Wright Peak – Columbus Day weekend, part II

Wright Peak – Monday, Oct. 12, 2009

4,580 ft.  |  Ranked 16/46 in height  |  12th peak climbed  |  34 to go

Picking up where we left off…

After packing out from our Seymour hike, we headed to Lake Placid, where weather.com via my iPhone informed us that we could expect it to be cold and a bit snowy through the evening, but sunny on Monday until evening rain/snow accumulation.  We were cold, a bit wet, and torn — the hard part about getting into the warm car with the heat blasting, was that it was really, really hard to talk ourselves into leaving it.  But, we had dog sitting lined up through Monday, had the time, would at least have some sun, and knew we’d probably regret it later if we headed home.

Our conversation turned to what day trips remained on our 46r mission — we’ve done a majority of the peaks that can be comfortably done as day trips already.  We floated the options of camping at Heart Lake and hiking Street and Nye, camping at Heart Lake and hiking Wright Peak, and packing the 2+ miles into Marcy Dam, camping there, and then hiking Mt. Colden.  In any event, it looked like we were headed to Heart Lake.

As we headed east on Rt. 73, our stomachs now warm with burgers (mmm), the snow flakes started swirling in the sky.  We thought long and hard about tenting in the snow, and even harder about packing into Marcy Dam in the dark to do that.  With concerns that our tent might be wet from being packed, and knowing that it was no more than 30 degrees, we reached an agreement:  we’d head to the Loj, and find out if, by any lucky chance, they had two beds.  If they did, we’d stay wherever they could fit us, and pick a peak(s) to do in the morning.  If not, we would yield to the weather and head home.

We got lucky.

We arrived at 7:40pm, 20 minutes before the front desk closed.  Of the 46 beds in the entire Adirondack Loj, there were exactly two left, and they were even in the same (4-person) room!  I’m not sure I’ve ever felt so lucky or so warm in my life.  We snapped them up, carried our gear in to dry, and reveled in how cushy the next 12 hours would be.  Hot water, coffee and tea in the great room, beds with blankets, bathrooms, breakfast at 7:15 the next morning… and no snow.  It was heavenly.  The rest of the guests looked as though they thought we were nuts, coming in looking like we’d been outside for 2 days.  They were, without exception I think, members of the Long Island chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club, up for a group event.  They were very friendly, but looked more apt to arrive in jeans with duffle bags than in muddy gaiters with backpacks.  Our beds were only available because two gentlemen who came up on Saturday, didn’t care for the weather and headed home early (thankyouthankyouthankyou).

We settled in and started looking at the maps, and tentatively picked out Street and Nye to do on Monday.  That plan was axed when we heard that the holiday weekend guided hike to those peaks was scrapped because there was a stream crossing that had risen to waist high.  In August, yes; October, no thanks.  We considered Colden, but felt that we’d rather camp at the dam in order to do that one in a day.  So Wright Peak it was.

Heart Lake

Monday morning dawned clear and cold.  Breakfast at the Loj was the best eggs and corned beef hash ever made.  Bar none.  It’s been alleged that they were instant and canned respectively, but I don’t believe it because in my mind they were that awesome.

We stopped at the Information Center for trail condition reports on the way to the trail head, and got the warning that climbing above 3500 ft. was not advised without crampons, because of ice.  We made sure we had our Yak Tracks, and headed out.

It was 0.9 mile on the Van Hoevenberg trail to the junction with the trail to Wright/Whale’s Tail, and then 2.5 miles along the trail to the junction of the trails to Algonquin and Wright, with 0.4 mi. to Wright’s summit.  As predicted, above about 3,000 ft. it was clear that winter was on her way.

Weapons-grade icicles

Believe it or not, these icy rocks were actually the best alternative for getting up the trail at this point.

"WARNING: Weather subject to severe change. Do not proceed beyond this point without proper gear."

There were a few people who did the peak in sneakers.  I was so afraid I was going to see something I wouldn’t want to see happen.  Everyone that we saw made it out ok, but talk about inadvisable…  I can’t imagine that the park was without rescue incident on some peak that day.  I would not have been comfortable trying to summit without the Yak Tracks on my boots.

The approach to the summit reminded me a lot of the final approach to Marcy – same bare type of summit.  The less steep approaches were marked with impressively big cairns.

The summit offered 360 degree views, and was great – but freezing!

12 peaks!  (with Mt. Marcy behind us)

Heart Lake and Whiteface in the distance. The swaths of red maple leaves show pretty well the path of the trail that we'd come up.

Algonquin, from Wright's summit

Initially, we’d hoped to try Algonquin after summiting Wright, but we decided against it as the sky got grayer, and the afternoon got later.  Ascending over the ice had taken more time than we’d expected.  Also, Algonquin is huge and intimidating! – and since it’s taller than Wright, we figured the trail was likely to be icier.  It’s ok – we can do Algonquin just as easily paired with Iroquois as with Wright later.  (Probably by camping at Lake Colden, rather than Heart Lake.)

From the summit, we descended the 3.8 miles back to Heart Lake faster than we’d come up – some of the ice had melted.  We signed out of the trailhead comfortably by around 4:30.

We were glad to have gotten the peak in – although that may be it for the year; more ice doesn’t sound fun.  Before heading back to the car, we went down to see Heart Lake.  After 3 days, and over 20 miles of hiking (half of it with a fully loaded pack), my feet were beat.  I took off my boots to rinse the mud off in the lake, and waded in.  I lasted maybe half a minute before the numbness set in – but it felt great!  Looking forward to next spring’s hikes.  We may not have gotten the 4 peaks this weekend that we’d planned, but we had a great, and unexpected adventure.

Seymour – Columbus Day weekend part I

Seymour Mountain – Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009

4,120 ft.  |  Ranked 34/46 in height  |  11th peak climbed  |  35 to go

The trip we planned:  Sat. 10/10:  Leave Corey’s Rd./ Seward trailhead on to hike in along the Ward Brook Truck Trail to either the Blueberry Lean-To (4.5 mi.) or Ward Brook Lean-To (5.4 mi.) depending on occupancy.  Leave the heavy packs; continue on to the Seymour Mountain herd path, ascend, summit, descend and return to the lean-to (just over 4 miles round trip), and camp for the night.  Sun. 10/11:  hike to herd path to Seward, Emmons and Donaldson, summit each and return to spend Sunday night at the lean-to.  Mon. 10/12:  Pack out at a leisurely pace.  Possible variation:  Seymour on Monday (instead of Saturday).

The trip we took went totally differently.

The plan, in order to fit Seymour in on the first day, was to arrive at the trailhead aggressively early, and reach camp by early afternoon.  Through a combination of unrelated setbacks, we didn’t arrive at the trailhead until late morning.  Discouragingly, it was raining.  Friday’s storms hadn’t quite moved far enough east yet.

Corey's Rd./Seward Mountain Trailhead

Not to be deterred, we piled on the Gore Tex:  rain jackets, pack covers, and gaiters (new for this trip!), and headed off.

Pack weight (dry): 34 lbs. Ooft.

The rain stopped soon into the hike, and we were encouraged by the brighter sky.  The trail was a wet mess — muddy, with so many stream fords that we lost track — but we thanked the someone up there for the genius of Robert W. Gore, et al., and splashed through.  (Gaiters were a MUST.)

Blueberry lean-to was already occupied, with a tent city set up around it, so we continued on to Ward Brook lean-to.  A couple from Montreal was already there, but there was plenty of space to pitch the tent nearby.  We pitched the tent, made dinner, and huddled around the fire.

Ward Brook lean-to and fire pit

Dinner time: Mac & Cheese. Blue Nalgene for filtered water, opaque Nalgene for red wine.

The camp fire was tough going, since it had rained that morning, but among the 4 Americans and 4 Canadians calling Ward Brook home for the night, we were the clear fire stars:

My daddy didn't raise no fire-building fool...

Bedtime found temperatures in the 30’s, and goose down a welcome friend.  We didn’t stay asleep, though — between midnight and 1am, we awoke to the first cold rain shower of the night passing through.  Between then and 6am, the rain came in fits and starts, waking us up with alternating pouring and drizzling.  I was pretty freaked out.  I’d never tented in the rain before, didn’t know how well our tent would hold off the water, and had never tented in such cold weather.  (My 35-degree rated sleeping back was meeting its match.)  Getting soaked was not on the menu.  With each shower that swept through, I woke up, felt around the edges and listened, afraid of finding a puddle.  Miraculously, I never did.

Our tent is the next best thing to amphibious.

Puddles on the footprint, but not in the tent!

After dawn, we bundled up, crawled out, and assessed the situation.  Our tent was a rockstar.  Soaking outside but bone dry inside, the tent was pretty amazing.  We’d pitched it on ground that was at about a 15 degree angle (felt a little like sleeping on a hospital bed), but it worked in our favor, avoiding any major pools.  All the same, it was a confidence shaker for the start of the trip, and looking skyward was really foreboding.  We discussed options, and decided that with the sky looking the way it did, we weren’t comfortable starting on the Seward Range as planned, for a 10-12 hour hike.

Then the hail started, confirming that sentiment.  Small hail, but little bits of ice falling on our oatmeal all the same.

Hey! Who ordered breakfast on the rocks?!

Scrapping the Sewards was looking smarter and smarter.  We considered our options, and packed up the tent and the bed rolls.  The hail relented, though, so with (slightly) brighter skies we opted to give Seymour a shot before packing out, figuring that if we had bad luck with the weather, at least we could summit the single peak and still get back out to the car before dark.

Cairn marking the turn from Ward Brook Truck Trail to Seymour herd path

The herd path was a new experience.  We’ve done peaks before with unmaintained trails (Esther and Tabletop), but this was a new level of minimalism.  The first third was wet, but easy, following and crossing back and forth over the brook coming down from the mountain.  About halfway up, we came to a cascade that marked the beginning of the more difficult climb.  The bald rock in places made it hard to tell where the herd path was, and the mud made it slippery.  Aside from a little hail on the lower portion, though, the weather held, and the sun even came out.  Woohoo!

The middle third was the hardest of the hike (both ascending and descending).  Once we started the approach to the false summit, the climb eased, and heading over the false summit, down, and up the actual summit was very pleasant.  The look of our surroundings also changed – it was like we stepped through the wardrobe into Narnia.

At this elevation, the rain on our tent overnight had been snow!

11 peaks!

A tag on a tree was the only indication of the summit, but the views just beyond the summit were better.

Seward, Emmons, and Donaldson, from Seymour

We had the summit to ourselves, making another opportunity to use one of my backpack luxury toys – my little Joby tripod.  Wrap that puppy around a tree branch, set the camera timer and presto!  We didn’t linger long, though; it was cold up there once you stopped moving!

The hike back down was uneventful – we made it round trip from Ward Brook lean-to to the summit and back in 5.5 hours, including time on the summit.  Back at the lean-to, we changed socks, loaded the packs, filtered some extra water from Ward Brook, and started the 5+ miles back to the car.  Despite the weight, we didn’t take any breaks, and were out in about 3 hours.

By the time we were a mile out, the sky was looking ominous again, and by half a mile out, a few pieces of ice were falling again.  We were simultaneously glad to have salvaged a peak from the trip, glad not to have gotten too wet or cold, and disappointed at the prospect of leaving on Sunday night.  To that end, we agreed that our plan would be to drive to Lake Placid, for some warm food and iPhone service (to check weather.com), and decide from there what to do.

Columbus Day weekend to be continued…

Big Slide Mountain

Big Slide Mountain – Sat., Sept. 26, 2009

4240 ft.  |  Ranked 27/46 in height  |  10th peak climbed  |  36 to go

Route:  Trailhead at the Garden to Big Slide summit via the Brothers (blue trail markers, 4.0 mi.).  On the descent, followed the blue trail back down to the junction with Slide Mountain Brook trail (0.3 mi.); followed Slide Mountain Brook trail down to John’s Brook (red markers, about 2.5 mi.); turned left at the junction with Phelps Trail back out to the Garden (yellow markers, about 3 miles).  Total of about 9.6 miles.

Parking:  We’d been warned that parking at the Garden was limited (to 60 cars), and that to park there (for $5), we’d need to be there on the early side.  We arrived at the lot at 8:40am — not early enough.  The lot was already roped off as full.  Mildly irritatingly, we counted at least two places were our car could comfortably fit, and a couple more where it could less comfortably fit, but nevermind that.  The keeper of the lot had deemed it full.

Not that it was a huge deal.  She directed us to drive the 1.6 mile back to Rt. 73, and down to Marcy Field (about another 2 miles), to wait for the shuttle bus.  13 hours a day, the Town of Keene shuttle bus goes back and forth – roughly every 20 minutes – shuttling hikers for $3/person for a round trip ride.  (Last bus leaves the Garden at 7pm sharp.  Important to note, per the driver, 7:01pm is NOT good enough!)  We parked, shuttled, and were signing into the trail register by 9:20am.

The beginning ascent from the Garden toward the Brothers was through a fairly open wooded area, where we crossed paths with three deer – alas, I was too slow with the camera – but the area was incredibly peaceful.  The ascent was steady, but very comfortable.  After a mile or so, the trees became thinner,

and the rocks became larger, and we began to see views of the Giant Mountain Wilderness.  1.3 mile in, we reached the first of the three Brothers.

The views from Brothers were, in a word, gorgeous.  The second was probably my favorite.  It didn’t hurt that fall colors are nearing their peak, but even if they weren’t the views are still amazing.  You’ll have to indulge me for a second, here…

Lower Range from the Brothers

Lower Range from the Brothers, part 2

We met Fuzzy The Yellow Caterpillar on the first Brother, in a chance moment in which our heads weren’t swiveling in 360 degrees, trying to take in everything there was to see.  He’s kind of cute…

Birch tree seat

Near the top of the third Brother, we found what has apparently served as a campsight, and stopped for a snack.  When we headed on our way, we descended down into a col, before reaching the junction with Slide Mountain Brook trail, and continuing up to the summit of Big Slide.  The degree of descent and ascent were comfortable through the birch tree filled col.  We stopped and admired a few that had grown particularly oddly, including the tree-chair pictured.

Ladder

About 3.7 miles in, the trail junction came up much faster than we expected.  We stayed on the blue trail to head toward the summit.  This portion of the trail was where climbing got trickier.  There were some enormous rock steps – so large that in one place, a log ladder had been built over the rock.  In most places, it was just a matter of sticking your feet and scrambling.

0.29 mile later, we were on the summit.  What a happenin’ place!  To the southeast, it affords fantastic views of the Great Range (predominantly the Lower Range) but the bare area for lunching is not actually very large.  There are no good views to the northwest, and in the northeast, Giant and Rocky Ridge are just visible.

I’ve never been on such a busy summit before.  Everyone was friendly, but it was tight quarters finding a place to eat lunch!  Disappointingly, my Hershey bar had melted in the sun – obviously the wool hat and wool turtleneck sweater in my pack were overkill.

We lingered on the summit for almost 90 minutes, hoping some of the larger groups would start to head back down, so we could take some photos.  It only sort of worked.  The big groups started down, but more people arrived.  It was pretty anyway, of course – although the summit view wasn’t much different from the views we got from the Brothers.  We got a slightly better view of Basin, Saddleback, and Haystack from the summit.

As usual, we posed for our summit photos before heading back down:

10 down, 36 to go!

On the way back down, we tried to get a few photos of the mountain’s namesake Slide:

the "Slide" in "Big Slide"

When we got back to the junction, we decided to take Slide Mountain Brook Trail instead of going back out the Brothers.  The Brothers were gorgeous, of course, but we wanted a chance to see the Phelps Trail, which goes from the Garden to Johns Brook Lodge, for future trip familiarity/planning.  It made for a longer hike (5.6 miles out instead of 4.0), but even after a lazy stay on the summit, we had plenty of time.

The first half of the brook trail was pretty unremarkable, in terms of physical features.  Lots of trees, no real views, but an easy enough descent.  We were averaging just shy of 2 miles/hour, which for us is a pretty good pace.

The entire length of the mountain brook trail was a really enjoyable stretch for us, though.  Apparently everyone we’d shared the summit with, had chosen to descend via the Brothers for the views (we didn’t see anyone choose the Yard Mountain/Klondike Notch descent), which meant that we had the entire trail to ourselves.  The past two hiking trips have been with friends and family, which is an awesome opportunity – but a different kind of opportunity than hiking just as a couple.  With not a soul around, and no phones, computers, or other distractions, it was really nice to just spend some time together, walking in the woods.

About halfway down, we crossed the Slide Mountain Brook for the first time.  The trail crosses the brook, back and forth, several times and it’s a very pretty stretch.  I’d imagine the crossings are less fun, though, when the water is higher.

In the warmer months, this portion forms pools deep enough for a chilly bath. If the cairn is knocked over, it means someone picked up a leech in the pool.

As we neared the junction with Phelps Trail, we caught our only real view from the descent down Mountain Brook  Trail – but it was a pretty one.

The Slide Mountain Brook Trail comes into Phelps Trail at a t-intersection between Johns Brook Lodge and the DEC Interior Outpost, about 3 miles from the Garden parking lot and the trail head.  The 3 miles out was fast and easy — even wider and easier (albeit longer) than the Van Hoevenberg trail from Marcy Dam to Adirondack Loj.  It was also pretty – lots of impressive and enormous boulders to look at.  We noticed that he leaves there were much greener than at elevation, although the sugar maples have started to turn yellow.

We reached the trail head at about 5:20pm to see the shuttle bus waiting at the end of the parking lot – one of us signed out of the trail register while the other asked it to wait a minute.  We rode straight down to the car at Marcy Field, having lost no time to a wait at all.

We both agreed that this was one of our favorite day hikes so far.  Challenging near the top, but comfortable (I won’t quite call it easy) most of the rest of the way, a high ratio of view quality to effort expended, and easy to fit into a single day with no dusk concerns.  We probably won’t do any redo’s until we finish our 46, but this will be one of the first we come back to.

Tabletop Mountain

Tabletop Mountain – Saturday, September 19, 2009

4,420 ft.  |  Ranked 19/46 in height  |  9th peak climbed  |  37 to go

Route:  Van Hoevenberg trail from ADK Loj to Marcy Dam; continued along Phelps Brook trail toward Marcy to the spur herd path to Tabletop’s summit.  Descent was via herd path to end of spur, back to the Marcy trail for a short ascent (~0.2 mi.) to Indian Falls.  From there, we took the crossover trail toward Lake Arnold.  Short of Lake Arnold, we turned toward the Avalanche Lake lean to’s, and continued from there back to Marcy Dam, and back to the Loj via Van Hoevenberg.  Roughly 11 miles round trip.

Fall foliage report:  Noticeably more color this week than last (at Rocky Peak Ridge), particularly along roads and lakes.  Still a long way from peak, though.

Heart Lake

The day started cloudy and cool.  We had the advantage of staying in the Loj’s campground cabin for the weekend, so we were able to hit the trail by 9am.  Van Hoevenberg to Marcy Dam was dry and quick – we were surprised not to see more people on a Saturday morning with a nearly clear forecast.

Mt. Colden from Marcy Dam

Acer rubrum was out ahead of the curve in color

Hiking in to the spur trail was uneventful and quick.  We passed the Phelps spur trail faster than I’d remembered it coming up, and then the Tabletop herd-spur.  We passed a lot of people looking at the clearing skies, and commenting that they hadn’t planned to do Marcy, but were changing their plans since it was so clear.  It underscored how lucky we’ve been with clear summits on the whole so far.

The spur trail was remarkably steep, wet, muddy, and narrow, with more dead fall than I’d expected for so late in the season.  Very slow going.  It was also very quiet.  We saw exactly two other hikers the entire time up and down the spur trail.  As we got over the tree line, stopping to look behind was worth it for the views.  As we got very near the top, we found these odd looking little ice-fingers on the lichens alongside the trail.

Ice among the lichens. Much of the trail, especially near the top, was as wet as pictured at left.

I’d be lying if I said I was entirely able to resist the temptation to grab (and fling) a handful of ice bits…

Tabletop’s summit was more rewarding than our other trailless peak, Esther’s.  The view of Mt. Marcy  just past the summit marker was pretty good – and once again, we were lucky with clear weather up on the summit.  It was a 9th peak for us; 1st and 2nd for our fellow hikers.

Mt. Marcy from Tabletop Mtn.

After a snack on the summit, we headed back down the herd path, and over to Indian Falls.  Those views were great:

From there, it was largely just a nice, downhill walk through the Adirondack Park, toward Lake Arnold, then toward the Avalanche lean-to’s, and back to the dam.

We toyed with going to Avalance Pass just to see it, but decided against it.  There will be plenty more hikes for that.  We’d had a good day and didn’t want to jinx the fact that it looked like we’d be out very comfortably ahead of dusk.  We signed out of the trail register back at the Loj just after 6pm (no lights needed this week!).

We stayed at the cabin again Saturday night, to finish out a nice weekend in the park with the family.  Sunday we headed out – the annual adventure was a success!

Rocky Peak Ridge

Rocky Ridge Peak – Sunday, September 13, 2009

4,420 ft  |  Rank by height:  20/46  |  8th peak climbed  |  38 to go

The route:  From Rt. 73, we took the Zander Scott/Ridge Trail toward Giant Mountain (2.7 miles), and then took the spur trail toward Rocky Peak Ridge (1.6 miles).  Then we headed east, traverse hiking over Bald Peak, past Mary Louise Pond and Blueberry Cobble, and signed out at the trail head on Rt. 9 (6.7 miles), for a day total of 11.3 miles.

To an extent, Rocky Peak Ridge was returning to familiar territory.  Almost exactly 2 years ago, we did Giant Mountain — with attempts by two different routes.  We tried taking the East trail from Rt. 9, and ultimately aborted when we heard that there was no water in Mary Louise Pond to camp.  We hiked out, drove to Rt. 73, and did Giant via Zander Scott/Ridge Trail instead, with an overnight at Giant’s Washbowl.

We didn’t want to just do Zander Scott again, so on the advice of a friend, we decided to do it as a traverse hike.  It was a great opportunity, since we had the good fortune to be hiking with friends, and could leave one car at each trailhead.  On my friend’s advice, we planned to ascend via  Zander  Scott and descend via East Trail, to avoid doing the switchbacks and punishing rock steps on Zander Scott with 11 miles at our backs.  (It was good advice.)

Shortly after we passed Giant’s Washbowl (0.7 mile in), the clouds rolled in on top of us.  Literally.  It never really rained, but it felt like walking through mist.  If we weren’t working so hard ascending, it probably would’ve been pretty cold.

As we got higher, the clouds thinned out.  By the time we got to the spur trail marker, it was mostly just a bright misty sky.

After working so hard to gain elevation on a difficult trail, it was disheartening how much we lost in the first half+ of the spur trail, and then had to regain to get to the ridge.  The spur trail was dry, but fairly steep.

We were rewarded with clear(ing) skies when we got to the top, though, which was awesome.  Rocky Ridge was my first real experience with high elevation ridge walking, and I really enjoyed the views.  I tend not to like hiking with only the trees to look at (which is why Cascade isn’t my favorite peak).

Western/northwestern view, and the first rays of sun

Pouring over the map to identify the peaks on the horizon

Team photo with the cairn marking the high point of the ridge

As we headed east to ridge walk toward Bald Peak and east, the skies fully cleared, and gave way to some great views of the valley.

Eastern view along Rocky Ridge

Southern view to the valley and the Dix Mountain Wilderness in the distance

The ridge was a comfortable walk, and afforded gorgeous views as far as Lake Placid and Lake Champlain.  After we passed Bald Peak and Mary Louise Pond, the real work of descending began.  The trail was in and out of bare rock and forest, and we began to feel the mileage.  We’d planned the trip thinking we’d done 15 miles in a day when we did Marcy; 11.3 should be fine.  What we neglected to consider was that most of these miles are very challenging.  By comparison, Marcy is mostly an endurance game, with only the push to the summit truly difficult.

As 5pm and then 6pm passed, and we didn’t feel we were close, we stopped for a map reading to see where we were.  Had we been right, we’d have been at the trail head by dark.  Unfortunately, we were not right in our approximation of where we were on the fairly straight East trail.  I’d thought Rt. 9 looked awfully far in the distance…

We reached Blueberry Cobble (2.4 miles from the East trail trailhead) as light was beginning to fade.  Worry began to set in.  We had learned our lesson on Marcy about the importance of preparedness and, specifically, head lamps.  We each had one, but our friends, new to Adirondack hiking, didn’t.  2 lamps, 4 people.  Doable, and better than before, but we REALLY need to stop doing this.

This is where the photos end.  We decided to haul as fast as we could for as long as we could without lamps – they blow your night vision, and force you to slow down.  Fortunately, by this point we’d accomplished descending much of the elevation, so the terrain was more doable.  (Did I mention what good advice it was to hike Zander Scott to East trail, rather than the other direction?  Had we gone the other direction, finishing on the steepest descents, we might have decided it was safer to spend the night.)  Maybe half a mile to a mile later, we gave in and reached for the lights.  After a short while, one dimmed and went out, probably the batteries, so…

Only one of them worked.  That means, regrettably, that I inadvertently have to recant what I said in the Marcy post (“one headlamp (shared between 4 people – a mistake we won’t make again)…“).  My light was the one that held, so it was my trip to be the human light house, and lead the group out.  Although the composition of the group was only half the same as last time, we picked up right where we’d left off on the Van Hoevenberg trail off of Mt. Marcy, calling out, “Root!” … “Trail marker!” … “Big stone in the middle!”

After what felt like forever, which translates to about an hour for those not hiking in the dark with ice pits in their stomachs), I felt the ground cover change to pine needles under my feet.  I remarked on the observation and commented that I felt good about that — pine trees tend to grow along the road because they can tolerate the exposure better than deciduous trees.  (It’s the same reason the maples along roads and ponds turn first in the fall.)  Within 2 minutes, sure enough, there was the light above the trail register, and the truck — the only car in the dark parking lot.  ”We’re out!” we yelled, six kinds of relief and gratitude in two words.

Our new hiking friends were troopers.  Not new to hiking, but new to Adirondack hiking, and new to hiking in the dark, and they picked up our “trail marker!” game immediately, stayed calm, and stayed positive.  They’ve even said they’ll do it again!

A day later, the nerves are gone, but we’ve learned that in addition to one light per person, we need to add a set of spare batteries per person to the must-have’s list.  We also need to:

• be more cognizant of the difficulty of the terrain when we’re planning the trip and estimating pace,
• be more aware of time.  We summited at about 3:30pm.  Had we thought critically about it, we could have descended via Zander Scott (4.3 miles) instead of East Trail (6.7 miles).  More boring, yes, but safer given the time.  We hadn’t committed; since we had a car at both trail heads, and
• start earlier.  We struggle with this on day hikes, since we drive 2.5 hours to the trail head to begin our day hikes.  If we can’t get to the trail head earlier, though, we need to day hike less, and camp more.

In the end, we’re safe, we learned more, we got our 8th peak, and it was more challenging and more scenic than I’d given the peak credit for.  All good things.

Marcy and Phelps, or, 2 trips, 2 peaks, 9 months, 1 post. Oops.

We kind of spaced out on y’all for a while there.  Sorry about that.  To understand why, you might visit our other blog to see what we’ve been up to.  As a general rule, if one hasn’t been updated, it’s likely we’re working on the other one.

The reader’s digest version of our excuse is that we climbed Mt. Marcy on Saturday, September 20, 2008, and then closed on our first house 3 days later, on Tuesday, Sept. 23.  We moved the following weekend, and have been painting, de-wallpapering, shoveling snow, replacing appliances, gardening, and replacing bathroom fixtures ever since.  We’re finally settled and have the entire house painted (although work will of course continue), and did our first peak of 2009 about two weeks ago.  So without further ado, here’s the quick (mostly photographic) recap of Marcy and Phelps.  If the weather holds, we’ll be going back out tomorrow – cross your fingers!

Mt. Marcy – Saturday, September 20, 2008

5,344 ft. | Rank by height:  1/46 | Highest point in the entire state of NY

6th peak climbed  |  40 to go

As promised in earlier posts, we did this as an expanded team – Mom & Dad M joined us.  This was Dad’s second time up Marcy (first in several decades), and Mom’s first Adirondack adventure.  It was an incredible adventure, at that.  All four of us summited, and made it back down safely – no small feat.  We ran out of daylight on our way back down roughly around Marcy Dam, and had to make the last 2 miles (luckily the Van Hoevenberg trail from the dam is relatively flat) by way of one headlamp (shared between 4 people – a mistake we won’t make again).  We were never so thrilled to see the cabin…

We stayed in the cabin at the Adirondack Loj, which was pretty cool.  Tiny, but cool.  It almost felt like cheating, since there was a sink, toilet, shower (!), etc.  We joked that the roughest part was the mattresses on the 2 sets of bunk beds.  They felt more like giant versions of the “sit-upons” that I’d made in Girl Scouts as a kid (“padded” with newspaper in the middle) than mattresses.  Note to self:  next time, put the camp rest pad on the mattress for some real padding.  By Saturday night after the hike, though, they felt perfectly awesome.

Friday night, we climbed Mt. Jo (near the Adk Loj) for a warmup and view of Heart Lake

Marcy Dam - Saturday morning

On the way up to the summit - above the treeline, and after Little Marcy

Marcy's summit - 5,344 feet above sea level

It was a stunningly clear day

On the way down, we saw that the sun was fading, and put the camera away!  We finally made it back to the cabin after dark, and barely had the energy to make dinner.  Some of us had a second wind and sat around the fire until later – man were we tired!

by Sunday morning, the clouds had rolled in - Heart Lake

I tend to prefer our multi-day trips to the day trips, but this one will be hard to beat!

6 peaks down – 40 to go!

Phelps Mountain – Sunday, May 17, 2009

4,161 ft. | Rank by height:  32/46  |  7th peak climbed  |  39 to go

The weather in early May this year was pretty poor, so we played this trip by ear, not sure if we could get it in between storms and bad weather.  We got really lucky – no flies, and no rain.  We took the Van Hoevenberg trail from the Adirondack Loj to Marcy Dam starting around 11:20am, and it brought back memories of doing it in the dark on the way back from Marcy.  Looking down at the roots and rocks, I had newfound respect for what we’d all done 9 months earlier!  From Marcy Dam, it was a relatively easy (but wet) hike up along Phelps Brook, up to the summit, and back down.  I’d hoped to do Tabletop as well, but that would have put us racing sunset, plus some clouds were already rolling in.  No thanks!  We made it out by around 6:15pm.  After this trip, though, we’ll look into gaitors for the future.  All in all, though, a really pleasant hike and a good break-in for the year.

To say it was a wet trail would be a gross understatement. The trails looked more like stream beds in a lot of places.

For its part, Phelps Brook was "ford at your own risk."

Algonquin in the distance

Phelps Mountain summit

7 down – 39 peaks to go!

Esther and Whiteface Mountains

Esther Mountain

4,240 ft.  |  ranked 28/46 in height  |  4th peak climbed  |  42 to go

Whiteface Mountain

4,867 ft.  |  ranked 5/46 in height  |  5th peak climbed  |  41 to go

Last weekend, we did our 4th and 5th peaks – Esther and Whiteface.  We did them in a fairly unorthodox manner, for hikers.  For one thing, we drove to the top.

The Whiteface Mountain Memorial Highway is a two-lane paved toll road that winds around the topography of the mountain to within 300 vertical feet of Whiteface’s summit.  Admittedly, the accessibility that it provides, takes a little (ok, a lot) of the lustre out of climbing to the top – but since Whiteface is the 5th tallest of the high peaks, it had to be climbed to get our eventual 46.

No, no, no, of course we didn’t cheat!

In the morning, we drove to the top, locked our bikes to the flagpole at “the castle,” and drove back down to the trail head.  The plan was to hike in, summit first at Esther, next at Whiteface, and ride our bikes the 7 miles back down to the car.  Done, done, and done.

The first segment of the hike, the ascent up to Marble Mountain, got us up the bulk of the elevation in a remarkably short distance (pant, pant).  From Marble to Lookout Mountain we mostly just followed the ridge.

Then the going got a little tougher:

Ominous...?

Truth be told, it really wasn’t that bad.  The herd path was obvious enough that markings would have been a little redundant.  The maintenance, however, I missed.  There was lots of this:

Dangling feet

The col that we descended into before gaining elevation on up to the summit wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I’d imagined.  It has a reputation for being incredibly swampy, i.e., shin-heigh gaitors are recommended.  We were pleasantly surprised to find that someone (probably for an Eagle Scout project), has built a bridge over the swamp from split logs.  The things we regard as heavenly out in the woods…

We made it to Esther’s summit around 4pm, arms a little sore from brushes with trees (the herd path is only about shoulder-width).  The summit wasn’t a lot to see, with too many trees for much of a view – but it was the first time we’d had a summit to ourselves, which was kind of cool.

Esther Mountain - 4,240 ft.; 28th tallest.

We returned to the trail leading to Whiteface at about 5pm, very aware that it was later than we’d imagined it would be.  Watching the sun sink lower, we hauled up toward the summit.  What a weird experience that is!    The trail seemingly just… ends… at an imposing rock wall.

To one side, there’s a rock scramble that makes it possible (if not easy) to haul your now-dragging butt over the wall, and onto… the road.  Paved.  Double yellow lines.  Although I’d been there earlier in the day, it was so very soul-crushing.

Fortunately, it was late enough (the road closes at 5:45pm) that the tourists were gone.

We followed the road for the last small-fraction-of-a-mile, and up the final 300 vertical feet – complete with hand rails! – to the summit.  So the hand rails were lame, I’ll admit.  The views, however, were pretty great.

(Not the best view)

Whiteface Mountain - 4,867 ft.; 5th tallest.

The obligatory summit pose

The real treat, though, was watching the sun set from the summit.  Since you can’t camp on the summits (nor would you want to – brrrr!), watching the sun rise or set isn’t really feasible.  The bike option, however, allowed us the necessary get-off-the-mountain-free card to stay for the sunset:

Whiteface's shadow, reaching to Lake Champlain in the distance

Lake Placid

We made it back to the car just as the last of the daylight faded.  Of the peaks we’ve done so far, these were probably not my favorite two – I like my peaks without pavement - but they were a very nice way to spend a day.

41 to go!

Cascade and Porter

Cascade Mountain

4098 ft.  |  ranked 36/46 in height  |  2nd peak climbed  |  44 to go

Porter Mountain

4059 ft.  |  ranked 38/46 in height  |  3rd peak climbed  |  43 to go

Memorial Day weekend provided us with two days of beautiful weather; Jayme and I took advantage of the first one to climb two more peaks!

Cascade was a great hike despite a few black flies on the way up. The sun was hot, and we both got a touch of sunburn, but warm day felt great after a long upstate winter.  Jayme was very proud to have her second High Peak.

The peak had quite a few visitors that day, and the 360-degree view was well worth the effort.  We could see the Great Range and the Lower Range to the South.  To the Southwest, we could see Giant Mountain (see our previous posts) and were shocked to see snow where we had been last fall!!  It was May, the temperature was approaching 80 degrees, and quite a few of the peaks still had snow.  Marcy, Algonquin, Dix, and Giant had enough snow you could see it from the highway.  Perhaps the only aspect of Cascade that we didn’t care for was the lack of views on the way up.  Near the top of the climb there was a ledge offering a nice view southwest, but otherwise you’re beneath the treeline so long you don’t see much until the end of the climb.

After a bit of sightseeing, we started back down Cascade to where the trail split off to the summit of Porter.  The trail to Porter was considerably muddier than the trail up Cascade, and even had snowbanks.  Jayme took great pride in pelting me with a snowball…. in May.

Porter was only a short climb up the spur trail, and Jayme got her third High Peak!

From the summit of Cascade, the summit of Porter was just under a half an hour’s hike.  You can see the summit of Cascade behind Jayme above.  While Porter didn’t have the spectacular views offered by Cascade, it did have a nice bench-like rock near the top that made a nice place for lunch.

All in all, the view to effort ratio on this climb is probably the highest we’re likely to find in the Adirondacks.  The view is great, and the climb takes approximately two hours (to the top of Cascade).  I would recommend this hike as a day trip to anyone.

New to our bag of tricks this time were our camel-backs and hiking poles, but Jayme will handle the gear review in the near future.

Mt. Marcy — Round 2 for some of us

This September, we have plans to do Mt. Marcy.  At 5,344 ft. in elevation, it’s the highest peak in the Adirondacks, and also the highest point in New York State.  Its Indian name, Tahawus, means “cloud splitter,” for lack of a word in the language meaning simply, “mountain.”  

This trip, we’re bringing some company. 

Despite growing up a few hundred miles from the Adirondack Park, Dad did Marcy a few decades ago.  He’s game to go back, and Mom’s game to try it — so we’re planning a trip for the four of us.  We haven’t decided yet whether to approach the peak from the Adirondack Loj, or from Johns Brook Loj, but that will depend as much on trail conditions closer to departure as anything else.  We’re looking forward to the company on the trail.

…And now, the real point of this post — it’s in black & white!  We’re [all] really doing it!  

6 months til Marcy, guys  

Houston, we have a pack!

It was a pretty epic hunt.  After casually hunting for several months, and then more vigorously as the spring months get closer, shopping the wares of 7 different EMS and REI store locations in 3 states, I finally have a pack!   Turns out, not only did I need a women’s pack, but my torso length measurement (done and redone at EMS) actually falls just short of the target range for even the women’s size XS packs.  That was a challenge.  Some brands, like Osprey, don’t make a size XS, ruling them out immediately.  Retail stores also don’t favor XS packs, for the same reason car dealerships cringe when you try to trade in a car with a manual transmission.  They know they’re going to be stuck with it in inventory until just the right tiny little backpacker comes along.  I had tried on kids’ packs, but the hips belts and sternum straps didn’t fit as well, and they didn’t have the kind of capacity I was looking for. 

Ultimately, we narrowed it down to two:  the Gregory Jade 50, and the Gregory Deva 60.  The Jade is lighter, has an airspace on the back panel, and fit extremely well; the Deva is more of load monster, and has a killer suspension system that feels a little heavy when the pack is empty, but prevents you from noticing, for the most part, when the pack is loaded.  It was a tough call, and I think either pack would’ve served me well.  I favored the Jade because it just fit me so well, and the airspace on the back is wicked awesome, end of story.  And at 2 lbs., 15 oz., it was like carrying a knapsack.  I favored the Deva because the internal capacity was greater — I prefer to carry gear in the pack than lash it to the outside, because it stays more steady — and it had more pockets for organization, heavier nylon fabric, and there was no trip I’d ever plan that it wouldn’t haul enough gear for.   It was the pack to end all packs (and it fit my back).

We had located an XS Jade pack in Newark, DE, and an XS Deva in Wilmington, DE… so Sunday afternoon of Presidents’ Day weekend while visiting the southernmore parental units, we roadtripped to the First State.  I saw the Jade first at the Newark EMS, tried it on, loved it, and bought it, figuring that if I liked the Deva better, I could just exchange it at the Wilmington EMS.  After checking out the Deva, I was so indecisive that I called for a coffee stop, and told Chris (he of more backpacking experience than I) to elaborate on how he’d make the decision between the men’s equivalents of the two packs — the Gregory Z55 (lighter weight) and the Baltoro (load monster), both of which I’d had him try on so he could help me decide (we also had him slated for a new pack at the conclusion of this season anyway).  He waxed philosophical, which quickly melted into puppy dog eyes that even Guinness can’t match.   By the time we left Dunkin’ Donuts, lattes in hand, I was convinced that I had the right pack in the car, and also, that we couldn’t leave Delaware without a pack for Chris too.  We drove all the way back south to Newark, and picked up the Z55.  So now, at 5′2 and 6′2, we’re going to be carrying the smallest women’s size and the largest men’s size of the same pack design.  (I got the prettier color though!)  It didn’t hurt that we rocked the tax-free Delaware shopping, and for the first time in a while, I loved how young I apparently look:  the clerk gave us the 15% off college student discount.  SCORE. 

We plan to debut those babies Memorial Day weekend in the lower range, getting at least four high peaks:  Lower Wolfjaw, Upper Wolfjaw, Armstrong, Gothics, and if we’re feeling really badass (read:  not dead tired), Sawteeth for #5, as well.  Stay tuned!