Esther and Whiteface (08-07-2012)

Vacation arrived and the weather cooperated giving me the opportunity to bring my son David along on a hike in the High Peaks. It has been about 6 years since he last came with me and I was really excited that we would get to do this.

Arriving in Lake Placid behind a cold front that carried showers across New York State the day before, the lingering clouds and breeze kept the mid-afternoon temperature a little chilly. Over the next couple hours the airmass dried and the clouds cleared allowing the sun to warm things up enough so that the overnight low remained comfortable.

In the evening David and I relaxed and played darts on a board he brought up with us. David plays frequently. I don't. Though I managed to hit the board (most of the time) the fine control needed to place the darts even close to where I wanted eluded me. As I played my technique and feel started to work itself out and I got better but nowhere near good enough to match David. He killed me every game. It was fun though...

David playing Darts

We walked down to the river and arrived in time to watch some guys jumping off the rocks into the gorge formed by the West Branch of the Ausable River. They said you need to go far enough, but not too far as you will end up touching underwater rocks on the far side with your feet. I combined a series of shots in Photoshop.

Try it? I don't think so....

Back to the campsite for dinner. Tired of hot dogs or subs, I brought a Bremer Frozen Gyros Kit. Quick and easy to prepare. Delicious! Almost like going to the Greek Fest back in Syracuse.

Good food!

In the morning after coffee and blueberry muffins we made the short drive over to the Wilmington Reservoir trailhead and shortly after 8:00 we started up the trail. Walking was very easy along the first mile and a third to the junction of Flume trail. From there we turn northwest and uphill to ascend Marble Mountain at 2,750'.

Leaving the trail briefly brought us to a lookout and a nice view to the east of the Sentinel Range.

Continuing up the trail headed southwest the climb continues fairly steep to a ridge at 3,300'. Here the climb eases and there are occasional views of both Esther and Whiteface. We pass the summit of Lookout Mountain at 4,084'. Though over 4,000' Lookout Mountain fails to meet the criteria for inclusion as one of the 46 High Peaks.

After a short time David and I stop to examine my topographic map. It seems we should have arrived at the trail junction for Esther. Did we pass it already? The trail to Esther is "unmaintained" however enough hikers use it to keep an easily visible herd path. Frequently while hiking I am so busy watching the rocks, roots and mud holes in an effort to walk safely that I've worried a trail junction was missed! Even keeping a good pace, covering distance on these trails takes much longer than expected. We figure we should be there, and 10 feet later rounding a turn there is a cairn right in the middle of the trail marking the Esther trailhead.

No missing this turn!

Esther from the Esther trail

Down and back up along the col between Lookout and Esther. The path is narrow with a few chest high ledges to climb over. Nothing difficult as in the ascent of Armstrong and I didn't even need to put my camera away.

Colorful marsh area and walkway for crossing.

We reached the summit of Esther just before noon, joining a couple other hikers resting and enjoying a snack. There isn't much of a view though we could see Whiteface. Since we were probably only a couple hours away from Whiteface we decided to continue on to that peak.

Plaque atop Esther honoring 15 year old Esther McComb.

Back on the Whiteface trail we continued upward passing just beyond the top of the ski area chair lift. A little further along the trail arrives at the base of a 60 foot high rock wall built as the foundation for the Veterans Memorial Highway to the summit of Whiteface. Skirting the bottom of this wall the trail turns up onto a pile of rocks that brought us up to the level of the highway. For a few feet we are on the shoulder watching cars and bicycles going by. Then we are climbing again quite steep towards the summit.

On the final ascent to the summit. Looking back past David down the trail along the ridge to the highway we just left.

Walking along the exposed rocks. At points the yellow stripes marking the trail brings us at times within a couple feet of the eastern edge of the ridge. Too close for comfort. I don't think we would tumble all the way down to Wilmington, but going off the edge would really hurt with all the jagged sun bleached wood below. I wish I had spent some time trying to capture that feeling in a photo.

Summit in sight.

Success! David and me atop Whiteface. David commented on how strange it was to have hiked all those hours only to arrive at a summit crowded with people in sandals carrying a purse. Whether driving or hiking the view from the top is grand!

Looking towards Lake Placid.

Headed down we made great time and by 6:00 PM after 3-1/2 hours coming down we were back at the car.

The KOA we stay at was only a little over a mile distant. After a shower we headed into Placid for dinner at Nicola's.

Upper Wolfjaw - Armstrong - Gothics (07/22/2012)

Leaving Central New York around noon on Saturday I am fretting about the latest weather forecast calling for a 30% chance of showers overnight and again on Sunday. A brief rain shower at night would be fine, but I really don't want to spend too much time hiking in a raincoat and hat. Finally I decide that if it is raining in the morning and it "feels" like it will last then I will cancel my hike. Otherwise I'll take my chances that 30% will mean 30% percent of the area or 30% of the time. I'll either miss the showers completely or dry out during the other 70%.

Thought it has never been a problem in the past, something tells me to call ahead to the Wilmington KOA and it is good I did. On the phone they say there are two, wait no, one site remaining. (Out of a couple hundred) This is the weekend of the Ironman Triathlon. I knew that this event was in Lake Placid, but thought it was a couple weeks before. My site was a little spot in the corner of a slightly crowded overflow area.

That's my red Honda Fit tucked into my little corner. A little too close for my liking. I'm used to a bit more privacy. But the other campers were nice people and fairly quiet. Besides, I wouldn't be spending very much time as I had a full day of hiking planned.

While visiting the camp office and store I asked about the Ironman course and road closures around the area. A list and map was handed to me that basically said everything in the area was shut down from shortly after sunrise until about 5:00 PM. The course consisted 2.6 miles swimming, 112 miles riding and 26 miles running. For a few moments I panicked until I realized that I would be out of the area and hiking in the hills for the entire time. The only problem this caused me was that I didn't sleep well worrying that I would oversleep and be stuck at the campground all day.

After a not too good night of sleep my alarm went off and I was up and on my way in the early morning light.

Morning fog in the valley north of Keene.

I arrived at The Garden parking area and put my $6 fee in an envelope. My backpack was already set to go, so after a cinnamon bun, coffee and as much water as I could gulp down I signed the trail register and with the sun just showing over the horizon at 6:10 I was heading down the trail. The sky was partly cloudy and carrying a slight chance of afternoon showers. The air temperature was comfortable but humid.

Johns Brook trail from The Garden to Johns Brook Lodge is about 3 miles, but walking at an easy pace it took me over 2 hours to get there. Across this distance it gains about 600' which is hardly noticeable with mostly gentle up and down and small bridges to cross a few streams.

Arriving at Johns Brook Lodge I spent a little time looking about. It has a few rooms with bunks that can accommodate 28 people, and large room with tables and fireplace and there is a kitchen where meals are made for those overnighting. There is a deck with chairs. Potable water is available for hikers.

Johns Brook Lodge

Before 9:00 I was leaving JBL and on the trail towards Lower Wolfjaw. This trail goes around the NE base of Upper Wolfjaw and on the way crosses some large slides. I could see high above me a section of the peak and what looked like the top of the slide and far below me the bottom. It would be interesting to see this from the air. Crossing a second slide I am almost at the lower end of it with trees piled up and pushed down. The dirt that is piled up only has what appears to be small first year growth. This must be one of the new slides caused by Irene.

After crossing this slide the trail turns uphill and climbs pretty steep. I'm getting warm and would like an outcrop to sit on and catch more of the light breeze that moves the air all too infrequently. Continuing up I am beginning to hear wind in the treetop ahead. This is a good sign that I am nearing the col between Lower and Upper Wolfjaw. A few minutes later I am at the intersection of the trail that joins these two peaks.

Perfect! Somewhere to sit, rest and plan. It was 10:24 and the trail sign said: Lower WJ 0.5, Upper WJ 1.0, Armstong 1.8, Gothics 2.7

Lower Wolfjaw

On the way up I caught a glimpse of Lower Wolfjaws' upper section. It is steep! I decided that if I went up and back down that, it would probably be the last thing I do on this hike. Instead I would save that for another walk, possibly with my son David in a few weeks, and turn towards Upper Wolfjaw, Armstrong and if time permitted continue to Gothics and back on the Ore Bed Trail. As I was getting up to continue I was joined by Ron, who was with a group that was right then on Lower WJ. He was concerned with some muscle cramping in one leg and decided to save his energy for the other peaks ahead. Together we started towards Upper WJ.

On what I thought was the summit of Upper WJ at 11:30, I was a little disappointed as there was no view. I leave Ron behind. He will wait for his party there. He says they move pretty fast so I'm sure we will meet up again before too long.

A half hour later I come across a sign that says "Summit Upper WolfJaw 20 yds ->" OH!I leave the trail and climb onto a big rock with a nice view back towards Lower WJ and the small peak I had mistaken for this summit. In the other direction Armstrong is visible about an hour away with quite a bit of down before heading back up. I hate to trade off any altitude when hiking, even if it is only a rock on the trail I've stepped up onto.

Coming down Upper WJ the trail gets quite steep and I came close to having to sit on my butt to work my way down, but fortunately there were just enough notches and hand holds to make it down.

Going up Armstrong was probably the most difficult that I have come across to this date. First a 30 foot ladder (i don't like my 5' ladder at home) up a rock face onto another rock face that really wasn't much easier than the one with the ladder. I may be exaggerating slightly but this was slightly out of my comfort zone. If I didn't have a goal then I probably wouldn't have gone up that. At least going up was easier than down probably was.

At 1:25 after 15 minutes on the top of Armstrong I'm ready to head on towards Gothics when Ron and then his group caught up with me. After a quick hello I am off. There were some quite steep descents but at least they were short. A couple steep rocks required the "butt on rock" technique. Rocks in the high peaks are very hard and have great traction, but to be on the safe side I got down to the ground. It looks like a pretty quick walk to the next summit.

Looking back towards Armstong. Ron and his group are visible on the rock ledge.

The trail along the col of Armstrong and Gothics. Here is a great example of how thin the topsoil is in many places on the mountains. For scale this path is about a foot and a half wide. Our footfalls eventually kill the delicate vegetation exposing the soil and allowing it to be washed away leaving bare rock.

I reached the summit of Gothics about 2:20 with Ron's group. The atmosphere is slightly hazy but still have 30+ mile visibility. Can see Giant, Dix, Marcy and in the distance Whiteface. I took some pictures for Ron and his group and gave him the address for this blog before heading out.

Looking SW towards Marcy in the distance from Gothics.

Panorama from Gothics

After resting I continued along to find the cables down the west side. It was about 3:00 and I guessed a couple hours to get back to JBL, then a couple back to the car.

Cables down Gothics

Though the trail down was steep, traction was very good. In spite of this I used the cables anyway. I worried that a misstep, trip or just a slip would result in a bad enough fall that I would regret not having held onto the cable. I could see the newspaper article: "Stubborn Hiker Rescued from Mountains, should have used the cables..." Besides it had already been a long day and in using the cables I was able to lessen the load on my knees on this long steep descent.

The slope eased and normal walking was possible. Again I found myself at another slide. On this one a set of stairs, hundreds of feet long made this section much easier.

A small section of the stairs along the slide. Looking at the smooth exposed rock it is easy to see how this slides occur.

From here the walking became quite easy. I made great time going along the Ore Bed Brook trail. Crossing Johns Brook back at the Lodge I walked right past a grazing deer. It must be used to people...

The walk back to The Garden was uneventful, and long. 13 Hours after setting out I was back to my car. 7:19 Tired. A great hike!