Sat, Nov 25 2006 - Devils Glen - Mad River: Return to Mud River! (View Original Event Details)
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The hike at Mad River, according to Linda:
First, thanks Jim for asking me to write this review two weeks after the hike. I’m sure he was hoping I would only remember the good things at this point but my memory is a funny and fickle thing. And thanks Steph for showing up at the car pool, still recovering from a nasty cold, to give us a proper send off.
The morning started with the mostest, thickest fog on this side of 401. As members started to show up at the carpool, the air was quite damp and chill. However, just north of the city, the fog started to clear and it proved to be a beautiful day of blue skies and bright sun and warm spring-like breeze. Personally I think it was because Emma brought an umbrella that weather decided to behave and treat us well.
There was a bit of confusion (confusion #1, mostly due to Rob’s twisted sense of humor) at the parking lot as we stood in a circle to introduce ourselves and do a head count. Soon enough we all fell in line and started off on our hike. Two minutes in, someone realized we were going the wrong way; we stopped, back tracked and found the right start to the trail (confusion #2). This should have been a warning for the kind of day we were to have but such is the nature of hind sight.
There was much conversation here and there, sunlight dappled through the trees; sparkling light glittered off the river as we hiked into Devil’s Glen. Once in, we all voted to go backwards on the trail and climb up the big hill at the beginning instead of trying to navigate down at the end. Good thinking on our part, or so we thought since the hill was complete mud. Caroline and Melissa headed this portion and kept us at a good pace all the way to the top. Melissa performed a precarious balancing act at one point but she, nor anyone else, took a spill into the mud, even when we were startled by 2 dismembered deer legs and small part of a vertebrae. Sue and I were all glad that what ever predator had had its fill and left us alone.
Upon reaching the top of the muddy hill, we followed on what seemed like a well marked trail until we reached our first fork in the path. There was much map reading (confusion #3). Alex had his GPS and after some debating we headed right. It seemed okay. Got to the summit of the hill, the blazers disappeared (confusion #4). After some more debating, we decided to break for lunch. Some of us stopped and parked ourselves by the concrete support bed while the rest forged on to find some picnic tables. Unfortunately I did not get to verify that Ernest does in fact pack a bigger lunch than I do. While we all enjoyed our lunches, Alex forged on ahead for us to find this missing blazer. He was gone for awhile but Pnina wasn’t worried at all so who are we to say anything… Success! Alex found the missing blazers. Chuck climbed up the ski lift tower and called the table people back to resume our hike.
Despite Sivanny consuming all of Jim’s attention at the head of the group, we didn’t get lost for a while. We came upon great view below to the saw mill and the dam but were disappointed to see all the trash littered below: a sorry marker to an otherwise a lovely day in nature. Climbed down the winding, DRY hill that had some icy patches near the end, at which we all stopped to let a car pass with anticipation of some automobile ballet but no drama was to be had. Walked past the town, almost missed the blazers again (semi confusion #5)..thanks Alex, once again!, walked across some more mud but encrusted with ice this time around then back to the resort. Lost the blazer again (confusion #6). I spotted a white stripe a distance away but Julian took credit for finding it..ehem..(that’s okay Julian, I didn’t actually mind but you should watch your back next time…), got to the gate, lost the blazer again (confusion #7), found it, forged on the last bit. Climbed a hill that most of us had forgotten about, up some heart rate pumping steps and finally back to the cars.
Anna-Maria supposedly performed the last head count for the carpool money calculation which lead to last and final and perhaps the most drawn out confusion #8 of the day. In the end, it turned out to be a fabulous hike of varied terrains and conditions despite the fact we dropped from 18 people at the beginning to 17 people at the end of the trail, but what’s a phantom person or two lost over a course of a day…
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