Marble Mountain to Whiteface Mountain & Brook
August 6, 2016 8:00 pmToday was the second mountain of the route and the only high peak, Whiteface Mountain. I had been to the summit by car the week before but would hike up this trip with a full pack on my back. I had bushwacked Catamount Mountain just a few days prior with a full pack so despite Whiteface being significantly taller I was fairly confident with a good amount of effort and hard work is would do just fine, and no bushwacking this climb!
The approach is would take would be from the north east via smaller nearby Marble Mountain. I set out around 8am. I was looking forward to seeing the remnants of the 1950’s ski area described in the guidebook which dotted the landscape of Marble Mountain. It’s fascinating to see nature taking back land it once claimed as its own.
The trail was fairly smooth but was a pretty tough steep uphill with a fully loaded pack. Most backpackers don’t summit mountains with full packs, instead using a base camp for overnight gear and sumitting with a day pack instead. Thru-hikers or distance hikers tend to have to carry it all depending on their route. There are also day hikers who come out just for the day to summit a mountain or two. I had previously summitted many mountains with a full pack when hiking the Appalachian Trail so I was expecting a good amount of hard work.
As I pressed on slow and steady pairs of day hikers, 20 & 30 somethings whipped by me at breakneck speeds, some applauding me for doing it with a full pack. I eventually popped out on Marble Mountain with a pretty nice view but didn’t stay too long as I knew the prize at the top of Whiteface was the really stunning views but also a restaurant with some much better than backpacking food.
After about 3hrs of work I was about three quarters of the way up. I reached the large stone retaining wall that supported the roadway up to the top of Whiteface. This is where the real hard work began. The rocks increased in size building to larger and larger borders. Hiking turned to scrambling hand and knees over the large borders. It was intensive and required some caution due to the weight on my back, but at no time did I feel in very much danger.
Around about the 4hr mark I had done it. The views weren’t all that great as small pockets of rain were passing through. I wasn’t to disappointed since while up by car the week before I had really great views. I was also looking forward to some good food in the cafe.
I headed to the cafe, ate and rehydrated like only a hiker can. I spent 3hrs there and watched dry inside as several small showers passed by outside. I knew I still had quite the task getting down so when it looked like the weather had broke I made a good for it and headed down the mountain.
For those not experienced or do not know, going up the mountain may be a ton of hard work but more often than not its going down that is more difficult & dangerous, most especially with a full pack. As I started down things became difficult quite rapidly. Things were a little wet from the passing showers I had waited out in the cafe, but they weren’t too bad. There were several very, very steep inclines that certainly had me moving very cautiously. Navigating these can only be done by doing what I fondly refer to as the ever so not graceful “but slide ballet”. It took nearly 2rs to get through the trickiest areas but once done it was a nice cruise down to the Whiteface Brook shelter where I set up camp for the night.
