Mexico trip - final post

Day 9 in Mexico (01/17) – Early morning wake-up at the hostel where Al and I were the only ones staying (even the owner was away for the weekend).  I got my 4 mile run in (8,600’) and we were

Mexico trip - part 4

Day 7 in Mexico (01/15) – We woke up to sunshine and could finally see Orizaba!  I got in my 4 mile run early and at 9:30am we started the drive up to the high hut.  The road was absolutely brutal, rutted, muddy and higher up snowy. 

 

 Our driver had done it hundreds of times and knew (and found) every bump along the way.  We got to the hut (13,978’) by

Mexico trip - part 3

Day 4 in Mexico (01/12) – This was a day for an acclimatization hike with no summit goal.  We headed up to Volcán Iztaccíhuatl or Izta but the park gate hadn’t opened so we had to hang out for a bit.  The view of Popo was great.  Popo is active and no hiking is allowed, on this day we saw it “burp” a few times (some plumes of smoke).  Eventually we made it to the trailhead at 13,060’.

 

 I felt pretty good as we headed up and then up, and then even more up.  Eventually I asked Al where the lower peak was and found we were well beyond it.  I was ready to turn as we were 2:15 into the hike and at 15,420’.  Plenty high enough for

Mexico trip - part 2

Day 2 in Mexico (01/10) – Al headed up the mountain on a scouting trip while I slept off my altitude induced hangover.  I felt a lot better and did a 4 mile run in Toluca between 8,400-8,500’.  We drove up to the pass (10,700’) then on to the TH at 13,600’.  There was some camping available but it really seemed too high especially with how I’d felt the day before.  We dropped back down to the pass and did a little bootleg camping in some nice pine trees not too far off of the main road.  It was a good day for relaxing and getting acclimatized.

Day 3 in Mexico (01/11) – We got up before sunrise and headed back up to the Trailhead for Nevado de Toluca, it was 30 degrees and sunny. 

 

 We had the mountain to ourselves as we headed up to the crater rim (13,657 to 14,078) then dropped to the crater floor (13,809’).

 

 Then the real climbing began!  I topped out at 15,200’, about 70’ below the very top.  There was a 5’ section of exposed rock with a couple of scramble moves need to get up there.  I didn’t feel comfortable doing that so I sat and took some pictures while Al went to the top.  We reached that point in 2:50 and I hung out for about 10 minutes before we started our descent. 

 

 Al thought the scree slope would be fun to head straight down and I could not disagree.  We dropped 1,500’ in ½ mile!  It was a blast storming down the dirt/rock slope. 

 

This got us back to one of the two lakes in the crater (at 13,800’) and we then picked up the 500’ climb to the top of Cerro Del Ombugo (14,173’).  After that we had a short downhill before ascending back to the crater rim and then down to the car.

 

 We covered the 5.16 miles in 4:35 with 2,380’ of climb and descent.  After the hike we drove to Amecameca and checked into the Hotel El Marques (rates for a night or four hours and porn on all TV stations).  It was actually clean and comfortable.  We did an easy four mile run (at 8,800’) and then headed to the town square where we bought hamburques from a street vendor.  I was a little worried about maybe catching something and Al noted that the woman preparing the burgers coughed in her hand then pressed the burger and also handled cash with the same.  Oh well!

 

Mexico trip part 1

Mexico

CMS teammate Al Bernier and I have been hiking together since 2005.  Al bagged nearly a thousand peaks in 2015 alone as he is working his way through numerous peak lists?  Since 2005 I’ve done just over 1,100 peaks but a lot of those were just little hills.  Over the years Al and I have done some interesting hikes together including some really difficult bushwhacks (no trail, just pushing through the woods).  It is usually a new adventure when I hike with Al.  A few months back we were visiting some peaks and he mentioned a trip to Mexico for some truly high peaks.  I immediately said I was interested but noted my concerns about my hiking weaknesses.

 

Al felt none of the peaks were outside of my abilities.  I’d need to buy some gear I was lacking and hoped to take a winter hiking course.  My strength is steady climbing; I’m a pretty strong climber.  My weaknesses are a major fear of exposure (falling off ledges to my death) and no steep snow climbing history (I’ve used running Kahtoola’s but never real crampons and certainly never used a climbing ax).  I left all of the planning to Al as I felt this was his trip and I was along for the fun.  I was up front that if I didn’t feel comfortable with the peak I’d just descend.  Unfortunately we never got any snow in New England so I did get to take a climbing class.  I also didn’t get to test out my new winter gear on Christmas weekend as temperatures soared to the 60’s.

 

My one plan for the trip was to get 4 miles of running in every day no matter what.  On January 8 I got up at 3:30 am to get in my run before we headed to the airport.  It looked like we might not make it when I jokingly asked Al “got your passport?” which he did not!  We got to Logan airport with about an hour to go before our flight.  We spent most of the day flying to Houston then to Mexico City.  It took a long time to navigate in the city but eventually we located the outfitter which sold fuel for Al’s stove.  It took an even longer time to get to our hotel but eventually we got there and called it a day.

 

Day 1 in Mexico (01/09) – Al joined me

Congrats to Al Bernier

Al Bernier got a nice mention in the latest issue of the Highpointers Club "Apex to Zenith Newsletter". Among his many lists Al completed the County high points in all of the New England states.  He is a prolific hiker often taking off on epic hikes and many times going solo.

Day 2 - Long weekend

Day 2 (Friday) – After a night at the base of the fire tower Al and I got up at 5am to catch sunrise.  We were treated to a great view as the sun came up between the mountains and a lower cloud deck.  We broke camp and 36 minutes of hiking down had us back at the car.  

We then dropped my car at the end of the Gore mountain trail and drove Al’s car around, coming within 100 meters of the Canadian border, to the edge of the Round Mountains.  We parked on the shoulder of East Round and headed in for our 3 peak bushwhack traverse.  First up was a 500’ climb over .8 that brought us to East Round (2,714’), then we dropped 300’ before climbing another 550’ to the summit of Round (2,932’) after another 1.1 miles.  We took a break on Round then dropped down 200’ before climbing another 650’ which brought us to the top of Gore Mountain in 1.4 miles.  We checked out the fire tower ruins and cabin on Gore and then hit the trail for a 4.2 mile descent (-1,800’).  My feet were starting to feel sore after this 4.5 hour hike so that was the end of the day for me.

http://www.strava.com/activities/170864044

Al and I parted ways as he was off to bag more peaks and I was off to Gorham NH.  Once I got to Gorham I thought it would be a good idea to do a short ride to get the kinks out before the big ride the next day.  I was planning on doing a Presidential Rail Trail double traverse on Saturday, going from Whitefield to Gorham and back.  I decided it’d be a good idea to see the section from Gorham to Berlin that we weren’t riding (they allow ATVs on that section so it isn’t as much fun).  I got in a nice ride, with the exception of getting coated with dust from the ATVs blowing by, right up until I turned in Berlin.  At that point I went out on the paved road to turn and as I slowed for the turn I hit a pothole and went over the handlebars.  Ugh.  I banged up my knee, hip, and shoulder pretty well.  Great way to prepare for a long ride!  After a few minutes gathering myself I biked back to Gorham feeling a little sore but not too bad.

http://www.strava.com/activities/170864051

Long weekend

Long weekend – I had a couple of days of vacation time planned for the end of July in the event I’d be heading out west for some peak bagging.  That trip is now scheduled for August so I thought I’d do some local hiking and biking.  Albee was up in the northern part of Vermont and he invited me to meet up with him for some hiking.

Day 1 (Thursday) – I got up at 3am and hit the rower and bike in the basement getting in 30 minutes and hour respectively before the 2 hour drive up to Lancaster NH where I met up with Al.  We headed to Guildhall Vermont and our first hike of the day.  Stone Mountain had a fire tower on the summit in the past and now has just a couple of abandoned cabins.  We completed the 3.4 mile hike with 1,100’ of climb in about 90 minutes with a little exploring at the cabins. 

Next up was a drive to Buzzell Gap in Granby.  This was a short half-mile bushwhack in the woods to the top of Buzzell hill (1,880’).  We didn’t find any fire tower remnants on the top but we did visit an old crumbling house on the way back down.  In all the hike was less than 20 minutes and climbed 100’.

Our next hike was a longer bushwhack to the summit of Bluff Mountain (2,789’), this was on Al’s list of “The thousand highest peaks in New England” which he has almost completed.  We parked on a logging road and hit the woods.  Al is really good at navigating and my job was to every once in a while say “too far east” or “we are drifting west” or something like that.  We had no trouble climbing the 800’ to the top and Al brought us down through some more open woods than we had on the climb, dropping out on the logging road within 100 meters of our start.  In all the 2.7 miles took us 1:51.

Before our final climb of the day we headed to Brighton beach for a swim and then caught an early dinner. 

 I was getting pretty tired from the long day and messed up a little on navigating us to the next trailhead.  We arrived in Ferdinand on a very sketchy road with a bit more than an hour to hike up West Mountain (2733’) before sunset.  After a brief chat with a guy on a motorcycle who was thinking of riding to the top (!!!) we headed out.  38 minutes and 929’ of climb later we were on the top checking out the fire tower and the warden’s cabin.

We had plenty of time to set up camp and then catch sunset from the cabin of the fire tower.  It was a bit breezy and even on the verge of being chilly up there.  We got treated to a spectacular sunset and later I checked out the night sky which was blazing with stars.

Western MA peakbagging - day 2

Day two of the Mass 100 highest hike with Al started with a pre-sunrise jog up and down Beebe Hill in NY.   This was just a bonus hike to bag a peak with a fire tower and the early hour warranted finding a peak with a road up.  It was a pretty easy hustle from the parking area (1,400') to the top (1,762) although the sign listed it as "Fire Tower .5" it was easily a mile up.  We jogged it in 24 minutes round trip (plus a couple of minutes to climb the tower and check out approaching sunrise...which was still 30 minutes away.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/307185831

Our second peak of the day was Harvey Mountain (2,057') which was right on the MA/NY border.  We approached from the west.  We drove in pretty far on the road and parked at the turn at 1850'.  We again did a nice easy jog up to the top.  There was a big clearing near the top which apparently is a blueberry field.  The top of the mountain has a NY/MA monument.  We headed down just as the sun was rising.

The third peak of the day was part trail and part bushwhack.  We headed to Lenox Mountain south peak (1,850') and parked on Reservoir road.  The trail up from 1,580' was nice and we just had a little bushwhacking to do.  Al got us to the highest bump then we kicked around in the woods looking for the other two possible highest points.  We descended via the same trail.  The woods were very open, unlike the crap we were in the day before.

Our fourth peak of the day was a lot of fun.  Our goal was West Stockbridge mountain (1,860).  Unlike most approaches we went in from the south near the junction of Averic Rd and Rt 41 at 950'.  There was a nice jeep trail that was signed for the watershed area and restricted for hunting.  We stayed out of the woods until pretty high up on the ridge.  Then it was a bushwhack to the ridge and a hike along the ridge to the summit, we bagged the West Stockbridge/Stockbridge town line marker that was part way along the ridge.  On the way back down we stayed to the west of the ridge on a trail then came over the ridge at the very end of the nose.  There were some great views from there on the open rock.  It was a beautiful day to be out in the woods.

Our fifth and final peak of the day was the north peak of "Tri Top" at 1,944'.  We drove to Tyringham and headed to the end of Fenn Road.  We parked at the sign for the Mclennan Reservation (1,400'), but there were no maps of the reservation so we relied on Al's topo.  We hiked up one of the woods roads for a while then bushwhacked our way to the top.  We drifted a bit on the way down and missed the woods road but Al relocated and we contoured our way right to the car.  Al is pretty damn good with a topo map!

http://www.thetrustees.org/places-to-visit/berkshires/mclennan-reservation.html#t1

Peakbagging in Western Mass

Mass 100 highest

With the Government closed down I had some time on my hands.  Al B is working on the 100 highest peaks in Massachusetts and I've never been one to turned down a couple of days hiking to ANY peaks.

On Monday we met up at the Park and Ride and reached western MA by 8am.  We bagged 7 peaks on the first day.  Most were in the town of Mt Washington although our fist peak was in Egremont.

We hit Mt Fray (1,909') via the Catamount ski area (just over the border in Hillsdale NY).  The day was very humid and temps were comfortable (mid-60s).  It was buggy on the ski slopes as we ascended from 930' to the top of the ski area and onward to a radio tower.  From there we bushwhacked a bit and then picked up the trail.  There were some descent views from the top but it was cloudy and even a little drizzle.  We returned the way we came after checking a few other bumps along the way.

Our second peak of the day was Prospect hill (1,959'), we approached from West St/Sunset Road and stopped at the last house in MA and asked about parking and hiking up to the top.  The owner said "No" but told us that the S Taconic trail would take us to the top and we just needed to go down the road a bit.  Cool!  We parked at the TH (1,700') and hiked up.  Nice views, quick stop and down we went.  More peaks to bag!

We continued south on West st. for peak #3 which was Mt Ethel (1,925').  We chatted with a couple who were walking their dogs and asked about any trails to the top.  They said their were none they knew of but were willing to tell us about some "nice hikes in the area".  We parked at the historic School house (1,720') and headed into some really nasty woods.  Yikes, the mountain laurel was super-thick and the going was very slow.  There was only one short part during the climb that wasn't too dense.  It was very humid and we had a little rain fall during this as well...but nothing epic (not yet).

Mt Darby (2,025') was our fourth peak of the day, not much to say on this one.  A quick jog up ( from 1,650') and down the dirt road to the radio towers and back down. No view.  It was nice to stretch the legs with a bit of running especially after the tough bushwhack.

We zipped down East Street t Plantain pond road for our fifth peak.  Mt Race (2,395') looked to be a long trek on the AT so we decided to try a bushwhack to the AT from the road.  We found a trail at the road bend (1,780') that seemed to go in the right direction and figured why not!  It turned out to be an easy 20 minutes to the AT and another 10 minutes to the summit.  Definitely a much shorter route to the top.

From Plantain we headed south on East Street looking for a good parking spot and possible trail to the top of Mount Ashley (2,382').  We found a spot on the side of the road at one of the conservation area markers, but the pull-out (1,840') that looked like a trail was in fact no trail.  This was a messy jumble of thick mountain laurel and it was raining now.  Ugh.  The top may have some nice views but we didn't see anything with the low clouds.

Our sixth and final climb of the day was also the nastiest.  Our goal was Mount Plantain (2,077)  We parked at the conservation sign on East street (1,740')  and headed east and a bit south.  The trail died out on us right after the trail junction and then it was some okay climb before hitting some more mountain laurel.  Then it really started to rain, thunder and hammering rain.  I got very cold with just some running gear which wasn't waterproof.  Luckily it was a fairly short hike and we got back into the car and into some warm dry gear.