Cascade & Porter Mountains - High Peaks Wilderness Area - 1/20/18

Leesa & I have been extremely busy with work thus far this year, but we took some time today to re-visit Cascade and Porter Mountains in the High Peaks Wilderness Area.  It was a warm day with temperatures in the mid-30's, but of course that doesn't apply to the summit of Cascade.  There was a moderate breeze that kept things feeling a little cooler.

We didn't arrive until 11:30, and weren't sure we'd be able to find a parking spot, but we were in luck.  We work our snowshoes the entire way.  They were required, but they weren't really needed.  Many folks were not wearing theirs on the way down, in favor of spikes to help with grip on the ice.

Of course since we started late, we saw many people coming down as we were going up.  We moved at a slow pace today and took 2 hours to climb to Porter.   On the way back, Rev and I dashed up Cascade.   Leesa opted to avoid the wind and get a small head start on us on the way down.

I always like to tag Cascade, even if the wind is whipping.  That last 0.2 mile transformation to climb above treeline can lead to a world of  isolation on the summit.   It always feels so cool to me.   You can tell by the final pictures below that it really is different up there.

Note:  - Leesa and I found some boots left behind in the mostly empty parking lot in the afternoon.  We picked them up in order to hopefully find their owner through social media.  If you left boots behind on Saturday 1/20 in the Cascade parking lot before 3:30 PM, send us a comment in order to reclaim them!          

A first peak below

Rev, leading the charge

Leesa climbing Porter

The summit of Porter

Leesa and Rev on Porter 

Rev heading for Cascade

Much windier on Cascade (as is often the case)

You can see the leash blowing and Rev fighting the wind

Pretty isolated looking on this day 

Leesa cautiously making her way down

Hike Stats:
Hike Distance: 5.6 miles
Hike Time:  4 hours
Total Vertical Gain: 2300'

The trails

Cascade Mountain from Owl's Head via Laramore Mountain - 3/6/16

On Saturday we chose a new way to visit an old friend.  Cascade Mountain in the High Peaks Wilderness is the easiest of the 46 High Peaks to summit if you take the trail from Route 73.  You can also climb from Marcy Field by summiting Porter Mountain first, then continuing on to Cascade.  A third trail option is to start from the Garden and climb Little Porter to Porter, then to Cascade.

We've done all those routes in the past, and they're all great routes.  I've also climbed from Cascade Lakes via the falls and the slide.  It was now time for a new route.  Leesa and I decided to start at Owls Head and climb Cascade via Laramore Mountain.  I did the research and determined that we could do this hike entirely on state land if we swung east around the base of Laramore.

We started by climbing Owls Head, which is a delightful peak with a great bang for the buck.  If you haven't taken the time to stop and try it, you're missing out.  The trail only has 500' of vertical gain, but the mountain is packed with interesting features and views.

On this day the day was solid ice so I had Leesa forego her microspikes in favor of using my Kahtoola K10 hiking crampons which offer a lot better traction.   With those on her feet, we easily negotiated the ice.

From the top of Owls Head I was able to get a good visual of our climbing line up the mountain (see red lines on the picture below.  

Approximate route as seen from Owls Head. 

As can be seen in the picture, we would be in the hardwoods for the first half of the hike. 

Pitchoff from Owls Head

Cascade (L) and Pitchoff (R) from Owl's Head.  Route 73 down below. 

Looking at the summit of Owl's Head 

Rev is watching for Leesa to catch up with us.

Even though it was only 10 degrees, the sun was strong and we had our jackets off by the time we summited Owl's Head.

To continue our journey, we had to descend Owl's Head all the way to the first bend in the trail.  We then wrapped around the southern base of Owl's Head to stay north of private property.   We may have clipped private property when we saw the sign below, but the only posted signs we saw were off to our right (south).  We worked eastward until we passed the private property on the south side, then we were able to climb diagonally in a southwesterly direction before heading due west to gain the ridge. 

Private perhaps, but not posted.

Part of an old treestand ladder

As expected, the woods were open hardwoods and presented no obstacles except the massive rock formation below, which was easy to skirt around.  

Climbing the NE flank of Laramore to gain the ridge.

Leesa... bypassing the large rock wall.

The strong sun made it feel quite warm.

One of several viewpoints along the lower part of the Laramore ridge.

At about 2600' the woods transitioned to conifers and the steepest thickest part of the hike was between 2600' and 3400'.  It wasn't bad in my mind.  Leesa was expecting it to be easier.  

Ice covered rock

As we got above 3400', the grade lessened slightly and the woods opened up a little bit.  We had snowshoes strapped to our packs but they never left our packs.  The snow depth wasn't that deep and it was really firm.

As expected, when we topped out on open rock near the summit, we could see a crowd ahead of us. We leashed Rev and walked to the true summit.  Most hikers were wearing full crampons and they told us the trail was quite treacherous and the crampons were almost a necessity.  We were glad to be in the forest and able to avoid that scenario.  Everyone asked us how we were able to climb that icy trail with the dog, and we said we didn't!

Looking SE from Cascade

What a view!  Looking at the Blueberry/Porter ridge with Giant in the back right.

Leesa, approaching the summit of Cascade from Laramore.

Nearing the trail and time to leash Rev.

There was snow up high, but it was firm and snowshoes weren't needed.  

One of many ice flows

An emergency bivouac spot?

Leesa had struggled a little bit on the climb through the coniferous portion of the hike.  It took us 4.5 hours to reach Cascade.  Going back was a different story.  We retraced our track and were able to exit in 2 hours 45 minutes.  We both agreed that it had been an enjoyable day.  It stayed just below freezing so the snow never got soft. 

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  8.5 miles

Hike Time:  7.25 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 3000'

The route (click image to enlarge)

Cascade Mountain from Cascade Falls - 5/29/14

 

 Sandwiched between Upper and Lower Cascade Lake a the pretty little Cascade Lakes Day Use Picnic Area.  The entrance is tough to get into as you're heading west.  The entrance is on about a 150 degree angle and it goes downhill.  It's best to go to the Cascade Mountain trailhead, turn around and then pull into the picnic area as you are heading east. 

The picnic area is the site of the old Cascade House Hotel that existed from the late 1870's until the 1930's.  Behind the picnic area (to the southeast) lies a beautiful waterfall (Cascade Falls) and a slide (called the #7 slide since it is shaped like the #7 .  This slide was opened up by Hurricane Irene in August 2011.  The falls is known to be a great ice climbing in the winter.

There is an unmarked herd path that starts at the back of the picnic area that leads to the base of the falls in .3 miles.  I went in after work today to get some pictures of the falls and thought I would continue to the top of Cascade Mountain if the bushwhack wasn't too difficult.  I started out at 5:10 PM.

 

 

Cascade Falls in the background

 

It's an easy walk to the base.  I took some pictures there, then rather than scale the steep slide at the falls, I ducked into the woods on the left hand side a followed a faint herd path ascending the woods adjacent to the slide. 

 

Getting closer

 

On the base of the slide, heading for the base of the falls 

 

 

Alongside the falls

 

 

After getting up alongside the falls, I began to drift away as I climbed since the walking near the falls was getting increasingly rugged.  Once I reached an approximate elevation of 2800', I came across a herd path leading back to the falls.  At this elevation, I was above the falls and came out onto the #7 slide just above the falls.

 

Climbing the # 7 slide

 

The slide was not so steep at this point and I began climbing in the slide.  Soon I came to a fork and took the left branch which had more clean rock.   A couple pictures below show various points on the slide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I followed the slide up until the final headwall at which point I went into the woods on the right to skirt the headwall.

The final headwall can be seen at the end

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bypassing the headwall

 

 

 

 

Above the headwall, the bushwhacking was pleasant.  The woods were relatively open conifers and birches.  At about 3500' , I began to once again see various traces of herd paths.  They weren't needed.  The walking was easy.

 

Open woods above the slide

 

 

 

 



Approaching the summit of Cascade Mountain

 

At 6:30 I reached the summit.  It had taken 1 hour and 20 minutes to go 1.2 miles, but I had climbed 2000 vertical feet in that distance.  I spent about 10 minutes on the summit.  Nobody was there!  (See pictures below of the summit looking different directions). 

 







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After my summit photos on Cascade, I decided to high tail it over to Porter.  I trail ran the .7 miles in about 15 minutes.

 

The summit of Porter Mountain

 

I didn't linger on Porter, since it was now 6:45.  I turned around and went  back to the Cascade/Porter trail junction.  It was now 7 PM.  I decided to trail run down the trail rather than bushwhack my way back down.        

 

Zoom of Cascade from Porter

 

The trail was its' usual rocky, muddy, rooty self, but I got to the bottom in 30 minutes.  It was now 7:30 and I had the short walk on the road in the pass along Upper Cascade Lake to get back to the car.  That took 15 minutes, and I was on my way home at 7:45.

 

I must admit that I am enjoying the bushwhacks more than the trail hikes; especially in the high peaks, where the trails get so much use that they are somewhat of a mess.

 

 

This was a fine trip to the top and the first time I haven't used the trail to get there.

 

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  4.7 miles

Hike Time:  2.5 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~2250' 

 



 

The route (the bushwhack portion was from the lakes to the summit of Cascade)
(Click image to enlarge)