Mavs00
12-26-2005, 07:59 AM
With our young daughter off in Florida spending Christmas with a friend at Disney, the rest of us thought that it might be the perfect opportunity to spend our Christmas celebration in Lake Placid hiking. We drove up and spent some time in Rome (Kate's family) on Friday afternoon and since we had decided that we wanted to hike only Cascade/Porter, we choose to leave at a very reasonable 8 AM for the 3 hour drive in Friday AM.
We arrived at the trailhead at just about noon to low clouds and absolutely balmy temperatures (low 30’s). We started walking at about 12:15 PM. The woods were delightful and the snowshoe track was pretty fine with only 2-3 inches of new powder over a 12-18” base. It appeared as only if 1 lone barebooter had passed this way before us this day. Within 10-15 minutes we stopped and had to shed our entire mid-level. We could have hiked in shorts it seemed. As we climbed through the hardwood and birch forests, we started to see more and more snow as the woods transitioned to boreal conifers. The trees were absolutely stunning, covered in 2-3’ snow in spots. It was fun walking through the narrow slots of trail between (what seemed like) massive snow walls created by the trees. By the time we reached the first viewing ledge, the woods had transformed to that totally otherworldly and magical frozen landscape where rime ice covers everything. Being there in the relative warmth of just above freezing temps seemed surreal to us.
At our leisurely pace, we hit the junction to Porter in just under 1.5 hours. Noone had gone to Porter yet today and we had to “break” that path of the few inches that had dusted over the trail overnight. It was easy enough and the snow conditions were perfect. Nick took the lead. We covered the .5 miles real quick and without difficulty. None of us had been to Porter since 1997 (when Nick was 8), so when we reached the first big rock in the trail, we had a few minutes of indecision trying to remember if this was the summit or not. Being surrounded by whiteness with visibility down to 30-40 feet didn’t help much. Luckily a solitary hiker (named Dave) happened right behind us and urged us the .1 mile or so over to the correct summit. Once there, it all came back to me and I felt pretty foolish for almost stopping short. Dave only stayed a minute (nothing to see) and we sat in solitude for a few to have a snack. Within 4-5 minutes another hiker arrived and I quickly saw something odd strapped to his waist. I did not want to stare but, I swear, that looks like is a little rabbit or something. Indeed, after marveling for ages at his feats, we had finally met the legendary Pin Pin. Despite not knowing who the hell we were, he indulged me with a -Picture- (http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/albums1/Cascade-winter/IMG_3638.sized.jpg) at the summit and quick as you know, he was off again. Nick got a chuckle and kept remarking that since he broke most of the trail over to Porter, that he had “broken some winter trail” for the mighty Pin Pin on his annual winter 46 round.
Within an hour we had reached the summit of Cascade and again marveled at the dreamlike quality of the rime ice covered rocks and frozen landscape around us. The haze had lifted somewhat and we did get some limited views down to the valley. It was simply sweet. Within a few minutes, we had to head out to get down before dark. Going down was a quick affair and once we (carefully) made our way off the icy rocks, we blasted down to the trailhead in about an hour. The whole hike had taken just under 4 hours and it was done at a very relaxing and unhurried pace. All in all, despite the lack of views, it was a perfect way to spend Christmas Eve day.
After showers and few drinks, we headed over to Alpinesummit’s house for some Christmas Eve dinner and had and absolute wonderful time. We are BIG family Christmas people and even the thought of spending the holiday away from home (and the extended family) is pretty alien for us. I wondered how we’d make it. I cannot express just how welcome Bruce and Lynn made us feel that night, and we can certainly never repay their hospitality of letting the 3 of us join their holiday celebration. Thanks guys.
We awoke on Christmas day to high clouds, good visibility and warm temps. After opening gifts and some breakfast, we only had about 2 hours left for any hiking before we had to leave to make Christmas dinner in Rome at 4 PM. Not many options, but there is one. Good old Mt. Jo. We hit the LOJ running and hiked light and fast. We made the summit in about 30 minutes. The views were simply stunning (see the pictures). It felt almost hot at 37 degrees and we hung out for about 20-25 minutes before beginning a controlled freefall that had us back to the LOJ in about 20 minutes. We met and posed with Frosty at the LOJ just before he headed out to Marcy that day (see the pictures).
Sorry this is so long, but……. Well, you know me :rolleyes: . We had a great time and if you’ve never considered spending a holiday away from home, Lake Placid is not a bad choice, tourists ant all. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza on the hill.
( PICTURES (http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/46er-flash/gallery.htm) ) are up.
We arrived at the trailhead at just about noon to low clouds and absolutely balmy temperatures (low 30’s). We started walking at about 12:15 PM. The woods were delightful and the snowshoe track was pretty fine with only 2-3 inches of new powder over a 12-18” base. It appeared as only if 1 lone barebooter had passed this way before us this day. Within 10-15 minutes we stopped and had to shed our entire mid-level. We could have hiked in shorts it seemed. As we climbed through the hardwood and birch forests, we started to see more and more snow as the woods transitioned to boreal conifers. The trees were absolutely stunning, covered in 2-3’ snow in spots. It was fun walking through the narrow slots of trail between (what seemed like) massive snow walls created by the trees. By the time we reached the first viewing ledge, the woods had transformed to that totally otherworldly and magical frozen landscape where rime ice covers everything. Being there in the relative warmth of just above freezing temps seemed surreal to us.
At our leisurely pace, we hit the junction to Porter in just under 1.5 hours. Noone had gone to Porter yet today and we had to “break” that path of the few inches that had dusted over the trail overnight. It was easy enough and the snow conditions were perfect. Nick took the lead. We covered the .5 miles real quick and without difficulty. None of us had been to Porter since 1997 (when Nick was 8), so when we reached the first big rock in the trail, we had a few minutes of indecision trying to remember if this was the summit or not. Being surrounded by whiteness with visibility down to 30-40 feet didn’t help much. Luckily a solitary hiker (named Dave) happened right behind us and urged us the .1 mile or so over to the correct summit. Once there, it all came back to me and I felt pretty foolish for almost stopping short. Dave only stayed a minute (nothing to see) and we sat in solitude for a few to have a snack. Within 4-5 minutes another hiker arrived and I quickly saw something odd strapped to his waist. I did not want to stare but, I swear, that looks like is a little rabbit or something. Indeed, after marveling for ages at his feats, we had finally met the legendary Pin Pin. Despite not knowing who the hell we were, he indulged me with a -Picture- (http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/albums1/Cascade-winter/IMG_3638.sized.jpg) at the summit and quick as you know, he was off again. Nick got a chuckle and kept remarking that since he broke most of the trail over to Porter, that he had “broken some winter trail” for the mighty Pin Pin on his annual winter 46 round.
Within an hour we had reached the summit of Cascade and again marveled at the dreamlike quality of the rime ice covered rocks and frozen landscape around us. The haze had lifted somewhat and we did get some limited views down to the valley. It was simply sweet. Within a few minutes, we had to head out to get down before dark. Going down was a quick affair and once we (carefully) made our way off the icy rocks, we blasted down to the trailhead in about an hour. The whole hike had taken just under 4 hours and it was done at a very relaxing and unhurried pace. All in all, despite the lack of views, it was a perfect way to spend Christmas Eve day.
After showers and few drinks, we headed over to Alpinesummit’s house for some Christmas Eve dinner and had and absolute wonderful time. We are BIG family Christmas people and even the thought of spending the holiday away from home (and the extended family) is pretty alien for us. I wondered how we’d make it. I cannot express just how welcome Bruce and Lynn made us feel that night, and we can certainly never repay their hospitality of letting the 3 of us join their holiday celebration. Thanks guys.
We awoke on Christmas day to high clouds, good visibility and warm temps. After opening gifts and some breakfast, we only had about 2 hours left for any hiking before we had to leave to make Christmas dinner in Rome at 4 PM. Not many options, but there is one. Good old Mt. Jo. We hit the LOJ running and hiked light and fast. We made the summit in about 30 minutes. The views were simply stunning (see the pictures). It felt almost hot at 37 degrees and we hung out for about 20-25 minutes before beginning a controlled freefall that had us back to the LOJ in about 20 minutes. We met and posed with Frosty at the LOJ just before he headed out to Marcy that day (see the pictures).
Sorry this is so long, but……. Well, you know me :rolleyes: . We had a great time and if you’ve never considered spending a holiday away from home, Lake Placid is not a bad choice, tourists ant all. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza on the hill.
( PICTURES (http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/46er-flash/gallery.htm) ) are up.