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...
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.
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.
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'.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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