Efficiency : 46 as Combos / Day Hikes

[Cello2003]

A really fun, but challenging hike would be to do Tabletop, Colden, backside of Iroquois(one of the hardest trails in the ADK's) Algonquin, and finish on Wright. I started at the Loj and it took about 15-16 hours to complete. Its about 30-35 miles round trip, sadly the day i did it there was heavy rain and grey skies throughout the whole trip. But it is truly the most difficult combo i have done, good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bfinan0]

I did my first round of 45 with some rather unusual combos. But that was mostly because of very limited opportunities to get to the outdoors, and I will admit some of them turned into 24+ hour "day" hikes and absolute sufferfests...

7/14/07 LWJ, UWJ, Armstrong, Gothics
8/4/07 Whiteface, Esther
10/6/07 Marcy
5/7-8/09 Street, Nye, Phelps, Tabletop, Colden
5/31-6/1/10 (LWJ, UWJ, Armstrong, Gothics), Saddleback, Basin, Haystack, (Marcy), Seymour
7/10/10 Cascade, Porter
7/24/10 (Gothics, Pyramid), Sawteeth, Colvin, Blake
8/6-7/10 Seward, Donaldson, Emmons, Couchsachraga, Santanoni, Panther, McNaughton
6/30/12 (Marcy), Gray, Skylight, Cliff, Redfield, (Colden Trap Dike)
8/5-7/14 Big Slide, Giant, RPR, (UWJ), Nippletop, Dial, Macomb, Carson, Grace, Hough, Dix
9/11/14 Wright, Algonquin, Iroquois, Marshall via Shepherds Tooth

Definitely some routes in here I don't recommend. Seymour from the Garden was a questionable choice. I also don't remember liking the hike from Emmons to Couch very much, or the bushwhack between the Indian Pass trail and the NPT after McNaughton.

[FlyFishingandBeer]

What route did you take to/from Seymour from the Garden? It looks like it started from Marcy after the Great Range, but what route did you take from there?

[bfinan0]

Marcy down to and through the Upper Works, then trail 127 to the NPT, and up the SE side of Seymour with the intent of then going through Ouluska pass, over SDE, back to Ouluska lean-to and on to the Santas. We were trying to hike all 47 in one shot, with horrible routing, no shelter, and food caches at most of the major trailheads. Our order would have been

ADK Loj to Street, Nye, Phelps, Tabletop, Colden, LWJ, UWJ, Armstrong, Gothics, Saddleback, Basin, Haystack, Marcy, Seymour, Seward, Donaldson, Emmons, Couchsachraga, Panther, Santanoni, Allen, Skylight, Cliff, Redfield, Gray, Macomb, Carson, Grace, Hough, Dix, Dial, Nippletop, Blake, Colvin, Sawteeth, Giant, RPR, Esther, Whiteface, Porter, Cascade, Big Slide, Wright, Algonquin, Iroquois, Marshall, and finally MacNaughton, finishing at Averyville Road.

[bfinan0]

What actually happened was much less impressive. After 14 peaks, I ended up with a confusing high fever that turned out to be, of all things, strep infection caused by a few (hundred) blackfly bites on the wrong side of Seymour.

[All Downhill From Here]

I found that a lot of them neatly arranged themselves into routes or loops, I first focused on the efficient ones, then started the trailless ones, then wrapped up with the outliers like Allen and Seymour, saving RPR and its glorious view for the last.

[moosebeware]

Hiking more leads to being able to hike more. It's taken me years to get to the point where I consider all four Sewards in one day to be a reasonable day for me. And I am not even close to the shape that others are in.

That being said...
I really like Phelps, TT & Colden as a trio.
All five Dixes from Grace>Round Pond is a fantastic day out and I think much easier than the four Sewards...

[bfinan0]

Totally agree. That's the thing, I hike so little, and want to do so much, that I definitely bite off far more than I should at one time. I started some of those hikes knowing I might on the trail for 30 hours, even if some of the more fit members of the forum could accomplish it in a reasonable but long day. But I also knew that that was what I would have to do to get to 45 when sometimes it's years between when I can get back to the trails.

[All Downhill From Here]

The mountains will be there, no need to hurry.

[Makwa]

I agree... no need to make these hikes death marches just to save a few trips to the mountains. By all means combine the obvious ones. There are plenty you shouldn't miss while you're "in the neighborhood" so that you don't have to go back over the same trails to tag the ones you bypassed. They've all been listed above but give consideration to breaking up the bigger combos (Great Range, Dixes, CBND, etc) into bite size pieces based on your ability and/or desire to enjoy your day more than just pushing like crazy to finish.

Not mentioned so far is the lack of water sources up high in the Dixes and the Great Range. You should be sure you can make the distance/ mileage with the water you're carrying or you're setting yourself up to abort and come back another time anyway. There are plenty of things to think about other than how many mountains you can fit into the day. Every extra mile you add requires more water, more food, an earlier start (or later finish) and that all impacts your itinerary and your ability to finish it.

Above all else... have fun.

[All Downhill From Here]

Good point about the GR - there's been I think twice that I begged water off another hiker, and Gothics was one of those times. I started in the morning at the old Snowbird site, and by mid afternoon (July) was fried. I ended up skipping LWJ and heading downridge at night because I ran out of what I had begged. An extra quart would have done it.

Dix was rough too, but I went up the stream from 73 and did the slide early morning, when the sun wasn't quite so hot.

[gebby]

Having caught "the Bug" last summer, I decided to finally commit myself to the goal of the 46 High Peaks. As an educator, I have been blessed to spend between 3 - 4 weeks a summer in the ADKs, and am now fully consumed by the park.

But... as father of 2 (with #3 arriving in a matter of days! ), my hiking opportunities look to be limited in the next few years. Thus a goal of 46 by age 46 seems reasonable (10 down, aged 37).

Anyway - question is, in order to maximize my days on the trail (and give me something to daydream about through these winter months) I am seeking suggestions for how to plan the remainder of my 46 as multiple peaks done as day trips. So far, I've managed:

Haystack
Porter / Cascade
Wright / Algonquin
Tabletop / Phelps
Donaldson / Emmons / Seward

Would love to see what combos and suggestions the forum offers.

Thanks,
Davin

If you're going for Haystack, it's more effort, but not more much more mileage to tag that along with Basin and Saddleback(HaBaSa).

[Fleacyno]

I found that a lot of them neatly arranged themselves into routes or loops, I first focused on the efficient ones, then started the trailless ones, then wrapped up with the outliers like Allen and Seymour, saving RPR and its glorious view for the last.

Sounds like my approach! Similar to most I'm sure.

[Trail Boss]

A really fun, but challenging hike would be to do Tabletop, Colden, backside of Iroquois(one of the hardest trails in the ADK's) Algonquin, and finish on Wright. I started at the Loj and it took about 15-16 hours to complete. Its about 30-35 miles round trip, sadly the day i did it there was heavy rain and grey skies throughout the whole trip. But it is truly the most difficult combo i have done, good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

30-35 miles? Maybe you mean kilometers?

Wright + Algonquin + Iroquois + Colden + Tabletop + Phelps = ~8600 feet elevation gain and ~23 miles.

Three Macs and three more.

If you started from the Loj, headed in via Indian Pass Trail then Cold Brook Pass Trail then bushwhacked up Iroquois's south side past Shepherd's Tooth ... it still wouldn't add up to 30+ miles. FWIW, even the entire Great Range Traverse isn't 30+ miles. To get 30+ miles in the High Peaks you're looking at the Circle of Doom or some other "epic" variation.


We're all replying on a thread from 2008?!? Geez, talk about necroposting. :-/

[TFR]

The mountains will always be there is more or less true...

But I won't always be here. My fitness level will invariably decline, no matter what I do to try to keep in shape.

So, yeah, go for it now, as long as you don't kill yourself! It's a fine line sometimes...

[jrjmurray]

Of course, you will have to go back and redo most of them with DaVinci 2, 3 and 4 in a few years anyway...

[ErickFlorezNY]

My first peak was Cascade and I lost efficiency points when I chose not to hit Porter at the same time. It looks like I'll be going back up there eventually.

I'd say this would be a great and easy multiple peak combo.