The Fishing Brook Range lie in the Blue Mountain Wild Forest a few miles SW of the Town of Newcomb and just west of Goodnow Flow.
Fishing Brook #1 and #2 were my objectives for the day. I got a relatively early start at 7:45 in hopes of beating any afternoon rain that might come in. I headed for Fishing Brook Mountain first (#1). I found the woods to be pretty easier to manuever and I found myself on the summit at 9:45 AM.
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| Looking towards the High Peaks from Newcomb, pre-sunrise |
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| A nice little 5' waterfall along the way. |
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| The summit of Fishing Brook Mountain - 3540' |
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| Rev's orange coat stood out even more with the snow on the ground. |
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| A nice zoom view of the Sewards? |
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| Snow near the top of Fishing Brook Mountain |
I left the summit and proceeded SW to work my way towards the un-named portion of the Fishing Brook range. I dropped down to a col and went west of a my pond at the headwater of Roaring Brook. As I climbed a small knoll, I looked up and a bull moose was on the knoll, perhaps 100 yards ahead of me! I froze and my first thought was which camer to grab out of my pocket; my cell phone for my small travel zoom. I reached for the travel zoom but in the 10 seconds it takes to power it up, the moose was gone. My dog hadn't even seen it. It continued to the knoll and all that was there was fresh moose poop and huge tracks in the snow. It was now 10:30 AM.
I knew I probably wouldn't see it again, but I certainly would spend the rest of the hike watching for it. I continued SW and had no problem negotiating the ridgeline. There was no blowdown and the woods were relatively open. Several trees along the way had moose scrapes on them. Deer like to scrape on saplings that are an inch or two in diameter. Moose like to scrap on young trees that are about 5 inches in diameter.
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| A tree with moose scrapes. |
At 11:45 AM, I reached the summit of the un-named Fishing Brook #2. I was still overcast, but the temperature had warmed from the 20's to the 40's. I had shed my heavier shirt and only had a techwick T-shirt on. I was plenty warm as I moved along.
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| The summit of Fishing Brook #2. |
Shortly after beginning my descent, the pines were gone and the woods opened up nicely. Almost immediately I came acroos a nice hunters tree stand. It was pretty high on the mountain. If a hunter shot a deer here, it would have been a long drag back.
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| The hunters tree stand |
The woods continued to be open most of the way down. Drainages had thicker growth near them so I stayed out of the drainages. Two hours of easy walking and I was back at the car.
Hike Stats:
Hike Distance: 11 miles
Hike Time: 7 hours, 15 minutes
Total Vertical Gain: ~ 3100'
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