Cumulus
07-20-2011, 10:27 PM
I spent this past weekend peakbagging in the Adirondacks. Unlike my last trip there, the weather was close to perfect, warm but not hot in clear air under cirrus and altocumulus clouds.
I have a New Hampshire hiking friend named Trish Herr. (Before this weekend she was a friend in the sense of being a Facebook friend I'd met at a couple hikers' social gatherings.) Besides being a peakbagger she's a state highpointer, along with her daughters. They needed New York for their highpointing and I needed Marcy for my ADK46, so we decided to climb Marcy together. Since she wanted to do it as a day hike, and I wanted to do a multiday multipeak backpack we decided to hike up together and then go our separate ways after hanging out at the summit together for a while.
Trish's kids are Alex, age eight, and Sage, age six. When Alex was six she completed climbing all 48 4000 footers in New Hampshire, and Sage is currently half way along that list, so I had no worries that they would be able to handle Marcy. Also along with them was their new dog Max. They started out before me, because Trish was worried about Sage's speed. So when I got to the Heart Lake area that morning I confirmed that they'd signed in and proceeded down Van Hoevenberg Trail after them. Sage was in good form that morning, though, so they got well ahead of me on the trail. I kept asking people coming the other way if they'd seen a woman with two little girls and a dog, and they kept answering, "Yeah, they're only a little ways ahead of you." I finally caught up to them less than a mile before the summit, right about where the trail starts opening up giving you views of the mountains.
I was surprised how easy the final push to the summit is. The VH Trail's gradual elevation gain added up to more than I would have thought. We hung about on the summit for a while, eating chocolate and cookies and talking about this and that. We were far from alone there; it was a popular place to be that day. Being on the highest point in the whole state on a clear day meant that the views went on seemingly forever in all directions, but I was able to identify many of the peaks close to Marcy; I'm learning the Dacks more and more each trip.
Finally we said our goodbyes and they headed back down the VHT while I headed over to Skylight. I took a wrong turn and got off the trail almost immediately, but saw the line of cairns and got back on it. The climb down to the col and up to Skylight was nice enough. Skylight itself is a real nice peak, exposed on top with great views, especially of Marcy.
After that I went back down to the col and climbed Gray. Gray doesn't have an official trail, but the herd path was easy to follow. It wasn't difficult in absolute terms, but it surprised me by being more difficult than I'd guessed from looking at the map. After that I went back down to the col and then north and west to Uphill Leanto, near the confluence of the Uphill Brook and the Opalescent River.
I had the leanto to myself that night, although there were at least three groups tenting nearby.
I started Sunday by climbing Redfield with a light pack, leaving a bunch of stuff at the leanto. Redfield also doesn't have an official trail, but the herd path again was easy to follow. The herd path starts at the leanto, in fact the path you take from the leanto to the brook for water is really the beginning of the trail to Redfield. This trail follows the Uphill Brook and then a tributary of that for most of its length, and sometimes walks the brook, but so long as you keep an eye out for when the trail reenters the woods you're fine.
After I got back to the leanto I gathered up my stuff, hiked along Colden Lake, and ascended Mount Colden. This was the toughest section of the trip. The trail up Colden ascends 1950 feet (or something like that) in 1.6 miles. There are a lot of rock slabs, although not too much actual scrambling. Once you finish the climb, though, you're in a great place. Colden has a more extensive alpine zone than I'd expected. It's also in a great location. It's over 4700 feet, but with higher peaks on both sides, the MacIntyre Range to the northwest, and Marcy to the southeast. There were two points on Colden which might be the summit. My gut feeling is that the eastern one is higher, but there's a yellow blaze in between them, and the yellow blazes should be only east of the summit. Anyway, I took summit pictures on both.
After that I descended the surprisingly easy trail down to Lake Arnold and then walked the gentle but long descent back to where I was parked. I finally got back home in Connecticut at 2:30 a.m. Monday.
It was a great weekend. I felt good hiking pretty much the whole time, I had great weather, I experienced some incredible places, and I got to know Trish and her amazing daughters better.
Marcy, Skylight, Gray, Redfield, and Colden were numbers 15 through 19 in the ADK46 list, and numbers 83 through 87 in the NE111 list.
Here are my pictures. (http://www.cookhimes.us/dennis/traillog/20110716/20110716000.htm)
Here's Trish's trip report. (http://www.trishalexsage.com/2011/07/highpoint-new-york-mt-marcy-5344-ft.html)
--
Cumulus
NE111: 87/115 (67/67, 19/46, 1/2); Cat35: 7/39; WNH4K: 16/48; NEFF: 23/50
LT NB 2009
"I don't much care where --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get [i]somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll
I have a New Hampshire hiking friend named Trish Herr. (Before this weekend she was a friend in the sense of being a Facebook friend I'd met at a couple hikers' social gatherings.) Besides being a peakbagger she's a state highpointer, along with her daughters. They needed New York for their highpointing and I needed Marcy for my ADK46, so we decided to climb Marcy together. Since she wanted to do it as a day hike, and I wanted to do a multiday multipeak backpack we decided to hike up together and then go our separate ways after hanging out at the summit together for a while.
Trish's kids are Alex, age eight, and Sage, age six. When Alex was six she completed climbing all 48 4000 footers in New Hampshire, and Sage is currently half way along that list, so I had no worries that they would be able to handle Marcy. Also along with them was their new dog Max. They started out before me, because Trish was worried about Sage's speed. So when I got to the Heart Lake area that morning I confirmed that they'd signed in and proceeded down Van Hoevenberg Trail after them. Sage was in good form that morning, though, so they got well ahead of me on the trail. I kept asking people coming the other way if they'd seen a woman with two little girls and a dog, and they kept answering, "Yeah, they're only a little ways ahead of you." I finally caught up to them less than a mile before the summit, right about where the trail starts opening up giving you views of the mountains.
I was surprised how easy the final push to the summit is. The VH Trail's gradual elevation gain added up to more than I would have thought. We hung about on the summit for a while, eating chocolate and cookies and talking about this and that. We were far from alone there; it was a popular place to be that day. Being on the highest point in the whole state on a clear day meant that the views went on seemingly forever in all directions, but I was able to identify many of the peaks close to Marcy; I'm learning the Dacks more and more each trip.
Finally we said our goodbyes and they headed back down the VHT while I headed over to Skylight. I took a wrong turn and got off the trail almost immediately, but saw the line of cairns and got back on it. The climb down to the col and up to Skylight was nice enough. Skylight itself is a real nice peak, exposed on top with great views, especially of Marcy.
After that I went back down to the col and climbed Gray. Gray doesn't have an official trail, but the herd path was easy to follow. It wasn't difficult in absolute terms, but it surprised me by being more difficult than I'd guessed from looking at the map. After that I went back down to the col and then north and west to Uphill Leanto, near the confluence of the Uphill Brook and the Opalescent River.
I had the leanto to myself that night, although there were at least three groups tenting nearby.
I started Sunday by climbing Redfield with a light pack, leaving a bunch of stuff at the leanto. Redfield also doesn't have an official trail, but the herd path again was easy to follow. The herd path starts at the leanto, in fact the path you take from the leanto to the brook for water is really the beginning of the trail to Redfield. This trail follows the Uphill Brook and then a tributary of that for most of its length, and sometimes walks the brook, but so long as you keep an eye out for when the trail reenters the woods you're fine.
After I got back to the leanto I gathered up my stuff, hiked along Colden Lake, and ascended Mount Colden. This was the toughest section of the trip. The trail up Colden ascends 1950 feet (or something like that) in 1.6 miles. There are a lot of rock slabs, although not too much actual scrambling. Once you finish the climb, though, you're in a great place. Colden has a more extensive alpine zone than I'd expected. It's also in a great location. It's over 4700 feet, but with higher peaks on both sides, the MacIntyre Range to the northwest, and Marcy to the southeast. There were two points on Colden which might be the summit. My gut feeling is that the eastern one is higher, but there's a yellow blaze in between them, and the yellow blazes should be only east of the summit. Anyway, I took summit pictures on both.
After that I descended the surprisingly easy trail down to Lake Arnold and then walked the gentle but long descent back to where I was parked. I finally got back home in Connecticut at 2:30 a.m. Monday.
It was a great weekend. I felt good hiking pretty much the whole time, I had great weather, I experienced some incredible places, and I got to know Trish and her amazing daughters better.
Marcy, Skylight, Gray, Redfield, and Colden were numbers 15 through 19 in the ADK46 list, and numbers 83 through 87 in the NE111 list.
Here are my pictures. (http://www.cookhimes.us/dennis/traillog/20110716/20110716000.htm)
Here's Trish's trip report. (http://www.trishalexsage.com/2011/07/highpoint-new-york-mt-marcy-5344-ft.html)
--
Cumulus
NE111: 87/115 (67/67, 19/46, 1/2); Cat35: 7/39; WNH4K: 16/48; NEFF: 23/50
LT NB 2009
"I don't much care where --" said Alice, "-- so long as I get [i]somewhere," ...
"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
- Lewis Carroll