Mavs00
04-11-2005, 10:08 AM
What an amazing weather weekend for hiking…………
We choose to spend this w/e hiking a few of the lesser Adirondacks summits as sort of a warm-up into spring and to avoid the real odd mixed-bag conditions the higher summits have this time of year. WOW, really glad we did. The two peaks we did were two that we’d just driven by for years, but never got around to climbing them till now; Blue Mountain (Central Adirondacks) and Ampersand (Saranac Lake). They may not be coveted like the big ones, but can be just as rewarding.
4/9/05 –
We drove up that AM from Rome and arrived at the trailhead at 9 AM. It was sunny and about 32 degrees. We hopped out and started climbing and warmed up nicely. The woods are really open and pretty. Within 20-25 minutes, we started hitting snow and soon enough we were in continual persistant snow. It was the bare bootable kind and we never considered crampons, Within 1 1/2 hour the terrain leveled out and we approached the summit and firetower that is there. There was still about 18” of snow up top, but so long as you stayed on the packed trail, you wouldn’t posthole. We lounged and enjoyed the distant panorama of the high peaks from the tower stairs and then basked in the 45-degree sun on the protected concrete pad. All in all a nice summit, but severely hampered by the nearby cell towers.
On the way down, the snow had softened just enough to hold us and we zipped down quick, aside from a few snowball wars with the kids. Made it down in about an hour. We did the whole thing in about 3.5 hour with a solid 45-50 minutes up top.
That night we drove to Lake Placid and met up with Peak_Bgr (w/Mrs. Peak_bgr) and Bushwhacker for dinner. But before we did, they took us to this random spot on the side of the road, were we got out and just strolled into the woods for a short bushwhack. Within 10 minutes we reached a 75-foot cascading waterfall that was among the prettiest I’ve ever seen (see below). Gotta love local knowledge, hundreds drive by it everyday and have no idea it exists.
http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/46er-flash/fun/knoblock.jpg
4/10/05
Another “always wanted, but never did” hike that we finally got to do was Ampersand. The 4 of us (family), my brother and Bushwhacker met at the trailhead at 8 AM. Here we were, 6 46ers, and none of us had ever climbed this very popular “easy” peak. Weirder still that bushwhacker (who’s climbed about 500 peaks, knobs and bumps in his life, many by bushwhack) never had either. Once again, we had perfect weather.
Started out on an easy walk and within a mile we headed up hill, most of the snow had cleared the mountain, but the trail approaches from the north (non-sun) side and there were long sections of persistent ice on the trail. It’s pretty steep for a while and we were slowed by the occasional bushwhacks outside the trail to avoid the virtual “river of Ice” that was the trail. Eventually, we made the ridge and sauntered up to the bare rocky summit. Totally amazing is the only way to describe it. The view is 360 and looks over the high peaks to one side and the lake country to the other. I’d say it’s better than at least 1/2 the high peaks views, we were alone on the summit and stayed for a long time. Reluctantly, we left after about 45 minutes and really did not have much difficulty descending as we though we would. We were up and down in 4:15, even with the ice. we bare booted the whole thing, but considered crampons 1-2 times.
Just goes to show, while many of us just run straight up the big ones, and ignore the smaller and occasionally better ones. If you haven’t done either of these peaks and have a 1/2 day to kill, check them out, they are well worth the effort, particularly Ampersand. Great Family Hikes.
I have some other photos on my -GALLERY- (http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/46er-flash/gallery.htm)
We choose to spend this w/e hiking a few of the lesser Adirondacks summits as sort of a warm-up into spring and to avoid the real odd mixed-bag conditions the higher summits have this time of year. WOW, really glad we did. The two peaks we did were two that we’d just driven by for years, but never got around to climbing them till now; Blue Mountain (Central Adirondacks) and Ampersand (Saranac Lake). They may not be coveted like the big ones, but can be just as rewarding.
4/9/05 –
We drove up that AM from Rome and arrived at the trailhead at 9 AM. It was sunny and about 32 degrees. We hopped out and started climbing and warmed up nicely. The woods are really open and pretty. Within 20-25 minutes, we started hitting snow and soon enough we were in continual persistant snow. It was the bare bootable kind and we never considered crampons, Within 1 1/2 hour the terrain leveled out and we approached the summit and firetower that is there. There was still about 18” of snow up top, but so long as you stayed on the packed trail, you wouldn’t posthole. We lounged and enjoyed the distant panorama of the high peaks from the tower stairs and then basked in the 45-degree sun on the protected concrete pad. All in all a nice summit, but severely hampered by the nearby cell towers.
On the way down, the snow had softened just enough to hold us and we zipped down quick, aside from a few snowball wars with the kids. Made it down in about an hour. We did the whole thing in about 3.5 hour with a solid 45-50 minutes up top.
That night we drove to Lake Placid and met up with Peak_Bgr (w/Mrs. Peak_bgr) and Bushwhacker for dinner. But before we did, they took us to this random spot on the side of the road, were we got out and just strolled into the woods for a short bushwhack. Within 10 minutes we reached a 75-foot cascading waterfall that was among the prettiest I’ve ever seen (see below). Gotta love local knowledge, hundreds drive by it everyday and have no idea it exists.
http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/46er-flash/fun/knoblock.jpg
4/10/05
Another “always wanted, but never did” hike that we finally got to do was Ampersand. The 4 of us (family), my brother and Bushwhacker met at the trailhead at 8 AM. Here we were, 6 46ers, and none of us had ever climbed this very popular “easy” peak. Weirder still that bushwhacker (who’s climbed about 500 peaks, knobs and bumps in his life, many by bushwhack) never had either. Once again, we had perfect weather.
Started out on an easy walk and within a mile we headed up hill, most of the snow had cleared the mountain, but the trail approaches from the north (non-sun) side and there were long sections of persistent ice on the trail. It’s pretty steep for a while and we were slowed by the occasional bushwhacks outside the trail to avoid the virtual “river of Ice” that was the trail. Eventually, we made the ridge and sauntered up to the bare rocky summit. Totally amazing is the only way to describe it. The view is 360 and looks over the high peaks to one side and the lake country to the other. I’d say it’s better than at least 1/2 the high peaks views, we were alone on the summit and stayed for a long time. Reluctantly, we left after about 45 minutes and really did not have much difficulty descending as we though we would. We were up and down in 4:15, even with the ice. we bare booted the whole thing, but considered crampons 1-2 times.
Just goes to show, while many of us just run straight up the big ones, and ignore the smaller and occasionally better ones. If you haven’t done either of these peaks and have a 1/2 day to kill, check them out, they are well worth the effort, particularly Ampersand. Great Family Hikes.
I have some other photos on my -GALLERY- (http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/46er-flash/gallery.htm)