself eat and drink a little so I wouldn't get dehydrated or lose energy.

  

Blue Ridge (3436')

It was now 2 PM and I wasn't too concerned about getting downhill before dark.  I made my way south for a short while then turned SE since the grade wasn't as steep as I thought it would be.  I skirted just north of Dishrag Pond and came back to the tote road.

This time I followed the tote road two miles until I came to where the NPT crossed, at which time I turned right and followed the NPT 0.9 miles until it was time to drop back down to Cedar River Road.  I got back to the car at 5 PM.  No views and not much in the wasy of fall color on this hike (mostly in the spruce), but two more ADK hundred highest done.  I'm up to 93 now!

A beaver pond alongside the tote road

NPT bridge over Brown Brook

Hike Stats:
Hike Distance:  11.3 miles
Hike Time:  8 hours
Total Vertical Gain:  ~2450'

The route (click imae to enlarge)

Bushwhack Hike Up Blue Ridge Mtn - Hoffman Notch Wldns - 6/1/14

 

Sunday I did a bushwhack hike up one of the peaks on the Adirondack hundred highest list, Blue Ridge Mountain.  This was the Blue Ridge Mountain just north of Hoffman Mountain in the Hoffman Notch Wilderness.

The most common routes are from the south via a traverse over Hoffman Mountain or from the north starting on Blue Ridge Road.  I chose to start from the east on Route 9 just south of Schroon Falls.  I parked at the recently established Dirgylot Hill parking lot.

The first 3 miles were a re-hike of a hike I did on 5/24/14.  This was a herd path that lead to an old abandoned jeep road which then followed a nice drainage that leads towards the col between Hoffman Mountain and Blue Ridge Mountain.

This time I would continue on past the end of the abandoned jeep road and bushwhack my way to the top with any luck.   I started quickly, traveling the first 3 miles in an hour and fifteen minutes.  The mosquitos were after me for the first 15 minutes, but didn't bother after that until the same spot on the way out.

I had a late start (11:30), so I knew there was a chance I would have to bail if I didn't make good progress.  At that time I came to a small clearing at the end of the gentle terrain.  There was also a fork in the drainage at this spot.  It is here that I came across the only human artifact of the trip; the remains of an old iron cook stove.  There had obviously been a camp of some sort here long ago.

 

Remains of an old cook stove at the end of gentle terrain

From this clearing I followed the right drainage, staying on the right hand side, still following the old road which was becoming faint.  It quickly disappeared, just as I had anticipated.

 

The drainage had some pretty spots and a few 4' falls and water pools that looked inviting.

 

     

Here are a few pics of the water falls and pools

 

 

 

 

 

At the 3.7 mile point and an elevation of 2200' the terrain began to get noticeably steeper and the drainage was now in a deeper ravine.  It became harder to follow the stream.  It was now time to turn towards Blue Ridge.

 

I had been headed mostly west and now turned to a course of 290 degrees.  At around 2500', I did get a small look back at Schroon Lake.  This was my only view of the lake.  

   

An opening in the trees



A zoom of my one look at Schroon Lake 



 

Typical woods and fallen timber

 

From 2600'-2800', I went through a band of thick small spruce, followed by some taller young thick spruce.

Thicker small spruce from 2600-2800'

The grade moderated as I neared the summit ridge.  The tree density improved as well, except for a thick blowdown field between the two summit prominences.  I was going to go to the southern most summit first, but had to veer to the northern summit to avoid a fearful mess.

 

The northern summit had no indication that it was the high point, I was just greeted by moderately thick woods. 

 

The northern summit!

 

From the northern summit, I was able to go around the north side of the blowdown mess to reach the sothern summit.  I wasn't sure which was the true summit, but the southern summit appears to be slightly higher according to my altimeter.  I could see very slight indications that others had walked here.  I wouldn't even call it a herd path. 

Southern summit by the fallen tree root mass.  It appears that others have stood here.  No manmade indicators found. 

 It had taken me 3.5 hours to travel the 4.75 miles to the southern summit, which meant it was now 3 PM .   I reversed course, figuring I'd follow the same course down (the devil you know is better than the one you don't)!

 

The outline of Hoffman Mountain to the south

I wasn't able to move any faster on the way out.  It's tough to pick up the pace when bushwhacking.  It just leads to carelessness and injury.  Besides, I had moved fast on the way in until I hit the obstructions.   

The biggest clearing I found...

7 hours found me back at the car (6:30 PM).  I can't say I recommend this route, but I don't know if any route to Blue Ridge would be better.  This is certainly a nice hike until you have to leave the drainage and begin the climb in earnest.

 

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  9.5 miles

Hike Time:  7 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 2750'

 

 

The route (Click image to enlarge)