Crotched Mountain

Bluebird day called for some time in nature. Had I known how bad the black flies would be, I may have packed differently. Alas, a wonderful day in the mountains was had. I parked in the parking area at the base of Gregg's Trail and took the access road up to the Knoll. Headed past and through the scrub towards Shannon's Trail. I was amazed at how pleasantly flat this trail was for the first mile. Even the ascent was moderate, I had a pleasant breeze off and on and stopped several times to enjoy the views on the ledgey portion of the ascent. I reached the picnic table at the ledges just below the true summit and stopped for a brief break. Knowing the trail didn't cross the true summit, I found the herd path (if you're standing at the picnic table looking at the view, this herd path is directly to your right) and easily followed this to the footings for the former fire tower and the currently standing cell tower. Someone has built some cairns for when crossing the rock slabs making it easy to find your way. I wasn't sure where the true summit actually was, but explored around and made sure I hit each rocky outcrop that appeared to be the highest, hoping one of these was it. I've since seen a picture of a benchmark that I didn't see at all, so I'm not sure where that is, but according to my GPS watch I hit the correct elevation, so I'll call it a successful summit. I did get a bit turned around heading off the summit and back to the trail, but after a couple moments found the cairns and the herd path back to the picnic table. I made a last minute decision to do a loop and instead of returning the way I came up, took the Upper Link Trail off the ledge. It was moderately up and down for 0.5 miles with some standing water and wet rock that was mostly avoidable with care. I reached the intersection of the Summit East and West trails and headed down the West trail. I had no idea how steep this was going to be so took my time navigating the rocks and roots and made it safely down. Lots of lovely views through the trees on the way. The trails are well marked and easy to follow. I reached an intersection with Old Mountain Rd and was a bit confused if this was the Lower Link trail I had been looking for. Luckily a passing family was able to confirm for me I needed to go a few hundred more feet for that intersection. I reached the Lower Link trail and headed off. What I was not prepared for was another climb. This trail is 0.6 miles between Summit Trail West and Shannon's Trail, and for almost all of it, you are ascending moderately. I bonked hard on this section and it took me much longer than I had anticipated.. but I made it. Felt great joy at seeing the intersection with Shannon's Trail as I knew it was an easy 0.8 or so back down to the car. Despite bonking and the black fly brigade that accompanied me for my descent in earnest, I had a wonderful day.

Strava Activity

messing around with a Christmas present