Hiking Phelps

This past Saturday found us once again heading north to the mountains. We met at our usual time of 4:15am, although our driving route differed, as did our intended trailhead. The parking lot at the High Peaks Information Center was nearing capacity when we arrived, but we were early enough to grab a spot without difficulty. We hit the bathrooms (running water!) at the HPIC before signing the register at 8:12am.

We had only one peak as our goal for the day: Phelps Mt., the easiest of the Adirondack High Peaks remaining on my list. As such, we took full advantage of our time, hiking slowly, stopping often, and lounging on the summit. The trails and summit were crowded, no surprise on a rain-free Saturday in late July. The summit is without markers of any kind: no signs, no benchmarks, only 3 holes.

One of the gentlemen we met on the summit was particularly loquacious. He and my sister happily discussed the surrounding peaks and previous hikes until I dragged her away. He was super sweet and charming, but I felt anxious to get underway after two hours on the summit. I love how genuinely friendly most hikers are.

We got back to the car with plenty of time to drive into Lake Placid for a sandwich. Neither of us could stomach the thought of fast food for dinner. My only regret is that we were so full after our tasty sandwiches that we didn't have room for any Ben & Jerry's!

Details:
Phelps Mt., elevation: 4161, order of height: 32, order of ascension: 21

Hiking Sawteeth

This past Saturday my sister and I made another one day up and back trip to the Adirondack High Peaks. We met at the same time at the same park-n-ride and followed the same route to the same trailhead in St. Huberts that we hiked from exactly two weeks before. Given our relatively late arrival on a holiday weekend, we felt the parking lot at the Ausable Club was most likely to still have available spots. And fortunately, it did!

We geared up and left the car at 7:33am, hitting the trail register 15 minutes later. This time there were a few golfers on the course, even though some of the sprinklers were still running.

After we passed the Gill Brook Trail, we were in new territory for me (my sister had been in the vicinity both hiking and swimming at the boat house as a guest of a club member). We reached the dam at the end of the Lake Road at 8:58am, where we paused to take pictures and to deploy my trekking poles.

Shortly there after, we turned onto the Scenic Trail, which follows the Lower Ausable Lake shoreline for awhile. We paused at most of the scenic overlooks to take pictures (because isn't that the point of the scenic trail?) and generally took our sweet time. Neither of us had gotten much sleep the night before, which is fairly typical the night before a hike but this was more extreme because of the 4th of July fireworks that kept us both awake.

After climbing up and over several "teeth," we reached the summit of Sawteeth at 1:24pm. Two gentlemen from Connecticut who had passed us earlier graciously vacated the summit rock for our enjoyment after some casual chitchat (hikers are, for the most part, such friendly folk). Two other parties arrived from the Gothics Trail approach and we all sat around eating lunch and then taking pictures.

We enjoyed the summit, with its absolutely breathtaking views, for about an hour before starting the trek out. We both prefer to make loops whenever possible, so we headed down the other trail towards the junction to Gothics where we picked up the Weld Trail. We were greatly anticipating Rainbow Falls and it did not disappoint.

From the Falls, it was only 0.3 mile back to the Lower Ausable Lake Dam, which we arrived at at 4:16pm. All that was left was the 4 mile walk down the Lake Road and through the golf course to the car. I was so excited to remove my boots I forgot to record the time, but it was in the neighborhood of 5:48pm. That means total time on the trail was about 10 hours 15 minutes and total distance was about 13.2 miles (including a foray to an overlook that turned out to be too far from the main trail and so our pursuit was abandoned). The weather was perfect and the bugs were minimal.

Details:
Sawteeth, elevation: 4100, order of height: 35, order of ascension: 20

Not pictured: our celebratory to-go milkshakes from the Noonmark Diner.

Hiking Colvin and Blake

In the week leading up to her birthday my sister started eyeballing the weather forecast and plotting a potential hike to celebrate her big day. As the day approached, the forecast promised 0% chance of rain, so we finalized our plans.

The day started at 3:15am when my eyelids popped open and I found myself wide awake a full 20 minutes before the alarm was set to go off. I stayed in bed resting until 4 minutes remained and then I slipped out, turned off the alarm and zipped through my morning prep. 20 minutes later I was out the door and driving to meet my sister at the park-n-ride. A quick transfer of gear from my car to hers and we were off. 4:19am and driving east.

I decided to try using the memo app on my phone to record our times on the hike. This was a first for me, so I didn't think to make note of when we started hiking again after taking breaks, etc. Maybe next time I'll take more notes, because it's kind of neat to see the details in black and white.

We made insanely good time on the drive up (a.k.a. someone drives like a bat out of hell) and walked away from the car at 7:37am. This was my first hike from the St. Huberts trailhead at the Ausable Club. I'd heard all about the golf course weirdness and the monotony of the Lake Road, and was pretty stoked to see it all for myself. In some ways though, the thing I found the most odd about the golf course is that it was completely empty when we walked through it both in the morning and the evening. The courses at home are occupied at all hours of the day.

The Ausable Club was as swanky as expected.

We snapped some quick pictures and signed the register 15 minutes after leaving the car. I had to take a picture of the famed gate, even though the lighting was not ideal.

The Lake Road had more of an incline than I anticipated, and was wider and more well-groomed than I thought it would be. I didn't get to see the bus in action, but we were passed on the way out by a pickup truck that buried us in a cloud of dust so thick we had to cover our mouths and noses with bandanas and wipe grit from our eyes long after it was gone.

After 40 minutes on the Lake Road we turned onto the Gill Brook Trail.

Before getting down to business, we paused to take pictures of the lovely brook and so I could get out my hiking poles (I'd secured them to my pack for the first leg of the hike, as they were unnecessary up until that point).

We reached the summit of Mt. Colvin at 12:15pm. It was occupied by two older couples, both of which had passed us earlier on the trail (we like to take our time, if that isn't obvious by now). We chatted a bit more, they snapped a picture of us and then they departed, leaving us to enjoy the summit by ourselves. We took more pictures, ate our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and rested for a good 45 minutes before heading down into the col.

Down, down, down in to the col. And then STRAIGHT back up Blake. I had loved every bit of the hike up Colvin, but love was not in my vocabulary for long after leaving the summit and heading for Blake. The trail is super steep and rugged. I prefer a more moderate approach. Regardless, up Blake we went, reaching the summit at 2:30pm.

We took more photos, although the summit is rather unremarkable. There is no benchmark and not much in the way of signage. The views are limited and the summit was crowded with several other parties. We enjoyed chocolate bars and a brief rest before turning back towards Colvin.

We summited Colvin for the second time at 4:20pm, where we took a few final pictures and prepared for the long hike out. We barreled down the mountain as fast as our weary legs would take us, reaching the Lake Road around 6:30pm. Before leaving the Gill Brook Trail behind us, we stopped to splash icy water on our faces and put away the hiking poles. I know people complain about the Lake Road at the end of a long day of hiking, but I was nothing but thrilled to see the level terrain. I was even more thrilled to see the gate, the register, the car, and even (or most especially) the port-a-potty. In fact, I think it's safe to say that was the first time I was EVER happy to see a port-a-potty.

All in all, we were on the trail for just under 12 hours and covered somewhere in the neighborhood of 14.5 miles.

We scored some celebratory sherbet coolers from Stewart's before starting our return trip. The drive home was nowhere near as smooth or as quick as the drive up. It was after 1am before we pulled into our respective driveways, desperate for showers and beds.

Details:
Mt. Colvin, elevation: 4057, order of height: 39, order of ascension: 18
Blake Peak, elevation: 3960, order of height: 43, order of ascension: 19

The only new gear I used for this adventure were my trekking poles: Black Diamond Women's Trail

Algonquin, Iroquois, & Wright

Labor Day weekend in the Adirondack High Peaks means full parking lots, busy trails, and crowded summits. Last year we were lucky enough to hike on Friday, sparing us from some of the masses. This year we were restricted by days off and planned to hike on Saturday, but threats of thunderstorms pushed our hike back to Sunday.

Sunday dawned overcast, foggy, and humid. My husband drove us (my sister, one of her college friends, and me) to the trailhead at the High Peaks Information Center on Adirondack Loj Road. We tied on our boots, signed the register, and hit the trail around 7:15am (no one thought to check the exact time). The first mile or so along the Van Hoevenberg Trail went quickly and gave us an opportunity to catch up since my sister's friend and I had not seen each other in years. Once we left the Van Ho Trail I was on new ground, although my sister had been up that way twice before. She'd previously summited both Algonquin and Wright on two separate hikes. (Her friend lives and hikes in New Hampshire, so these would be his first official ADK High Peaks.)

We passed the Whale's Tail Notch Ski Trail and continued up, completely socked in by dense clouds. I fully expected that we would have zero visibility the entire day, but my sister's friend suffers from unflagging optimism and proclaimed the sun would come out, the clouds would break up, and we'd have fabulous views from the summits. He even lamented having forgotten to pack his sunglasses. I rolled my eyes and didn't believe it for a second. Regardless, I'd still rather hike inside a cloud the ADKs than do just about anything else.

Once the trail started to go up, it REALLY went up and pretty much straight up at that. There were a couple scrambles that required both hands and feet. We came out on the bald summit of Algonquin still enveloped in clouds.

By the time we took our boots off, ate some food, sent a few "we made it" texts, and put our boots back on, the clouds were starting to break up in spots. As we headed down into the col and back up Boundary, more and more blue sky was showing through.

trail to Iroquois to the right

boardwalk on Boundary

On Iroquois we were able to get out our cameras and take pictures in every direction. My sister and her friend happily identified as many of the peaks as they could.

Looking back towards Algonquin

resting on Iroquois

Then back over Boundary we went and back up Algonquin, where we paused again to take photos now that the summit wasn't lost in clouds.

my sister taking pictures

Eventually we headed down, still debating whether or not we would do Wright. I was leaning towards doing it because it is only 0.4 miles off the trail to Algonquin. I was starting to think I wouldn't be eager to have to hike the same trail again any time soon.

heading down Algonquin, Wright in the distance

We decided to go for it, but man did that 0.4 miles hurt, as it was all UP. On the summit we snapped more pictures, chatted with the summit steward, and scrambled down to the plane crash plaque before we started down our last mountain of the day.

Once we were down off the rock slabs we were making good time and passing many of the hikers we came across. In the rock cobbles (smaller than a boulder, bigger than a soccer ball) at the lower elevations, the sun had not been strong enough to fight the humidity and the rocks were still slick. I lost my footing and tumbled, rolling at least once before coming to a stop when my skull hit a rock. I leapt up quickly (but unsteadily) to my feet, declaring "I'm fine." I know it's terrifying to see someone else fall, so I wanted to reassure my hiking companions (and the older couple we had just passed) that I was OK. My sister grabbed my face to check that my teeth were still in my mouth (they were) and her friend called an immediate rest break. I drank some water and collected myself and then we continued on to a nearby stream where I washed off some of the mud on my arms (no sense bothering with my legs). I was very, very lucky to escape from that tumble with only scrapes, bruises, and a goose egg on my head. Nothing was broken and my teeth were still intact.

When it comes to climbing mountains, mud and blood are de rigueur for me. This just took that a little too far. It also slowed us down a hair, but we still made it back to the parking lot around 5:50pm.

The specifics:
Algonquin Peak, elevation: 5114, order of height: 2, order of ascension: 15
Iroquois Peak, elevation: 4840, order of height: 8, order of ascension: 16
Wright Peak, elevation: 4580, order of height: 16, order of ascension: 17

Boots: Vasque Vista UltraDry
Socks: Smartwool
Shorts: EMS
Shirt: Columbia
Backpack: EMS

Mt Marshall

I've never written a trip report before, so we'll see how this goes. My guess is that with my exceptionally BAD memory, my report may be a bit sketchy...

My alarm was set for 3:55 AM on Saturday, but I was awake well before it went off. I stayed in bed until two minutes before it was to go off, figuring even if I wasn't still sleeping I would need all the rest I could get. I kissed my husband goodbye and rushed through my pre-hike routine. Less than 20 minutes later I was out the door heading to meet my sister at the park-n-ride.

At the Upper Works trailhead I squeezed into one of the few remaining legitimate parking spots (later cars would line the road) and we started our preparations (socks, boots, gaiters, and for me a thick layer of Aquaphor underneath). My sister had found a trip report written by another hiker with what he described as "prima donna" feet who slathered his feet with butt paste to help prevent blisters. I was willing to give it a whirl, and Aquaphor was what we had in the house (for post-tattoo usage).

My sister signed us in at the register and we step on the trail at 8:09 AM. Temperatures were in the 60s and the sun was shining. The weather stayed near perfect the entire day with a nice breeze and NO bugs. It was such a relief after our last hike up Seymour when the bugs and humidity were torturous.

When we got to the Henderson Monument we got out our cameras to take pictures and sucked down a Clif Shot Gel each. At the Flowed Lands we stopped again to take more photos, as it was the first time either of us had been there and it is a lovely spot.

Then we signed that register and were off again. We got to the cairn marking the start of the Herbert Brook herd path in roughly 3 hours and to the summit in another two (we are not speedy, obviously). The trail crisscrosses the brook but is well marked with small cairns and is very pretty. Lots of lush green moss and inviting pools of water. It is rocky and muddy, etc., but that comes with the territory. We saw several red efts and an occasional toad.

The trip reports we'd read ahead of time prepared us for a treed summit with limited views. After we took our requisite summit shots, we back-tracked just a hair to a small rock overlook where we found stunning panoramic views. Clearly either some people failed to take the few steps off the herd path to the overlook or we have different ideas of what qualifies as an impressive vista.

Phelps, Colden, Tabletop, Marcy, Gray, Skylight and the Flowed Lands on the right. 

I changed my socks and sock liners and applied GlacierGel bandages to my big toes. We ate our pb&js and took lots of pictures. Eventually we pried ourselves away from the breathtaking views and headed down the mountain after about an hour on the summit.

We stopped again at the Flowed Lands to take more photos in the afternoon light before pushing on. We signed out at the parking lot at 6:20 PM, changed our clothes, and were on the road by 6:40 PM. I forgot to note the time when I got home, but the shower and bed both felt divine after our long day.

Mt Marshall makes 14 Adirondack High Peaks for me and 21 for my sister. All-in-all a wonderful hike!

Mountain Climbing

Head over to Lake Loop for a brilliant rendition of our recent hike up Whiteface & Esther. Peaks #4 and #5 for me!