Cave Man

My forays into the backcountry usually involve slides, cliffs or summits. But some obscure curiosity occasionally draws my attention elsewhere. I love natural stone formations—divots from differential weathering, potholes in streambeds, erratics and the like. Talus fields—the collections of rocks that accumulate at the bottom of slopes—particularly fascinate me, with their form and dark corridors. Mounts Marcy and Haystack create the perimeter of Panther Gorge, where there are vast talus fields below each cliff.

I dedicated my first few outings in this area to mentally mapping the most efficient bushwhacking routes and understanding the nuances of the terrain. Blowdown, streams and talus all confounded simple trekking, but they also made