Wright Peak - on Oct 9

It's almost mid-October and we have been blessed with a stretch of beautiful weather. High pressure over the NE is keeping the skies clear, but slightly hazy. Daytime temperatures near 80 and nighttime lows around 60 would be perfect for what will likely be my last High Peaks adventure of 2011. Within a few weeks I expect these mountains will be snow covered.

I drove up Saturday after a shortened sleep following the night shift and arrived with just enough time to put up the tent before darkness arrived.

It was a beautiful evening with a light breeze to keep the temperatures up and an almost full moon providing enough fill light to make walking around the campground easy once your eyes adjusted.

Apparently I wasn't the only one who realized what a gift this unseasonably good weather was. Driving up ADK Loj Rd and still a couple miles from the Loj parking the road was packed with cars parked along the sides and hikers walking the remaining distance. Asking the obvious, I was told by one of these people that, yes the lot is full. Turning around and finding a spot on the only side street I parked and loaded up for the hike.

The morning was still a little cool, however within a few minutes a sweatshirt became too many layers and only t-shirt and shorts felt more comfortable. As I headed up the trail there was almost always someone in front or behind me. It was rare to find a scene that didn't include people.

On the lower part of the trail the walking is pretty easy, however through the mid section it becomes fairly steep with nonstop rocks and boulders to navigate. 

In this rocky mid section a couple people had stopped and decided to turn around. Though ahead at points the trail was much steeper, it smoothed out and walking became easier a short distance beyond this point.

Within what seemed like a short time I turned up the Wright Peak trail and quickly ascended towards the summit. Here the trail makes a 180 degree switchback and then goes up this steep rock. Fortunately there are notches every foot and a half to make the scaling of this short but steep section pretty easy.

This open rock section is quite steep but the coarse rock provides good traction going up and down.

Just short of the summit a couple enjoys the refreshing breeze and view to the NW with Placid and Whiteface in the distance.

Busy weekend! Fortunately there was room for one more...

Though I try, pictures hardly convey the beauty and color of these Adirondack peaks. Green, yellow, and brown lichen over gray rock, cranberry colored fall ground cover, and grasses blowing in the wind. All surrounded by the rusty colored trees below and blue skies above.

This panorama looks from SE through NW. Algonquin at 5,115' is only a short distance away and towers over Wright Peak at 4,587'. 

Lichen hanging on to life where nothing else can.

Me

Off the mountain and almost back to the ADK Loj, the trail glowed in a forest of birch lit by the late afternoon sun. This was my best hike of the year!

Big Slide

I moved this hike up a day to avoid hurricane Irene which was forecast to pass just to the east of the High Peaks region bringing high winds and heavy rain. Arriving at The Garden parking area at first light, the attendant told me the Park Rangers wanted everyone out of the mountains by evening. She warned that the many small mountain streams that we cross on the trail would not be passable once the rain began.

According to Adirondack.net this would be about an 8 hour hike. Starting up about 6:30 even at my slow pace I should be down by mid-afternoon and back home in Central New york before the rain actually began. Still, I wanted as large a margin as possible between being on the trail and this storm. This was in the back of my mind and kept me moving while on the mountain.

A view early in the ascent.
Even in the morning the cirrus clouds from Irene were visible in the south.

There were several difficult areas going up the mountain. Mostly just very steep bare rock faces that were about at the limit of what I am comfortable on. However this one spot I thought was the hardest. It wasn't very big but required pulling myself up a 5 foot rock. It doesn't look like anything in this shot but at the time it seemed a big deal.

This was interesting. A house sized rock with an overhang that would make a great shelter in an emergency.

These are called Harebell.

I took this shot of Big Slide assuming there would be another opportunity with a better view. I know there is as I had seen shots others had taken. I missed it and figured that on the way back down I'd catch it. However I decided to take a different trail down and never had the opportunity.

The beautiful green of this place caught me eye.

Turtlehead flowers

Two ladders on this rock face made an uncomfortably steep section fairly easy.

A good view shows the bare rock face that gave Big Slide its name

Arriving at the summit I walked into a party celebrating two climbers completing their 46th peak.

Panorama stitched together from 7 images in Photoshop CS5. On the left is Giant, which I climbed 2 weeks prior. Across the valley is the Great Range and Marcy in the distance on the right.

Going down I decided to take a different route. Rather than back across the Brothers, I headed down along the south face of the shoulder between Big Slide and Brothers. It followings a stream that brought me to the valley for a walk back to The Garden along Johns Brook. This trail was much less challenging than the hike over Brothers.

Along Johns Brook was a lean-to and...

All the comforts of home.

Though I didn't see the fawn, this doe was obviously trying to keep my attention by allowing me to get really close.

Bears Head Tooth Fungus

I was back at the Garden around 3:30. The walk along Johns Brook trail was easy enough though by the end of the day it started feeling like it would never end. Leaving for home, I stopped for a burger in Keene Valley. I ate outside enjoying the fresh air and afternoon sunshine. Though I knew hurricane Irene was on the way I could not imagine the damage that it would bring to these quiet communities along RT73 from the peaceful East Branch of the Ausable River. By the following evening Route 73 in Keene would be washed away along with heavy damage to homes and businesses. The DEC had closed the High Peaks to hiking as of last week due to landslides, washed out bridges and blowdowns making trails impassable. This will likely be my last hike towards my 46 this year.

Off To The Hills

Today I'm heading to Lake Placid for a hike ahead of Hurricane Irene. By moving forward a day I should be home by the time the rains hit...

I learned this week that the foot pain I've been experiencing is due to arthritis between the metatarsal and medial cuneiform bones. X-rays showed this and why I've been experiencing pain on the top of my foot.

I'll be wearing a brace on my right foot, which is worse than left, to see if this helps. If so then will get one for the left.

As fast as the symptoms have come on makes me wonder how soon before I find hiking just too painful to continue. For now I just will keep moving...

Giant - Aug 12, 2011

For my second "High Peak" of the year I chose to hike Giant Mountain. My decision influenced by the short distance to this peak and over concern for my feet. While my broken foot has healed and feels great three months later, I have been having problems with sore feet. New shoes for work and inserts for my walking shoes seem to have made a difference but I didn't want to push my luck.

Originally I had planned on taking the northern trail which starts on RT 9N. This is actually a longer walk but hopefully not as steep or rough. By morning I decided to take one of the western trails because of the shorter distance.

Passing the junction of 9N on 73 I just happened to look over my shoulder and saw the first sunlight peaking over the hills and under the clouds. It only lasted just long enough for me to get a couple shots then was gone.

From the same point as the previous picture, behind me was an old barn and beyond that Porter Mountain hidden in the clouds.

Heading towards the Ridge Trail to Giant I caught a glimpse of Roaring Brook Falls from RT 73 and decided I had to take that trail. From the trailhead a short diversion brought me to the base of the falls.

Back onto the trail and about a mile up, the trail crosses Roaring Brook. If I hadn't stopped to take a few pictures and relax listening to the brook I would have followed another group just ahead who didn't realize the trail crossed here and walked another 5 minutes before realizing their error.

A view across the valley toward cloud topped mountains.

The bright red of the roots of this tree caught my eye. Wish I had spent more time studying the tree as I now would like to know what kind it is. In a couple weeks I'm headed back up into the hills and surely will come across another.

For the most part this was an easy hike. However in a few places where it was bare rock the slope was about a steep as I'm comfortable walking on. Going up not too bad. Going down made me nervous. At one point I wasn't at all confident in the traction of my treads. It felt as though they were right at the limit of grip. So, leaning towards caution, I resorted to sitting down and using the feet, butt and hand technique to get myself down. Even this was questionable as one time I began sliding on my bottom, hands and feet. This only lasted for an inch or two but long enough to think, "this could hurt!"

Along the shoulder of the mountain the trails' slope eased and for a short while it felt like a walk in the park.

I believe this is Narrow Leaved Gentain. (As with any of the plants that I name, if you know I am incorrect please tell me)

For most of the day I had to deal with high humidity. First in the cool forests down low, then increasing again as I approached cloud base. At times my camera lens was fogged up and had to be wiped dry. Luckily as I approached the summit of Giant the warming day dried the atmosphere and pushed the clouds above the peak and gave me a great view across the valleys and into the distance. This panoramic was created from 8 images stitched together in Photoshop CS5 and shows the view from the south through northwest.

Fruticose Lichen. "Fruticose" meaning shrub-like types of Lichen.
Other types are "Foliose" leaf-like raised from surface or "Crustose" the granular looking and as name implies grows as a crust tightly attached to the surface.

Foliose Lichen

One of these climbs I will bring my Sigma 105 macro lens and flash for some detailed work on the interesting flowers, fungi and lichen found at the higher elevations in the High Peaks area. It looks like another world to me. One of my favorite lichen is the cone shaped "Pixie Cup"

"British Soldier" Lichen

Bay Bolete

Scaly Vase Chanterelle

An Old English Sheepdog. This is had to include for my coworker Doreen, who owns and shows this breed. I know she spends many hours working to clean and fluff the long hair of her dogs for a show and the sight of one covered in mud will make her day...