Marcus and I made an early fall hike that found the top of the Knob about half into its fall coat. The sky was a gray veil so the colors were subdued. Inspection and maintenance work was being done on the seldom used High Hopes double as we began our stroll at the summit.

Marcus and I made our way towards the Gathering rental house and ultimately blue-whacked our way down to the Rasta Shack on Jack. Along the way we performed some light housekeeping and made mental note of the various features during the descent. We ate our lunch in the middle of Jack Rabbit and decided to make an assault on the expert steeps on the other side of the ski area.

We made our way over to Mambo and down past the Expressway Triple to the Run Out. Our plan was to hike up East Wall Glade. Upon arrival we discovered that briars had grown over waist high so we made our way up Lower 66. We were please to see that 66 was mowed from embankment to edge. That should help get this natural snow trail more skiable.

Marcus was curious about the very top of East Wall Glade, remembering fondly the days the get in was at the bottom of Edgeset. I knew the original entrance was overgrown from my last attempt to ski there in perhaps 07/08? I don't think I attempted it in the big snow 2010 winter. We bushwhacked in above the current Stembogan entrance and just as I thought, nature has reclaimed the cut. Briars and thickets were so dense we had to hike around and over a rock outcrop before we got to the bottom of Edgeset. With our breathing labored and our hearts beating in our ears Marc wondered aloud why these trails were so much steeper hiking up than skiing down. We still had a steep pitch to hike to the top of Extrovert.

Once there Marcus stopped to take yet another panoramic fall photo. The clouds were breaking, casting shadows across the treescape below and lighting orange and yellow blazes where the sun broke through. It was here Marc groaned out an expletive. It appears he forgot to install the SD card and all those nice photos I hoped to share here are not to to be so if you want to view a splendid fall mountain scene then you must head to the hills this coming week for fall will be in full bloom.

Blue Knob appears ready for the season. The Fall has been cool and a little damp. Those plus 90 degree summer days a distant memory. This weekend will be the first real taste of arctic in the air. I feel good about the coming winter.

Way to get out there.
The SD card was probably still stuck in the slot on his home computer. I've done that:-) Often carry a second camera now just in case.
Where was this shot taken in 2010, somewhere above East Wall Glade:

If memory serves correct we were in the Boneyard/Mineshaft thickets. It was a nice, fairly open get in from Shortway but grew pretty thick about half way down where the photo was taken. The upper portion of East Wall was twice as thick as that photo. We didn't even attempt to hike through. I don't think we tried East Wall from Edgeset in 2010.

Edgeset to East Wall was incredibly thick back in Feb 2010. A couple of people did do the bushwack, I'm pretty certain Vince was one of them. I didn't even bother, since it clearly wasn't worth it.

Like Marcus, I can remember the old East Wall, it was very open back in the mid-late 90's. But I won't wax poetic about it. Problem was, the base was incredibly rocky unless you found a lucky line. It was risky to even take rock skis in there.

Blue Knob needs to take a brush hog into a lot of those "trails" and keep them in better shape. If they hadn't logged and over thined the tree canopy, a lot of that undergrowth would not occur.

People still use cameras with memory cards? All mine have long since died.

Rod, we used that saw this weekend on my son's Boy Scout backpack trip. With some effort we were sawing through 4 to 5 inch deadfall for a camp fire. This is a nice lightweight saw. Maybe I'll get one the next time I check out my favorite glades.