| Summary | |
| Owner | MITOC Gallery Administrator |
| Creation Date | 2004-09-18 15:04:07 UTC-0400 |
| Description |
Snowshoe Trip Report: 1/13/01 Date: 1/13/01 Location: Sandwhich Trail Peak Leaders: Robin Evans, Christine Kornylak, Ben Polito Participants: Omprakash D Gnawali (Om), Stan Hu, Shawn A Lawrence, Sebastian Ortiz, Ben Pearre, Dave Peascoe, Karen Robinson, Justin A Sarlese, Mike Whitson I have to praise the trip leaders here. I don't know much about leading trips, but they were constantly keeping the pace reasonable, asking if people were cold, asking about everyone's feet, etc. The weather was beautiful for our snowshoe up Sandwich Peak Trail. There was no wind to speak of, and as long as we were moving most everyone was comfortable hiking in a wicking layer and a shell, or a wicking layer and a small amount of insulation. We had travelled to Camelot Friday night, and got up promptly at 6:30 Saturday morning. After some deliberation (see below) we left the cabin, travelled to Dunkin' Donuts for water and some more breakfast, and hit the trailhead by 8:20 am. We had planned to do the Drakes Brook Trail - Sandwich Peak Trail loop, but the Drakes Brook Trail was groomed for skiers and closed to hikers. We therefore took the Sandwich Peak Trail to Jennings Peak and returned via the same trail. Not far onto the trail we split our group of twelve into two groups of six, which travelled at roughly the same pace and leapfrogged each other until one group stopped to tape feet -- then the other group travelled faster and was a half hour ahead for the rest of the hike. On most of the trail there were 5-10 inches of snow. On the more level places snowshoes worked out well, and we left a nicely packed snow trail. On some of the steeper, rockier areas the going was rough with big, clumsy snowshoes, but all in all we learned how to control and walk in the things. The views from several spots along the trail (including "Noon Peak," at 2976 feet) were spectacular. The air was clear and we could see to Mt. Washington, which had no cloud even around its peak. On the way down it was hard (nay, impossible) to keep from sliding in the snow. Most members of my 6-person group ended up taking off the snowshoes and carrying them, then glissading along in the mouse-boots. The second group arrived at the trailhead at about 3:30. Back at the trailhead the other six-person group had waited for us, and was getting cold. We split into cars so that four people (including two drivers) could stay at Camelot and ski Sunday, and the other eight could return to our Boston lives. We had dinner on the way back, and were in Boston by about 8 PM, ready to shower and sleep like babies. Minor Mishap: One winter schooler arrived with two mouse-boots marked the same size, but only one fit. After some deliberation, trip leaders decided he could wear extra socks (including one Gore-Tex pair) and a borrowed pair of leather hiking boots that fit over the extra socks. As the weather was fairly warm all day, this did not turn into a larger problem. |