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This was yet another hike aborted because of very icy conditions, and on Christmas day no less! I received a $100 gift certificate for
Blue Ridge Mountain Sports the previous evening. But they're not open on Christmas day. Hence, without crampons or cleats we
tried our best. We parked on East Mombasha Road in Sterling Forest, where the AT crosses. Our intent was to hike west along
the AT to Mombasha High Point (about 3 miles away) and then turn back. But the ice proved too much
and we turned back after reaching the the first summit of Buchanan Mountain. Undeterred, we crossed the road and headed east on
the AT, which took us to the lovely Little Dam Lake where we had lunch near the northern tip before heading back. All in all, we hiked about 3 miles.
(Click on the thumbnail to bring up a bigger image in a pop-up window)
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 Steep climb from East Mombasha Road |
 Laura's patented belly flop |
 The blaze of the AT |
 It's all hardened snow with ice on top |
 It's much more slippery than it looks |
 Beautiful pine needle blanket |
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 View NE |
 View SE |
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 View of Little Dam Lake [photo by Laura] |
 And yet more ice |
 Slippery, as you can see |
 Little Dam Lake from Buchanan Mountain |
 Tower in Tuxedo Park |
 Little Dam Lake |
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 Descending back to the car |
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 Perpetually green moss |
 Ice on AT east of East Mombasha Road |
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 Inlet of Little Dam Lake |
 Frozen swamp of inlet |
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 Beaver lodge in inlet |
 Inlet bridge |
 View south from inlet bridge |
 View north from inlet bridge |
 AT marker southeast of bridge |
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 Colorful silt on inlet |
 First view of Little Dam Lake |
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 Tiny mushrooms (macro shot) |
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 West bank of lake |
 Relections |
 Partial view of little dam |
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 Animal tracks on the frozen lake |
 We had to bushwhack to our lunch spot |
 Lunch time! |
 View of lake looking south |
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 Crack in ice across entire lake |
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 Beaver lodge at the southern tip of lake |
 Back to the inlet |
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 Inlet bridge |
 Gymnastics [photo by Laura] |
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 Signs of beavers |
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Photographs and content copyright © Dan Balogh Web design by Dan Balogh |