Mount Resolution and Mount Stairs: You’ve got to be kidding me.

I packed my bag and was ready to go until my husband noticed there was a trail of small ants walking to and from my pack.  OMG, I screamed.  Ants and I have a long history and none of it good. I don’t like them and they don’t like me.  I tore apart my pack, took out all of my granola bars and gave any I thought were compromised to my husband.  He would eat them. 

I repacked it and I put it on.  My pack is heavy, OMG heavy.  I felt like Cheryl Strayed.

I’ve been on the Davis Path before when I hiked Mt. Crawford.  No surprises here.  Loose rocks, sandy dirt trail, eroded in places and steep. Halfway up the trail I reached in my pack for some granola bars… not there! I forgot to put the ‘uncompromised bars’ back in my pack. I had nothing in my pack except for the meal I planned to cook on Stairs.

Okay, what did I have?  I had some orange juice in my pack. It gave me much needed energy to continue.  I scanned the ground for edibles.  I found an Indian cucumber, one half-ripe group of bunch berries, a lot of half-ripe blueberries and ate old Trillium leaves the entire way up.

Trillium and Indian Cucumber

Two years ago while sitting on top of Crawford, I looked across at Stairs and wondered how the heck do you get over there?  I had visions of hiking deep into the valley and then straight up Stairs.  This is not the case. The hike to Crawford is the steepest part of the entire hike. The Davis Path trail (it continues to the right of Crawford trail) is a beautiful, meandering, peaceful, less-traveled, remote wilderness trail. This portion of the trail was my favorite part. 

I continued to scan the ground for wild edibles and missed the Parker Trail to Mount Resolution.  This inattention added 45 minutes to my hike.  The Parker trail is eroded, overgrown, poorly blazed, with a number of small blowdowns.  When the trail opened onto the first set of ledges I had to take a minute to figure out which way to go.  The views were beautiful.  The trail continued through low brush, and opened up onto another set of ledges with beautiful views.  A number of trail logs say there is a bushwhack to the summit of Mount Resolution. My idea of bushwhacking is obviously very different from theirs.  A mild push through some brush is an overgrown trail, not a bushwhack.  So, I was looking for a bushwhack.

My GPS registered 361 feet to the summit so I kept walking trying find the best place to bushwhack to  the summit.  I continued on until it said 168 feet away. I couldn’t imagine there was a view in this mess of trees, but I pushed through the trees with my all my gear, pine needles flying everywhere, branches snapping, spiders landing on my face, until my GPS registered 2 feet.  I looked down and there was a small rock.  No views, just a rock.  I am surrounded by a dense thicket of god forsaken pines.  I am being touched on all sides, there is nowhere to move.  A wave of pure panic floods through me.  Claustrophobia.  Definition: an extreme or irrational fear of confined places.  It took everything I had to shut it down.  I pushed through, got out.  Only 100 feet but it felt like forever. 

Still trying to get my heart rate down, I sat on the qualifying summit and took a selfie. 

 51 down, 1 to go.

I got back on the Davis trail, I was hungry and tired of Trillium leaves.  I drank some more orange juice.  I expected some real scrambles to get to the top. I expected Carter’s Ledge, or South Baldface.  Nope, just a few rocks to climb over.  If the ERD was with me he wouldn’t have had any trouble darting up them. 

I quickly get to the Stairs trail.  There is a nice, easy to see, trailhead and tent site sign here. It is a short, beautiful, trail leading you to the Stairs.  There is only one problem.  I’m not the only one there.

I hear grumbling and talking.  I see it’s one person talking to themselves.  I’m disappointed.  I wanted to be alone on the summit.  My last hurrah alone.  Oh well, I’ll make the best of it.

I set up my tent, made fire and cooked my food.  I was ready to spend the night on Stairs.

We talk a bit, I can see he has some problems. He has difficulty speaking.  But we all have struggles. Then the conversation took some turns.

I’m in pain a lot, my back.   I’m on morphine for my pain. 

Oh..

I grew up in group homes, they’re worse than jail.

I felt sad for him.  We talk about hiking. 

I have to walk everywhere; I had to sell my car.  My wife has my kids, she couldn’t handle my addiction. 

Oh.. Where do you live?

I’m homeless.

What do you do in the winter?

Homeless shelters don’t want me.  They are worse than jail. I try to stay out in the woods. This guy let me live with him for a while, he wanted to have sex with me (he explains what kind). But I’m not gay, at all, so you know. 

Oh… uhm… oh

Then I had a job but the guy fired me.  He said I scared him.  I get so angry from the pain.  I frightened his customers.  He let me go.  Now I’m here. 

Oh… What do you do when you get angry?

I get so angry, I have to get away from people.  I scare myself.  

Oh... Well hiking is good for that.  

At no point did I feel threatened or frightened.  He is a person, alone, trying to climb out of a downward spiral.  But I didn’t know him or the depth of his history.  I didn’t know what his anger triggers were.  I made him some bacon and pancakes, gave him some canned milk and a packet of Starbucks coffee.  I made the decision to go down.

He didn’t want me to go.  He wanted the company and needed someone to talk to. He wanted me to stay.  I told him my husband was uncomfortable with me staying on the mountain, alone, with another man.    

Wouldn’t you be worried if your wife was on the mountain with another man?

 I would be glad if she was lost alone on a mountain.

Well, I mean, if you liked your ex-wife, wouldn’t you be worried?

I guess. But now I’m going to worry about you hiking down in the dark.

Thank you. Don't worry, I'll be fine. Be well, enjoy your sunrise tomorrow.

I packed my gear and headed down as the sun set. 

Another one of my fears, besides being trapped in a sea of claustrophobic trees, is hiking in dark, unfamiliar woods.  Now I had 5 long miles to descend, in the dark.  I was surprisingly comfortable on the narrow trails with my headlamp facing down, on the trail ahead. There seemed to be safety in the confinement of the narrow trail.  I watched spiders scurry and slugs slime their way across in my lamplight. I continuously had to brush away dozens of small white moths, attracted to the light, off of my face.  Their eyes reflected a shimmery gold as they darted past. They looked like fairies. It felt alien and beautiful.

A few times the lamp created fast moving shadows from branches on the trail.  I’d jump and squeak like an injured rabbit but quickly composed myself and continued on.  The only time I really felt the ‘lizard brain’ jitters was when the trail opened up onto sprawling ledges.  I felt vulnerable from all sides.  White blazes reflected the light from my head lamp leading the way.  Every time I saw one, I wanted to hug the person who painted them! 

At mile four I was tired and had to resist the urge to go faster.  The last mile of the trail is pebbled sand with loose rocks just waiting for an errant step. I heard rustling, I stopped short and stared into the woods, looking all around, ‘lizard brain’ active again.  Then I heard the barred owls, a group of them, whooping it up with their happy calls.  I joined in, they called back welcoming me into their song.  They stayed with me until I reached the car.

A beautiful end to a wild ride.

And then there were none.

Parker Trail

the turnoff to the Parker Trail, the one I missed

Mount Resolution views

my fire setup ready to go

Chickens (of the woods) Laetiporus cincinnatus found too late to eat.

another use for my flint striker 

Sauteed trillium leaves, pancakes, and bacon

making faces on blue-staining boletes :)

lovely garter snake along the trail :)

sunset on Stairs

the tent before the takedown

Someone did some damage to this sign

Fire prepped ready to be set.

I made it :)

Sugarloaf Mountain, Nash Stream Forest

After an early morning sunrise on Mount Magalloway, running on no sleep and no coffee, I set out to meet the infamous Mike Cherim and Bill Robichaud to help them out with a car spot.  We were going in the same direction but to different peaks.  I was hiking Sugarloaf and they were committed to a long day of redlining starting with Percy loop.  The ERD jumped right into Mike’s lap and made himself comfortable.  The ERD likes hikers.

Mike & the ERD

Bill in the back

The Sugarloaf trail shouldn’t have been hard to find, but it was. I kept driving on Nash Stream Road thinking I had gone too far and would backtrack looking for the trailhead.  I finally realized my mistake. To find the trailhead, drive past the Percy Peaks and Percy Loop trails and keep going, and going, and going until you drive over a small bridge. On the left you will see a CT Cohos Trail blaze, a 2-car parking area that looks like private property, and a house set back on what looks like a private driveway. This is the trailhead.  If there is no room in the parking area, just park along the road.

This was a surprisingly easy hike. Before I hike, I make a mental note of how long it should take me to reach a summit.  Generally I plan on an hour per 1000 feet of elevation, and then pad it.  So, with an elevation gain of 2700 feet, I figured it would take me around 3 hours to get to the summit.  I reached the summit in 1 hour and 40 minutes. 

The trail is wet and muddy near the beginning and continues to be wet until you reach approximately 2200 feet.  Even with the mud, the trail has easy footing.  From here the trail is dry and continues to ascend gradually with little bursts of steeper sections.  At 3,200 hundred feet there are a couple of brooks for dogs, but no water at the summit.

I was surprised by the summit.  It was beautiful!  Keep going past the benchmark to reach jaw-dropping  mountain views.  

There was another hiker at the top; the ERD found him first.  He must have smelled food in his pack.   We chatted for a while, then I wandered off to take photos, and sat enjoying the views before heading back down.  The footing was good going down as well, it only took an hour to get back to the car…which was covered in butterflies!

The only one that didn't fly away when I reached my car.  A White admiral butterfly Limenitis arthemis

It was a relaxing hike with beautiful views, just what I needed.

 ****

Then there were 2 …

Morning fog on the way

A beautiful moon and low fog on my way.

Fog on Lake Francis

White admiral butterfly Limenitis arthemis

A cow and I having a conversation along the side of the road

ERD on the summit

A random stove at the summit

Remains of what looks like an demolished cabin

Summit benchmark

A fallen summit sign

Summit views

 Eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) pollinating blue bead lilies

trail beginnings

What can I say about Magalloway?

Magalloway Cabin from the fire tower

It’s a long, long drive from Massachusetts.

If I'm going to drive that far, I'm going to stay in the Watchman’s cabin. https://www.nhdfl.org/Natural-Heritage/Fire-Towers/Watchman-Cabin-Rental  Originally I was going to hike this mountain last; I would finish with an easy mountain and my daughter would come with me to celebrate. 

When I brought this up to remind her, she told me (in a sassy, melodramatic way that can only come from the mouth of a 16 year old girl), “Oh God! I can’t think of anything else in the world I would rather do less than hiking a mountain and staying overnight in a cabin, in the woods!” 

Telling her that there was no electricity, no cell phone coverage and I would be cooking dinner on a wood stove did not help my case.

Okay, change of plans, I would save Stairs and Resolution for my last 52WAV hike.  I needed a less challenging hike after Shelburne Moriah, so I decided to hike Magalloway and combine it with Sugarloaf the next day.  

The trailhead is located on Magalloway Road. Turn right at the Magalloway Tower sign and follow the road until it ends. 

The Coot Trail is short and not too steep for anyone who is reasonably fit.  It’s eroded in places and a muddy mess at the beginning of the trail, but I was on the summit in under 30 minutes.  I watched a number of people visit the summit during the afternoon.  The comments ranged from, “OMG that was tough” to “Nice easy trail”, to “I can’t believe I made it.”  

Coot Trail

There are three viewing areas. Most people only know about the tower views. You are missing out if you don’t check out the other two.  The Overlook Trail is a short walk to some unexpected ledgy views.  

The other viewpoint is right outside the cabin. Walk past the fire pit and there is a beautiful place to sit and watch a sunrise come up over the mountains.

There are a few things you should know about the cabin if you plan to stay there.  The cabin is advertised as having a working woodstove and a screened-in porch.  If you go with visions of sitting and reading your favorite book in the screened porch, or being warmed by the blazing fire in the wood stove, you will, 1) be staring at woodpile in the dark storage area (AKA screened-in porch), and 2) freeze half to death because they have closed off all but the top cooking portion of the stove. 

guilty pleasure

The wood storage AKA screened-in porch

Thinking I would have hours of warmth with the wood stove, I did not bring my sleeping bag.  I thought my multi-layering of cloths (wool tank, wicking tee, long sleeve Smartwool shirt, heavy duty Smartwool jacket with hood, Northface raincoat, extra wool socks and gloves, etc.) would be enough.

The temps dropped into the 30’s – I was not warm. Then, I had what I thought was a great idea! 

 Note to self:  An emergency bivy sac does not double as a sleeping bag.

If you do this, you will fall asleep toasty warm thinking you had a great idea.  Then you will wake up soaking wet, chilled to the bone from your bodyheat being turned into water droplets trapped on the inside of the sac.  

Deciding I was too tired to do much about it, I turned the sac inside out. I looked at the ERD, he looked at me, he walked across the bed, walked into the sac, curled up into a ball and went to sleep on my lap.  Warm enough to get another 40 minutes of sleep.

Got up at 4:20AM,  packed my gear, and went to watch the sunrise over the mountains.   By 5:20 I was walking down the mountain and off to my next adventure.

I would stay there again…with a sleepbag next time.  It was a beautiful place to spend a night.

***

And then there were three.

The ERD enjoying his surroundings

Viewing platform on the tower

The ERD wanting to join me at the Fire Tower lookout

dense woods below

Sunrise on the trail past the fire pit

Sunrise on the lookout point past the fire pit

Tree pose between trees on the Overlook Trail

Utthita Trikonasana on the Overlook trail

Almost blew up the cabin with this propane lamp. Really...

There is a natural spring, down the hill to the right of the log pile.

The ERD going back to the cabin from the spring

trail to the natural spring is to the right of the log pile

Only the small section at the top can be used for cooking. The rest of the stove has been permanently wired shut.

just a tiny fire for cooking - not enough to keep you warm!

The kitchen - I did have some of the wine left behind by the last hiker ;)

the kitchen/writing table

Me enjoying my outdoor fire, food, and a little wine :)

About the cabin

Overlooks and nearby sights

Cabin locks

The Cabin 

someone left a teddy bear hanging from the ceiling

The ERD wondering why he is in this cabin. The intense stare wants answers. 

Sleeping arrangements