Bumps Pond + Erebus Mountain s Sleeping Beauty
December 26th, 2018

Bumps Pond

10:31a We started our journey at 9:30 this morning and decided to stop for a rest about half way up Sleeping Beauty going towards Bumps Pond. Looking up you can see the top of Sleeping Beauty and the ice that is forming down the side of it. When we sat down we started talking and all of the sudden a tree that was lying down on a rock above me shifted and fell almost hitting me. Francis said it was because the tree was on ice then he tried to shift it around a little bit but it didn’t move.

10:57a We have reached Bumps Pond. It is apparently pretty thick ice because it held me and Francis in areas where it should be thin. We sat down and enjoyed the view for a moment before heading to the other side of the trail where a large chimney is located. Francis says this is where everyone camps but we are supposed to camp 150 ft away from it into the woods. Around that area we found things like a dirty rag on a tree and a tin can on a tree, both hanging from branches.

Erebus Mountain

11:23a We reached a beaver dam that looks to be frozen solid. Holding back an entire pond which is also frozen. There are a bunch of streams coming off of it as well as a little bridge crossing over one of them for us to get past.

11:42a We have reached the highest point in the Erebus trail which means we have technically summited the mountain. That's not good enough for us though so we are going to bushwhack the rest of the way to the true summit of Erebus.

12:24p We just got to the true summit of Erebus. The view isn’t as good as a lot of the other peaks but there is a really nice view point on the way up. The only real view we have is of Black Mountain. You can however, see the firetower sticking out of the mountain if you look the right way. There is also a manmade cairne up here showing the true summit. Bushwhacking is an experience for sure. The trees were extremely thick and I got whacked in the face more than a few times but it wasn’t too bad. I also kept slipping and having a sharp branch come extremely close to my future kids. Thankfully I was able to stop myself before anything too bad happened.

12:46p Bushwhacking down is way more fun. It is basically just falling with style. I was swinging on trees to slow myself down and at one point caught my breath by leaning on a tree and just taking in the view.

Sleeping Beauty

1:26p We just backtracked all the way to the start of Bumps Pond. There is a bridge here that is quite large, and a sign in front of it that says “No horses permitted beyond this point”, which I found kind of funny until Francis explained that we were actually on a horse trail.

1:45p We have reached the true summit of Sleeping Beauty. Literally a 5 minute bushwhack from the trail. I stopped for a moment to get some snacks out of my bag since on the way to the true summit Francis and I had been talking about our favorite types of fast food. Needless to say we both agreed Chipotle was good and can be healthy. I also stopped to relax for a second while he kept pushing down the mountain. There is another cairne up here marking the true summit but I find that funny because the true summit is actually 15 feet to the north of it. Not sure how they didn’t see it.

2:17p We reached the lookout point of Sleeping Beauty and it is amazing how much damage the forest fire did up here. We had some points where the right side of the trail was fully charred and burned trees while the left side was a lush green forest. The view as always is beautiful, Sleeping Beauty is my second favorite peak behind Buck. It is however extremely cold up here and the wind is howling as I write this. At the beginning of the trip I told Francis how I always see a dog when I hike. He said he didn’t believe me but sure enough on the way to the summit we found an adorable but vicious dog who barked at us the whole time we were in its sight. I also find it funny how it is always snowing when I hike Sleeping Beauty. This whole hike has been clear weather with very few clouds in the sky but as soon as we reached the lookout spot it started snowing.

3:58p Well we have reached our car again. A little over 10 mile hike. Wow. Longest I have ever done and my legs are paying for it. I am so tired but I am so happy I got to go today. I wouldn’t be able to do stuff like this if Francis wasn’t here to keep pushing me and motivating me. Great hike would do it again if I could.