All Out On Allen

Mist over the Hudson

Opalescent

Top of Allen

Attempting to cross Lake Jimmy

Turtle on trail














Yesterday we hiked Allen. Now that is a hard hike. We started at 5 in the morning at a good steady pace with my dad's friend from  http://www.forums.adkhighpeaks.com/index.php whose screen name is Yonzor. The hike was really long and we had to cross the Hudson River and the Opalescent. On the way up we saw a turtle, a snake, a bunch of frogs, and a dead deer. We reached summit around 12:45-ish due to a half hour of bushwhacking around Lake Jimmy and heading up the wrong slide about a quarter mile to the top. We were turned around immediately at the summit due to thunderstorms. On the way back we spotted more frogs, a wild turkey and beavers. We finished our hike around 9:30 a couple hours later than we wished to have finished.
-ADK Gurl

Windface

 Old toboggan shelter on Marble Mtn

 Whiteface ski resort

 Mirror Lake (Lake Placid)

Top of Esther

Top of Whiteface















Yesterday we hiked Whiteface and Esther. We started at the trail head from Marble Mtn road at 6:45. We hiked up the rocky, steep trail to the summit of Marble Mtn which was once a ski area. We reached the summit at 7:30 then headed over to Lookout Mtn where the herd path to Esther would start. It was pretty flat going over to Lookout Mtn. and the herd path was marked by a huge cairn and a small sign saying ESTHER MTN (not a marked trail). We reached Esther around 9:45 and stopped for about ten minutes then headed back down for Whiteface. The climb up Whiteface wasn't bad and we crossed "The Wilmington Trail" which is a ski trail on the right side of Whiteface (looking on the map) which for the most part is a very flat trail down to the Lookout lift. When we got to a spot on the hiking trail that was very close to the Memorial Highway going up the backside of Whiteface we decided to take the road since the trail was starting to get icy. When we got to the end of the road we walked up stairs they had built to the top of the mountain. This is where the wind started to kick in. We reached the summit about 12:30 and left to go back down at 12:50. We took the road down the rest of the way which was pretty boring but easier and quicker. We finished our day very early at 3:45.
-ADK Gurl

Snow Dial

 Great Range from Noonmark's shoulder

 Dix from the trail to Nippletop

 Top of Dial

 Top of Nippletop

 Hiking down Nippletop

Giant from the Ausable club














Yesterday we hiked Dial and Nippletop. It was a very chilly morning to start and there was snow everywhere starting around 2,400 feet. I was cold for most of the trip which is a shocker because usually I am super warm. We reached the summit of Dial around 11:00 and then started to head over to Nippletop. We reached Nippletop around 1:30 and had lunch. Nippletop had a very good view of the great range and Dix on the other side. When we hiked down we came down through Elk Pass which was supposed to be very steep since we had to drop 1,000 feet in one mile. Since it was snowy there were only a couple difficult sections. We came down the trail we took when we did Colvin and Blake. It was definitely a nicer trail without the rain. It was a gorgeous day in the end and we finished our hike around 7:30. A long and hard day for the second hike of the season.
-ADK Gurl

Snower Wolfjaw

 Mini, buried in snow.

 Top of Lower Wolfjaw.

 Giant Mtn.

 Ausable Club.

 Ice on the trail.

Me hiking down.















Yesterday we started our adventures yet again on Lower Wolfjaw. There were a couple mishaps like my Dad bringing one of his hiking boots and one of my old ones so he had to hike in tennis shoes and how I forgot my wool socks...It all turned out to be a good hike in the end. We started out around 6:30 AM and it was very chilly. We hiked up through Ausable Club and took the West River Trail up. Exactly around 3000 ft the snow started to appear under shady spots off to the side of the trail. Later on it started to come on to the trail along with ice. We summited around 11:10 AM and had lunch. We decided to make our decent in a loop that was a more gentle trail along the ridge, not only was it more gentle it was a couple miles longer, it was not as tracked, and it was a whole lot more icy on this side than the other. My dad had tried to do a controlled slide down part of the really icy and steeper parts but got out of control cut his knuckles really bad on the snow crystals. In the end it was much more pretty with a couple outlooks. At the end of the trail we had to hike down an old fire road which felt like a death march. It was a fun, icy hike and I can't wait for the next one a couple weekends from now.
-ADK Gurl

Michael Phelps

View of the Great Range from Phelps













Top of Phelps












Top of Tabletop













Indian Falls right above the herd path for Tabletop

Over Columbus Day weekend we hiked Tabletop and Phelps. It was another camping trip and it was a blast.....and very busy. Tabletop is usually very quiet people say but when we were there it was quite busy. We started at the ADK Loj and had to cross Marcy Brook. Usually stream crossings are not too bad but I always get nervous crossing streams because I'm afraid of slipping and falling. Marcy Brook was especially bad because it was not an easy crossing, we had to cross the brook once walk across and island then cross the other part, we have full packs, and I don't have long legs. We camped a mile from Marcy Brook at the Phelps Campsite. There were 13 tents including ours. We have never had to share a campsite with anyone so it was a new experience. When we got to the start of the Tabletop herd path we decided to finish climbing the hill we were on so we would be able to see Indian Falls. When we did Marcy we weren't sure how far Indian Falls were from the trail so we didn't stop for the views. Big mistake. It is only about 10 yards from the trail and it is beautiful. When we got back down to the start of Tabletop it was very muddy. Then it started to get steep. The steeps didn't last long because it was only half a mile to the top from the start of the trail. We had lunch on Tabletop then went back down to the start of the trail to Phelps. Phelps was just plain old steep. We had to gain 1,300 feet in one mile and we were tired. Also my Dad didn't bring the water sterilizer so we were VERY thirsty and were saving our water that we had. The top of Phelps was pretty cool. There were tons of little paths around the summit and it had a great view of the whole Great Range. When we got to the campsite we grabbed our water sterilizer and bushed whacked a way to Phelps Brook down from the campsite. Sadly our sterilizer was not working so we could only make up one liter of water. That was enough for us to share for the moment but not enough for us to drink from, cook with and wash our dishes with. When we got back to the campsite we boiled water so it would be sterilized and then made dinner. The hike out was longer than I thought. I thought we would be out around 10:30 but we made it out around 11:30. Even though it was only three miles we were tired and we had heavy packs.
-ADK Gurl

The Queen Of New York

Lake Tear Of The Clouds (Start of the Hudson River)

Top of Marcy

Marcy Dam (the bridge is out from

Irene)














Yesterday we hiked Mount Marcy the tallest peak in NY. It was a long hard hike but we met up with a guy who is attempting to get to the tallest point in each of the 50 states. The hike up was moderately steep but not bad. Once we got to the last mile to half mile it got steeper and we were on bare open rock. Almost at the top of Marcy we came across some ice. Winter is coming fast in the peaks we may only have one or two hikes left for the year but luckily all of the High Peaks are open from Irene a few weeks back. We started at South Meadows. South Meadows is a road that is used for emergencies only but people hike on it. We chose this route because we didn't want to pay for parking and since the Marcy Dam Bridge is out we were not sure how the brook crossing would be. Other than this it would make us walk an extra three tenths of a mile. My Dad said we would take the lodge is we ever do this again because we hated those last few tenths. The hike was a total of 15.3 miles and I'm still sore from all that walking.
-ADK Gurl

See More On Seymor...Kind Of....

Top of Seymor














Seward (right), Donaldson (middle) and Emmons (left) view from Seymor

the cairn that starts the Seymor herd path

memorial stone on Seymor

We hiked Seymor about a week ago. Seymor is one of the mountains in the Seward Range and it was one of the mountains that we were aloud to hike since Irene came through. We started early as always at a trailhead that only had one car at it. Hmm...strange since this was one of the few peaks that was open we thought that it would be more busy. There was a man that dropped by as we were getting ready to set off that talked to us saying that there were two trailheads and this was only the first one. The wrong one. We drove about 20 minutes farther to a very busy parking lot and continued to get ready and set off. Behind schedule....as always. We got to the Ward Brook Lean-to at 10:00 when my Dad thought we would get there around lunch. A little ways on was the start of the herd path. And up we went. We gained most of our elevation in that last two-tenths of a mile and then went over a bunch of "fake-summits" untill we finally reached the marker where there was a 46er keeping the herd path maintained. He showed us a spot with a good view becuase the summit was just trees. Then headed back down and did the whole trip breaks and lunch included in only 11 hours.
-ADK Gurl