Tramp & Trail

Write-up: Greg Sipp

Leader: Paul Sirtoli

Co-leader: Greg Sipp

Wilder Vly … Not this time!
Déjà vu is a real phenomenon. Today’s hike was reminiscent of the attempt to Wilder Vly in Feb 2023, with some eerily similar outcomes. Two Tramps went into the drink, not the polar plunges that we are accustomed to from Paul, but enough to reassess the hike. The weather you ask about, it was cold, hovering around 12 degrees with sun all day long. Not much in the way of wind. The snowmobile trail did make most of the hike easy to traverse.

We came up short actually hitting our target today and ironically it was the lack of tech that would be the Achilles heel. With the clear skies and no obstructions to the 74 GPS satellites, it was the Gaia app not being set to show the tracked hike that prevented us finding Wilder. Once home; the track was downloaded and showed we were short of our goal of Wilder Vly by 1⁄2 mile. It just may be time for “someone” to buy a new map.
It was beautiful regardless of where we were or where we were going. The women’s baby blue snowshoes that Tom had was a fun topic of conversation by all, or as he calls them, masculine man blue. Pauly went off script as he usually does and when asked “where are we going”, he responded “not sure”. Not a typical Paul answer. We chalked it up to residual effects of the bike accident. Therapy is a long road.
5 Tramps went in and all came out, some did 10 miles and some did 11 miles. Tom started hiking late and consequently did less mileage playing catch-up to the group. At least he was going in the right direction.
Stay tuned for Wilder Vly, attempt 3 – We’ll get there.

Write-up: Paul Sirtoli

Leader: Paul Sirtoli

Co-leader: Jeremy Alexander

Photo Credit, Jeremy Alexander

The Pepperbox Wilderness, situated west to Stillwater Reservoir, is a vast coniferous forest consisting of many ponds, numerous wetlands, and low-lying hills. Starting from the bridge spanning the Beaver River, just below the Stillwater Dam, is the Bear Pond Jeep/Snowmobile Trail.  It is the main thoroughfare lending access to this remote region.  Our two -part adventure begins roughly one mile from the bridge.

Stillwater Scenic cliffs, on the east side of the trail, is a twenty minute bushwhack through relatively open hardwoods and conifers. The broad, open rock summit allows a clear line of sight of the reservoir.  Racing snowmobiles were mere specks on the vast sea of white ice.  Stillwater Fire Tower dominated the southern landscape of the reservoir, while Peaked Mt. governed the western shoreline.

Back on the jeep trail, just before noon, we now prepared for the second part the adventure – Cropsey Pond.  For various reasons, three members of our party of eight departed for afternoon commitments. We were now five.

Bushwhacking through six (+) inches of powder on a frozen surface was the easiest part of the day.  Facing and navigating over/around several steep cliff pitches was totally unexpected.  Overcoming these obstacles, we now slogged through an unforgiving thick forest of balsam fir, spruce thickets, and spruce traps.  Thankfully, we found and traversed several relatively open wetlands that provided respite from branches that tore at clothing, or poked the face and extremities.

A silent winter scene with snow powder on tree limbs, drifting snow on a beaver marsh, or sentinel rocks on a remote pond is well worth the effort to engage the challenges of off trail winter exploration.  These areas during the summer would be nearly impenetrable; flying pestilence making the hiker wacky! Let your imagination fill the gaps with the accompanying photos provided by Jeremy Alexander.

Participating on different portions for this 6-hour, 6.5-mile ordeal were Carl, Jeremy, Carolyn, David, Kevin, Bill, Cynthia, and Paul.

Write-up: Walt Pillar

Leader: Walt Pillar

Co-Leader: Russ Myers

On this almost snowless winter, a gaggle of 33 Tramps hiked (versus snowshoed) the back trails of Sherrill Brook Park. We climbed over Rock City, observed the Falls and walked down the Ridgeline along the deep gorge. After about 4 miles, the leader lost control of the group by pointing out a shortcut back to the cars. So only about 10 finished the entire hike. Several had refreshments at Killebrew’s after the hike.