Hurricane--Mckenzie

[hillman1]

Got a late start friday due to localized lake effect here in Oswego, so my friends and I arrived late in Lake Placid. I wanted a peak I haven't done and on the 100 highest list, so we opted for Hurricane. Very little snow at the bottom, but got steadily deeper towards the summit. No snowshoes needed yet though. Very windy on top, but great views. The fire tower is missing the first few flights of stairs, so there is no way to climb it. I could see snow capped Vermont peaks off in the distance, and we stayed up there taking pictures and hanging out for a while. A great first day up in the mountains.
Day 2--Also a late start, due to liberal amounts of Ubu and Magic Hat. Damn that 3am closing time. Felt terrible that wallface was going to be a no go, as I had planned on beating the other party to the top and building a snowman. So we opted for Mckenzie. Found the trailhead for the jackrabbit trail, and hiked in with minimal snowcover. A nice climb through a winter wonderland. Made it up to the first real rock outcrop(looking south) with no views, but did meet some speed hikers from Montreal. Too bad they decided that was the summit, as they were very wrong. Met a couple from Ireland next, and continued on to the summit. Really hard to stay on track, just like everyone told me on this board. Most of the trailmarkers are on trees that are now blowdown. Anyway, made a loop down to Bartlett pond, and hiked out through a really wierd lake trail. A great day two, with two new fiends that are now turned onto this site. Hoping to bag Moose when the snow settles a bit. Looks like Wakely next saturday.