Jay H
01-23-2006, 08:04 AM
HarryK and I conceived this plan saturday night, looking at my ADK map. The distances going from Porter back to 73 or back to the Garden is not much different, 3.4 miles or so although the drop to the garden is much more than the drop back to 73. We decided to do the interesting end-to-end from Rt 73 to the Garden, being picked up by Daxs at the garden. So, about 8am, I got into Harry's smoking Tercel (literally) and we headed off to 73. Ran into some more Canadians at the trailhead who were headed off to Pitchoff and followed somebody who barebooted all the way to cascade before us. :shock: Anyway, having never done Cascade/Porter, knew these were supposedly nice peaks with nice views so this was #10/11 for my winter list and #25/26 for my regular 46r list, definitely thought sunday was the day for these peaks.
They sure was, as it was an awesome view and a great person who knows the ADKs well to do it with. I was able to recognize the great range, Giant/RPR, Whiteface, but Harry was able to pick out a bunch of mtns I have yet to do, like Street/Nye, Hurricane, Mt Mansfield/Camel's Hump in VT. And the views were great on the summit of Cascade, right on the USGS marker. Very very windy though so we didn't stay too long. Plus, we had a car to meet at 12:30pm... Headed back down towards Porter after running into Ward and Slamdog just below the summit. Chatted with them while I ate some food. Then headed towards Porter running into ADKSteve and another hiker along the way (hi!). Hit Porter and after some more pictures and chatting, we continued to the Garden. Deep smow, old snowshoe tracks.. Harry and I decided to change from crampons to snowshoes here. Snowshoed all the way down to the really nice rocky viewpoint off on the shoulder of Little Porter. Harry and I thinking that the summit of little porter is on the trail that goes towards Marcy Field and not the Garden but think this nice rocky viewpoint is perhaps just off Little Porter's shoulder. Anyway it has a great view of Big Slide/Brothers, the tops of the Great Range, and Giant/RPR and also Keene Valley can be seen from here.
Anyway, another 1.8 miles down to the Garden finds Harry and I simply barebooting the rest as the snow here on the south face in the sun was virtually non existant and really insane for mid january! Temps were hovering around 30degs too and clear blue sky. Got to the garden after running down the trail (literally) around 1:10pm apologizing for the lateness but too good views and running into others slowed things down a bit.
Got pictures but they're on my camera...
A great cap to a fun weekend, and we had Sunday to balance out how miserable Saturday was!!! Sunday was an absolute gem for hiking, anywhere in the ADKs it seemed. Warm (for winter), clear blue sky, not terribly windy.
Jay
They sure was, as it was an awesome view and a great person who knows the ADKs well to do it with. I was able to recognize the great range, Giant/RPR, Whiteface, but Harry was able to pick out a bunch of mtns I have yet to do, like Street/Nye, Hurricane, Mt Mansfield/Camel's Hump in VT. And the views were great on the summit of Cascade, right on the USGS marker. Very very windy though so we didn't stay too long. Plus, we had a car to meet at 12:30pm... Headed back down towards Porter after running into Ward and Slamdog just below the summit. Chatted with them while I ate some food. Then headed towards Porter running into ADKSteve and another hiker along the way (hi!). Hit Porter and after some more pictures and chatting, we continued to the Garden. Deep smow, old snowshoe tracks.. Harry and I decided to change from crampons to snowshoes here. Snowshoed all the way down to the really nice rocky viewpoint off on the shoulder of Little Porter. Harry and I thinking that the summit of little porter is on the trail that goes towards Marcy Field and not the Garden but think this nice rocky viewpoint is perhaps just off Little Porter's shoulder. Anyway it has a great view of Big Slide/Brothers, the tops of the Great Range, and Giant/RPR and also Keene Valley can be seen from here.
Anyway, another 1.8 miles down to the Garden finds Harry and I simply barebooting the rest as the snow here on the south face in the sun was virtually non existant and really insane for mid january! Temps were hovering around 30degs too and clear blue sky. Got to the garden after running down the trail (literally) around 1:10pm apologizing for the lateness but too good views and running into others slowed things down a bit.
Got pictures but they're on my camera...
A great cap to a fun weekend, and we had Sunday to balance out how miserable Saturday was!!! Sunday was an absolute gem for hiking, anywhere in the ADKs it seemed. Warm (for winter), clear blue sky, not terribly windy.
Jay