Santanoni and Panther

Nov 2, 2013

Friday, afer work, twelve of us drove down to the Cloudsplitter Outfitters for the 6th annual November ACC hiking weekend. There was a bit of confusion around our reservation, but all was fixed and well in the end. As people trickled in over the evening, we had a couple of beers, got the paperwork out of the way, and then hit the sack. At 06:00 the next morning the cars were loaded for the short drive to the trailhead. We had two groups organized; Patrick (leader), Lynne, Susan, Rob, Dave, Andy, and Claudia were going to hike Couchsachraga via Panther Brook, while myself (leader), Katja, Wendy, Alena, and Ivan were climbing Santanoni via the express trail. We all set out together under headlamp, following on the heels of three women who sped ahead. By the time we reached the blue trail, the day had brightenned up so the headlamps went off and we made our way down to the first river crossing. The bridge was out, and due to the rain over the past week, the river was high and swift. It took some time to find a safe crossing, but I finally located a fallen tree which spanned the banks. This made a convenient handrail has you hopped across the torrent, and after some delay, we managed to get all twelve of us across. The second crossing had a bridge but the platform to get off on the far side was destroyed, making it a bit of a tricky scramble to get onto the bank at the other side. After we all carefully made it safely across, a sign here was discovered that warned us that the bridge was broken and dangerous... no kidding! Now we started climbing, and after a quick break at a nice spot along Santanoni Brook, we found the cairn marking the start of the express trail. Here we split up the two groups. This was my first time up the express route, and it turned out to be quite a nice little climb. Started out with yet another river crossing, which was not too difficult, and then a lovely trail that went up the ridgeline of Santanoni's shoulder. We came across one of the three women, and I did a bit of a double take as her face was covered in blood. She assured me that it was not serious, as she had just cut her finger and just finished wiping it on her nose. I lent her my compass mirror so she could clean her face and fetched a bandage from the first aid kit to patch her up. She sped off to rejoin her friends and we continued our climb slowly up the mountain. We got a few views on the ridge, but then the clouds closed in and that was the end of the Adirondack vistas for the day. We hit the summit, meeting the trio again up here, and after a brief break descended down to Times Square where we took a longer break in this sheltered spot. We also met the trio again and said goodbye for the last time as they turned off towards Couchie. The side trip to Panther took very little time, but lots of mud ensued. Even at the top, after the nice rocky scrambly area, there was one last giant mudhole to cross to reach the summit, which was about one meter higher than the nice open area. We did not stay long as it had now started to spit a wet, snowy, ice pellety annoyance on us, while the hot showers and cold beers began calling our names. Took one final break at Bradley Pond and then down the blue trail to the broken bridge. Here we did a little maintenance by removing some of the broken boards that were in the way of the scramble. This made getting onto (and off of) the bridge much easier and safer. At the last crossing, the water was now higher, but we found an easier spot to ford a little bit downstream of our morning crossing, which was just a rock hop with one "boot in the water" tricky crux manouver. A quick bushwhack brought us back to the trail, and then a short slog along the road back to the parking area. Alena was feeling spry and jogged on ahead the whole way. With relief we got into the car and out of the rain which was now soaking us through. after the 10.5 hour day. Drove back to the cabins, cleaned up and had a big potluck supper with the whole gang once they got back. The Couchie crew had a successful day as well.

First bridge. A step into nothingness.