Craigles700
New member
I had no idea what to expect regarding snow conditions. The temps were hitting the upper 50's all week and I was worried about overly soft snow. So, I chose a safe gamble thinking I could handle whatever Elk Lake threw at me. I recruited Nancy as a heavy-weight trail-breaker and at 6:00 I pulled in to Clear Pond. She was already there and in short order we were set to go. I had a friend's track log for Boreas, which I've done twice but never by the trail. I noticed that instead of going a 1.5 mi north then south we could cut directly across the brook and pick up the same trail with less than .5 mi of bushwhacking.
Well the brook was swift, dark and deep and we wasted time looking for a crossing before going back out to the Elk Lake Road and following the track log across a 20T bridge. Boreas was a gentle, easy hike on very supportive snow all the way. We had superb views of the Dix Range before heading for Wolf Pond Peak. There was no snow on the ground, just icy moss, for about 400 feet of descent and then there was hard, crusty snow all the way to WP. We dropped packs in the col and after picking then up again we headed east and quickly entered an area that had been logged. This gave us spectacular views of Nippletop and the Dix Range from a unique perspective. We finished the day with Sunrise Peak and back at Clear Pond Nancy remarked that her wrist computer showed we had logged 19 miles. So, we had hiked the equivalent of Allen in both distance and elevation gain.
Well the brook was swift, dark and deep and we wasted time looking for a crossing before going back out to the Elk Lake Road and following the track log across a 20T bridge. Boreas was a gentle, easy hike on very supportive snow all the way. We had superb views of the Dix Range before heading for Wolf Pond Peak. There was no snow on the ground, just icy moss, for about 400 feet of descent and then there was hard, crusty snow all the way to WP. We dropped packs in the col and after picking then up again we headed east and quickly entered an area that had been logged. This gave us spectacular views of Nippletop and the Dix Range from a unique perspective. We finished the day with Sunrise Peak and back at Clear Pond Nancy remarked that her wrist computer showed we had logged 19 miles. So, we had hiked the equivalent of Allen in both distance and elevation gain.