Algonquin and Iroquois (6/2/10)

I wasn't really sure what hike I was going to do up till several days before hike day, but as I was watching the weather forecast and saw that the weather was looking perfect for a hike, with clear skies and great views, I knew that I wanted to do a hike that would allow for some amazing views. Last October, when I had climbed Algonquin and Wright, it was in the midst of a snow storm and there were absolutely no views from the top of Algonquin. It seemed like the obvious choice, Algonquin and Iroquois! I posted the hike on Hiking Mates with only a few days notice, so I ended up doing this hike solo, which doesn't bother me in the least. I enjoy the company and entertainment of hiking with a group, but I also enjoy the peace and quietness of solo hiking. On my way up from the Loj, I ran into a number of parties of people also hiking Algonquin. No surprise there, as it is one of the most popular mountains in the 'dacks. I made great time up to the summit of Algonquin and was rewarded with some absolutely gorgeous views from on top! It's easy to see why this is one of the most hiked high peaks. While on top, I ran into Stu from VFTT and chatted with him for a few minutes, before being chased (well not really) by giant summit flies/bees over to Iroquois. The decent off the west side of Algonquin is one of my favorites in all the Adirondacks, the terrain is so cool and alpine! I forged my way through the herd path and over the bog, past Boundary Mt 1 and 2, and onto Iroquois. There were two tough rock scrambles that I had to scale to make it to the summit, but with a little time and caution I made it up both with no incidents and bagged my only new summit of the day. Wow, Iroquois is quite nice! It has an amazing view, but also a level of seclusion that it's big brother doesn't have. I enjoyed a good half hour or more on top, soaking up the view and the sun before packing up and heading back over to Algonquin. When I reached the summit of Al, I was greeted with a group of summit stewards and trainees, and two biologists. They were checking out the alpine flora as I said one last goodbye to the view and headed back down the trail.

I think overall this is one of my favorite hikes so far...great views, majestic mountains!

Dix and Hough (5/27/10)

Having just recently hiked the southern portion of the Dix Range, I wanted to finish it off and even though it meant a long, tough hike, it had to be done. I have done Dix Mountain before, but it had been a while, and it needed to be done to get to Hough, well more or less. Unfortunately for me, this happened to be the hottest day of the year to date! The temperatures as the day progressed moved into the low 90's and the sun was out in full force. Knowing that it was going to be a long, hot day, I had brought five bottles of fluids, close to a gallon combined.

My hike began with Tracy, whom I had first met, and hiked the lower half of the Dix Range with earlier that month, and another woman whom I had met for the first time at the park and ride that morning. We started out of the Rt 73, Round pond trailhead and within a half an hour of starting the woman who I hadn't hiked with before was gassed and ready to turn back. Tracy started the day feeling a bit sick from a lingering ailment and between the two of them, they decided to fall back and hike at a much slower pace and take trail as it came to them. With the two of them sticking together, I was determined to push on and bag my peaks that I had set out for; unfortunately I had a rather untimely mishap considering the current conditions that day. Two of my water bottle tops weren't secured all the way and I ended up losing almost 2 liters of water that I had started with. Through stubbornness or determination I pushed on to complete my goal for the day. The first 5 or so miles go pretty quick and easy, as I made my way back to the base of the slide on Dix. I have to say, that this hike especially and many more to come this summer were filled with more toads, frogs, grass snakes than I've ever seen before in the woods. Well, the Dix summit climb was just as I remembered it to be, extremely steep and rugged, for close to a mile. A bit whipped, and through rationing of my fluids, a bit thirsty, I reached the summit of Dix and was rewarded with a fantastic view on a clear day! After a quick lunch and some time to enjoy the view, I glanced over to Hough, and thought...do I really wanna trek all the way over there, just to have to turn around and come back the same way, on the two bottles of water/Gatorade that I had left? Well, the answer was no, but the choice was yes. I was determined to get it done! It was an adventure going over the Beckhorn and following the ridgeline over to Hough. Hough offered a great view of Dix from a perspective I hadn't seen before. The herd path was very narrow, but quite easy to follow. Thank goodness for gaiters! Re-climbing the Beckhorn involved a few rock scrambles that had me crawling and scooting/pulling myself up, but I managed, and on the summit of Dix, I drank the last of my water. I remember my mouth was so dry that I had absolutely no saliva and was feeling a bit of a headache. I new I was dehydrated and was seriously concerned about getting heat stroke. As I made my way down the bottom of the slide and the stream that forms off it, I decided to take the small risk of beaver fever and drink from the stream. The odds of me getting a bacteria were much lower than having some serious issues of dehydration or heat stroke. Once, fully re-hydrated I had renued vigor for the long trek back to the car. All said and done, it was one of the most tiring hikes I have done, due to the heat, lack of water, and long, difficult terrain. I am glad to have completed it and in the end, been no worse for the wear.

Macomb, South Dix, East Dix (5/12/10)

So, my first "summer" high peak of the year started off totally by accident. I was planning on hiking Noonmark and Round Mt as a loop with the hiking group, but when no one signed up and I chanced on seeing someone post a comment about hiking Macomb on the same day, I jumped at the chance to upgrade my hike! I met up with Tracy and Bruce and we headed out of the Elk Lake trailhead, my first time to Elk Lake! The trail back to the starting point of the Macomb trailhead was pretty simple, basically just a walk in the woods. When we reached the turnoff point, just past Slide Brook we started the real hiking. The entire Dix range, with the exception of it's signature mountain, is trailess and quite remote and wild. I was excited and a little nervous about this hike, as it was my first time doing a slide hike. We got to the base of the Macomb slide around an hour after we took the turnoff onto the herd path. The Macomb slide is a bit unique from what I know in that it's made up primarily of loose rock, or scree. Being my first slide to climb I can't say how it compares to others, but I thought it was relatively easy to climb. It was steep in spots and the loose rocks made it tricky but my distain for heights never came into play. It was nice once we got to the top to take a breather and snap some photos on the famous boulder that overlooks the slide. We had an awesome day to go hiking! The weather was fairly sunny and maybe in the 70's. Once we left the top of the slide we had probably the steepest climb of the day, but over a kinda short stretch, to the summit of Macomb. The views from the top, while limited in range, did not disappoint in quality! Great views of Elk lake, and many of the high peaks. I even had the company of a little mountain sparrow while I ate lunch on the top. After a bite to eat, it was only I think 11:30am and we all still felt fairly full of energy and so after some discussion we decided to make the push to get the rest of the "lower" Dixes in. Since we were up on the ridgeline the effort would be moderate to minimal to get South and East Dix in. On the backside, or eastside of Macomb we encountered a little bit of ice and snow remnants, but very little and it posed no difficulty to our passage. Down into the col between Macomb and South Dix, then up the rocky scramble to South Dix. That part was pretty fun. We had some nice views from the open rocks and since there are zero views from the actual summit of South Dix we took some pictures and soaked it in. The ridge-line walk between all three mountains was interesting. I was a bit concerned from having read up on the Dix range and seeing everyone talk about how remote and the jumble of herd paths and that you should be ready with your compass and maps for the challenge of navigating them, but whether over the past few years the paths have become more established or I just have an eye for keeping a trail, we never had an issue finding and following the herd paths for the entire day. There were certainly some stretches of trail where it was so tight that you had to force your way through the cripplebrush and evergreens but the footpath itself was distinguishable. As we reached the third high peak summit of the day on East Dix, I was really impressed with the panoramic view it offered! All the way from Giant and Rocky Ridge, to the foothills in the South, South Dix and Macomb to the West, and Hough and Dix to the North, the views were awesome! Really a beautiful sight. I wish I had known exactly where the Great Slide was, as it would have been cool to gone and looked down on it, but I hadn't expected to be on East Dix that day and didn't read up on it. Well, our trip back was pleasantly uneventful. We made it back to the top of Macomb without a hitch. The toughest part of the hike might have been the descent down the slide. Having to pick your way down the steepness with loose rocks breaking way and sliding from under your feet definitely was a tedious and tiring process. We all made it down though safe and sound and although I think all of us were a bit sore and tired after 11 hours on the trail, we made it back to the cars happy and with a great sense of accomplishment! A wonderful hike through a great wilderness!

Phelps Mtn 2/18/10

I went into this winter wanted to get a couple high peaks done, to take some of the load off this coming summer. As it turned out, I ended up only getting this one. We left early in the morning and were on the trail by 9am. It was myself and HikingMates partner Jennifer. We started out of the Adirondack Loj, up past Marcy Dam and back the same way. The temps were pretty mild, in the twenties, but unfortunately the cloud cover was very low so our visibility was very poor for the hike, with no visibility at the top. The trails up to the Phelps trail were packed snow, with 2-3 inches of fresh powder on top. When we got to the Phelps trail we threw on our traction for the steeps and ice that we found on the last stretch. Overall, no issues with traction or on the trail. We encountered several parties on the way in, including a group that had over-nighted and was headed up to Algonquin, and then a handful of parties snowshoeing and skiing on the way back down. The black capped chickadees were out in force around Marcy Dam. We stopped for a picture and they came right down and were landing on my trekking poles, and even my hand! I'm sure they were hoping we had a snack for them, but no luck. Overall, I had a great time, but another hike this winter with no views or limited views on top. Oh well.

Big Slide 10/18/09

I decided to do the hike via the Brothers, and down Slide Brook to create a fun loop. My friend Dan and I had tried to do this hike last year, well not the loop but over the Brothers, and ran out of time to finish it. This time we left earlier in the morning and gave ourselves plenty of time to finish. When we left the Garden we were hiking in fall conditions: cool, leaves on the ground and some blue skies. As we made our way up past the second Brother we encountered snow and ice. We took a snack break on top of the first Brother and its great views entertained. There were still fall colors throughout the Great Range, but barely. One more week and they were probably gone. The hike from the second Brother up the the summit of Big Slide was over snow and ice, well mostly ice. The micro spikes we brought work like a charm. The last jaunt up to the summit was quite steep, with a couple ladders thrown in, but nothing technical, just had to do some scrambling. Once we made it to the top, I was amazed by the range of the views to be had. I think I counted 22 visible high peaks from the summit! I think this is currently my favorite vista from a high peak to date! The trail down the Slide Brook trail was much easier than the trail up over the Brothers and even easier from the Interior post back to the Garden. We passed a couple of leentos and jumped a two deer as we made our way back out. Overall a awesome hike, one that I won't mind doing again.

Algonquin, Wright Mountains: Winter Wonderland (10/14/09)

This was another hike that I organized through a local hiking group, so there ended up being seven of us that went on this hike. As I kept track of the weather, as hike date approached I knew there would be a very good chance of having some snow and ice on the tops of the mountain, so when we actually saw some it wasn't really a surprise. What was a surprise was how low an elevation that the snow stuck and how much was on the tops. The trees were frosty white that morning I would say as low as 3000' and the last two thirds of the trail was in snow and ice. We were thankfully prepared and brought our traction control, for me a chance to really test my micro-spikes out. After the trip as a whole, climbing up and down solid sheets of ice, hopping from snow covered rock to rock, and wading through drifts several times up to my knees I give the micro-spikes a solid two thumbs up! Our goal going into the hike was to do Algonquin, Wright and Iroquois. Unfortunately, due to the pace of the group as a whole, the weather conditions and temps and energy levels we stopped after only doing Wright and Algonquin. I'll just have to go back and do Algonquin and Iroquois another day, which isn't all that bad since we were in the clouds on top of both mountain and had zero visibility. The overall trail wasn't extremely long, but the last pushes up both Wright and Algonquin had their share of very steep pitches, both rock slab scrambles and rock hopping. It was definitely a neat experience doing it when everything was covered in snow and ice. It gives everything a different look. Having some sort of traction was a must. It was interesting to see the change in temperature the higher you went, in the trail became more solid and no running water. We had a quick lunch on the shoulder of Wright Mt before heading back down and up Algonquin. Even being mid week and very wintery, we did encounter at least 4 or 5 parties who were also doing the hike that day. Once we got to the summit of Algonquin, we snagged a few quick photos and decided not to pursue Iroquois today. The trip back always seems to be longer than the way up, I'm sure due to several factors. Anyway, we all made it back to the Loj without any complications and I bagged #16 & 17 for this year.

Giant & Rocky Ridge Peak 9/30/09

There was a low percent chance of rain for the day and when we started the hike the temps were in the high 30's, so we really weren't sure what to expect on this hike. I had been wanting to do this hike for a while now, but had determined to hold off and do it in the peak of leaf season as it has been described as possibly the best fall foliage hike in the high peaks. I ended up doing the hike with four others from a hiking group I am apart of. I decided to do the hike out of the Rt 9 trail head, up over Blueberry Cobbles, Bald Peak, Rocky Ridge Peak, and lastly Giant. The trail to the top of Giant is eight miles and a huge 5300' ascension! Since we had enough people to spot cars we decided to do that to cut down on the mileage. By the time we actually got hiking it was 9am. The weather was mostly cloudy but no precipitation and the colors were still in pretty close to peak season. The hike up from the Rt9 trail head has many vistas and exposed rocky ridge lines that offer many great views. We kept a steady pace for most of the way up, with lots of photo breaks, so by the time we completed the hike and got down to the car at the base of the Ridge trail it was close to 6:15pm. As it was close to noon when we reached the summit of Bald Peak, we decided to stop and have lunch there. Oh, one thing that seems to stand out about this hike from a wildlife standpoint was the number of grouse we jumped. I believe over the course of our ascent we jumped at least 6 grouse! And, just before the summit of Bald Peak we came across a very chatty bird who I mimicked in conversation for several minutes. He must have been very welcoming of the conversation, lol. The trail was really quite dry over almost the entire stretch of the trek with the small exception being around Lake Mary-Louis and the small water crossing there. As we approached the summit of Rocky Ridge we crossed over some really cool alpine meadows which added a nice variety to the course of the hike. As we got close to the summit of Rocky Ridge we climbed into a snow squall, the first snow of the year! As it turned out, we were in snow on the summit of both high peaks today; the trees and grass held the snow, but the ground itself was still to warm to hold it. We stopped briefly on top of Rocky Peak for photos, but the wind was very strong and with the temps made it too cold to stay there for any longer. The descent into the col between RRP and Giant was quite easy; it was the ascent up the east side of Giant that was by far the steepest and roughest on the hike today. Even still it went by with no problems and we made it to the top of Giant with no issues. Unfortunately we were in a snow cloud so we had close to zero visibility on the top of Giant. Oh well. The last three miles down Giant were definitely the most unpleasant for me. All three are steep and rough with no breaks in the loss of elevation. As it is, I would rather climb steep than descent it. My knees don't care for it too much, heh. Anyway over all we all had a great time, on one of the toughest hikes yet. Two more bite the dust! #14,15 of this year.