Friday early pm
Oliver
(MJO) and I loaded up and hiked 2.4 miles south on the Short Swing Trail to the Tubmill Marsh Lean-to, which we quickly moved in to. Before long we were bushwhacking east along the edge of Tubmill Marsh along the south base of Bear Mountain whose burned-over south-west ridge I had ascended 10 years prior. Easy whacking thereto then dynamite views all the way up the ridge. Five turkey vultures checked us out thoroughly before slowly wheeling away. The open rock was profuse as were the views of Crane Pond, Pyramid Lake and Pharaoh Peak. After enjoying the summit views we hiked through open woods eastward back down to the trail for happy hour at the lean-to.
The next morning we took the Short Swing Trail past Honey Pond and made a quick visit to Lilypad Pond and the amazing lean-to site. After looping around the west end of Crab Pond the pond-bagging part of our day gave way to peak-bagging. Antwine and Pine Hills were all about wide open woods and interconnected channels of open rock. We eyed our next objective, Potter Mtn., from the top of Pine Hill. We descended westward back to the trail and hiked over to the base of Potter Mountain. Ascending Potter we once again experienced, open woods, open rock and expanding views all around. Two boats were being paddled about on Gooseneck Pond.
Back at the lean-to I had just begun cutting a wood supply when Sylvie (
coffee
)and Viviane showed up right on time for a fire and happy hour. The next morning we returned to Crab Pond via the Short Swing Trail and from there began bushwhacking SE towards the cliffs of Treadway Mtn. We hiked below a long rock wall which towered way above us until we arrived at the end of it. We were now due south and 500 vertical feet below of the summit. The ascent was fairly steep at first then it laid back and we followed bare rock channels (recurring theme in the Pharaoh Wilderness). We were following the same cliffs but were now on top of them with views as far away as Puffer Mtn and of course Pharaoh Peak right next door and Pharaoh Lake below.
Then from the summit we had views of the High Peaks Great Range all covered in fresh snow 25 miles away. When it was time to go we followed a magnetic north bearing 900 feet down to the trail near Lillypad Pond, passed by Honey Pond for the 4
th
time, returned to the lean-to, packed up and hiked out to the parking area.