Presi Stroll

Presi Stroll

August 24, 2008

With the forecast calling for nearly perfect weather we invited our friend Mark to join us for a stroll above tree line. We met at 8 AM at the Clinton Road parking area, then dropped a car at the Hiking lot by the cog. On our way to the Caps Ridge trail we saw a ranger ticketing 3 cars and a campsite. Guess they couldn't read the large "No Camping along this road" sign.

We decided to ascend Caps Ridge trail to Jefferson, then head to Washington via Clay, hit Monroe, and then descned via the Ammo trail. 30 minutes later we were at the first lookout where we found sunny skies, and a light breeze.

As we were enjoyed the views from the first "cap" we were pleased to see Forestgnome from VFTT overtake us. We would run into him later on the summit of Clay.

We enjoyed a snack on the summit of Jefferson while enjoying the great views. Descending we ran into a couple of AT hikers at the junction of the Gulfside trail. They knew our friends Seema and Brian who are currently doing the AT, and reported they were in good shape.

On Clay we chatted with Forestgnome for a while. He is an excellent wildlife photographer whose photos we enjoy often. Looking up towards Washington we could see one of the Cog trains descending billowing white steam and bloke exhaust from the coal fired engines.

As we approached the tracks for the cog we were please to see 2 trains. Two of the coal fired trains were descending, while the new Bio Fuel train was heading up the tracks. We got to watch as three of the train engineers went through the manual process of moving the switches and laying down sections of track that would allow the two descending trains to back up onto a bypass so the 3rd train could ascend, and then repeat the process to allow the 2 trains to continue the descent. In talking to the engineers we were told that the Cog is building two more of the bio fuel trains. The new train is extremely quiet, very fast, and sounds more like a car than a train including an air horn versus a steam horn. Although many will be happy when the coal fired engines are all retired, it just won't be the same.

Moving on we headed to the summit where we took the required summit photo before heading into the cafe for a snack and water fill. We were surprised to find over half the tables empty. Certainly no issue finding a place to sit.

From here we stopped into the Tip Top House which is a replica of the original hotel that was a destination in years gone by. Pretty nice accommodations for the era. After enjoying the views for a little while longer we started the descent to the hut.

We stopped an chatted with several folks along the way, took photos for them, before reaching the hut. Deciding to wait before heading inside, we headed up to the summit of Monroe. Monroe was a new summit for Mark!

Back at the hut we asked about leaving a note for Seema and Brian. The hut crew had just arrived 3 days earlier and was very accomodating, to us and others we saw coming in. This crew missed all the rain we had earlier in the month, but has already had to deal with temps down near freezing. We showed Mark the emergency shelter area known as the dungeon, before starting our final descent via the Ammo trail.

This was a wonderful day to spend above treeline. We didn't rush and enjoyed the views all day. We're looking forward to more of the same!

Length of Hike: 9 hours

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