Big Slide via The Brothers 5-26-12

[John S]

My first opportunity to get out this year, but my usual hiking partner was unavailable. My wife, Joanne, was happy to step in. Even though she hadn't done a High Peak in a few years she was physically ready after a winter in the gym and on a treadmill. I chose our hike carefully so I wouldn't scare her off from any future trips.

The trail over The Brothers was even better than I imagined and we had perfect weather. Started from the garden at 7:00 AM under partly cloudy skies, but I could see the blue sky moving in from the west. The trail was in great shape with very little mud. We made the first lookout on First Brother in no time and soaked in the views of the valley, all the way from Giant to Basin and beyond. I don't think we could quite make out Haystack and Marcy at this point. Continued on to the top of First Brother and over to Second Brother. Third Brother was a bit of a stiff climb, but before I knew it we were at the intersection with the Slide Mt. Brook Trail. I guess I expected The Brothers to be more defined, but they seemed to blend into one great approach.

From the trail junction the real climbing began. Open rock and interesting ladders slowed Joanne a bit. She was able to overcome her fears and felt great for doing it. I didn't ask her how she expected to get down. At 10:00 we had the summit to ourselves for a few minutes before we were joined by a solo hiker who followed us over The Brothers and would continue on to Yard. Very impressive views and well worth the climb. Peak #34 for me and #4 for Joanne.

We dropped down the Slide Mt. Brook trail all the way to JBL. Yes, Joanne was able to negotiate the ladders once again. After a number of years of hiking in the High Peaks this was my first visit to JBL. We had lunch on the porch and soaked in the sun. Several groups started coming through from The Garden. Just a great place to be. We had to eventually head out and made our way back to The Garden by 2:30 PM.

A lot of wildlife on this trip. First time I had ever seen an owl while I was out hiking and also came upon a deer on the trail near Garden. Pretty good pictures of each encounter.

All in all a great day in the High Peaks.

Pictures should be here if I did this right:

https://picasaweb.google.com/1181207...KH8ifCir9DobQ#

[Legsbenedict]

Great pics...that owl is awesome!! I encountered a deer close to the trail on big slide once as well. Didn't seem to mind us walking within a few feet of it.

[kensquest]

Great pictures I'm bringing some
New hikers to the hike peaks and chose big slide for the hike sure they will enjoy the views as the rest of us did

[HPHikingMoo]

Love the wildlife shots. That must have been a great experience. Congrats to your wife, your timing was swift. We did this hike in earlly April and it took us alot longer to summit. (I blame the ice ;-). )

6/46

[Gerard01]

Nice pics and excellent TR. Can't wait to hit Big Slide in July.