Mount Tom Hike, 10-10-2001
You would think that MY mountain would be my friend, but no. I started
out at 7:30, biking up from about 6600ft. I took the wrong road,
so ended up going across a grassy meadow before finally stalling
out and hiking. Then after a bit I got to the right road. Then on
and on and on and on, up past the "sonny boy" mine buildings, then the
"hanging valley" mine stuff by Horton Lake (very picturesque).
I wasn't sure I was on the right road, but
I was. I finally got to the Tungstar mine around 12 (up around 12,000').
From there it was steep loose Talus (Craig was right). On to the
Summit of Mt. Tom around 1:30, 13,652' (7000 feet up from where
I started). nice view though.
A picture of me on the summit of Mt Tom.
The talus sucked going down, and my
right foot came down on a rock that rotated rapidly counterclockwise
taking my foot with it, and my tibia and fibula. Nothing else decided
to rotate though, so my knee was out of joint. It didn't hurt much,
but it was very disconcerting. I couldn't straighten it out, but
after I sat down, it popped back audibly and with a jolt. Yikes.
Luckily it seemed to work for the remainder of the hike
and bike back (getting back at 6:30 ish). The next day it was pretty sore
though. I think Mt. Tom might be in the background of one of my Turkey pictures.
Mount Tom is over my left shoulder as viewed from the pit last winter.
Mt Tom in the evening from the pit March 2002 (Adam's picture)
Link to SummitPost Mt Tom page