While not the same caliber as Caleb's mission, Kristen and I had a goal on Saturday (1 September 2012) of hiking to the top of the Wellsville range -- give us that mountain. Although the weather had been almost cloudless for weeks, it was raining when we planned on leaving at 6 AM. It did look like it was going to clear about 7:30 so we then left for Mendon. After finding the correct road above Mendon we drove up the dirt road to the parking area and began our journey about 8:30. After about one mile and 300 feet higher, we reached Cold Water "lake" -- actually more of a pond.
We continued south about 100 yards then the path heads up the mountain. The Wellsvilles are one of (if not the) steepest ranges in the USA. As the crow flies, it is only one mile to the top of the mountain but you have to go up 2643 feet. Believe me, every foot of elevation counts in this climb! The sky was clear as we started and leg muscles were feeling good. As we headed up, the path led to the north side of a ridge where there was thick underbrush along the trail. We were soon soaked from the upper thighs down with rain water from the plants that had been deposited earlier in the day. The trail serpentined up the mountain and provided us with some beautiful views of the valley.
As we climbed, we noticed some clouds starting to curl over the ridge and come into a valley to the north of us. We kept climbing. I do have to admit that at this time while about 75% of the way up, my leg muscles were screaming at me and I had to walk 100 steps, catch my breath and recover, then continue. Swimming muscles do not work on climbing mountains!
We noticed some clouds begin to form to the south of us but we kept going. After about 2.5 hours we rounded a bend and there was the ridge just yards above us. Moments later we stepped on top of Stewart's Pass. We stepped back off of the ridge to had a bite to eat. The wind was tearing from the west over the ridge and it was cold! After considering our soaked condition, my weary legs, and the dark clouds building in the south, we decided that we would not hike to the Wellsville Cone today. We still felt we had reached a goal so we headed down.
We took 1.5 hours to descend. We were able to visit on the way down, as opposed to my gasping on the way up, so it was a valuable daughter-father time. We live on a beautiful world. The ferns by Cold Water were beautiful.
Finally, as we headed east across the valley, we had to pause and capture one more time the beauty of the mountain. As you view the range, Stewart's Pass is about half way between Mendon Peak on the north and the Wellsville Cone on the south. Thanks Kristen, it was a memory I will long remember.
