Another Trip Report, submitted to the ADK High Peaks Forum. What a resource! How cool is it to be able to thank the person who went ahead of you and broke the trail out to make your life easier?! If only we had that opportunity in all of life. In honor of all you trailblazers out there - thank you for paving the way!
My hiking buddy, Fin, drove up Thursday night with two days to fit something in before work on Sunday. After some debate it was settled that we would do Marcy, for him - a lifelong goal. And for me - Marshall, Cliff, and Redfield, since i generally hike solo and hadn't gotten a look at any of the herd paths yet. (The exception was the first mile or so of the Street and Nye trail. But we were turned back at Indian Pass Brook after the thaw two weeks ago). We were also eager to overcome our last (and first ever) winter camping experience of a couple weeks ago, which was not so good:http://http://baggerbros.blogspot.co...ewbies-on.html.
We hit the Loj trailhead at 7:30 with the sky dropping more snow than i'd expected from the weather report, and no wind to speak of despite the gusts that were predicted. We switched out of spikes at Avalanche LT and headed out toward the Lake which, in the daylight was even more profound than it had been in the twilight just 36 hours before. It was Fin's first time and the place stopped him dead.
"WOOOOOOW!!" He said.
"Right? Insane. I know. Me, too."
Snowdrifts had covered the track over the lake with maybe 4" of fresh powder, so i led and we tried to trace them as best we could, one step on, one step off, almost the length of the lake. Where we could find it it was packed in pretty well. At the Colden kiosk, the register was in a mess of a state. Entries from May mixed in with September and January. The problem may have been the lack of writing utensil. There was only a red pen, and the ink was, predictably, frozen. Several pencils likely lay on the ground directly beneath the register, out of reach until June.
We hiked past the interior outpost at Colden. (What a cool place for a cabin! Who gets that job? i want it!) Thought to stop, then didn't. Then couldn't find the trailhead for Herbert Brook and wound up cutting back across the lake to the outpost to ask. With luck, someone (a ranger? Kind of young, no uniform) had just skied there and greeted us at the door. When i explained that i was sure we'd passed it because we'd gotten to the lean-tos that appeared, on my Nat'l Geo Trails Illustrated map, to be past the brook, he explained that a) my Nat'l Geo Trails Illustrated map was useful for topo info, but useless for almost everything else, namely LT placements, and b) if we'd gotten to the second LT we had been standing 15' from the trailhead. So we went back the way we'd come, noting to ourselves a) to always stop and ask, even when you think you know, and b) to invest in an ADK Club High Peaks paper map the second we get back to the Loj. The trailhead was in fact 15' from where we'd been.
5" maybe, of fresh powder covered what was otherwise a very well-packed trail. We followed the brook side for the first .5 mile, then up the brook itself for another .5 mile, only veering off-course up an embankment once, about 2/3 of the way up where a blowdown concealed the path's continuation further up the brook. It was only our second time breaking out anything (RPR on the 10th, the other). Fin was sick, some bug he'd gotten from the petrie-dish school he works at, and looked throughout the day like Jordan did after that flu game in the '97 Finals. At times it looked like standing was more than he could bare. The summit was clouded in. The climb would have to be its own reward (the feeling of needing to heave was Fin's only reward). We'd intended to get Cliff and Redfield, but it was late by then and Fin was getting worse.
Only a couple tracks going toward Uphill LT. Shoed the whole way. Loved the LT! Well situated, felt very protected from the elements. If only it had been protected from the mice!! They taunted us the entire night, finding their way all over our bags, despite being hung up and zipped. We threw our boots from one end of the LT to the other until the early morning when, exhausted, we conceded defeat and fell asleep.
Despite sleeping only a couple hours Fin felt markedly better in the morning. The sun was out, and lo and behold, some AMAZING person had broken out both Redfield and Cliff!! (Thank you: Great Expectations!!! I now see why people seem to rave when they find a broken trail ) We went up Redfield with our packs on, just in case. (Had recently heard a story of someone falling into Uphill Brook, and wanted no part of it, so was happy to see the path was broken out along the bank the whole way). The summit was clear and beautiful! Finally got a good look at Marcy. What a mountain!! From that angle, with the snow on top, it looked like the Paramount logo. With its pyramidal shape, had someone told me it was a volcano i wouldn't have doubted.
Went up Cliff without our packs. What a difference! Suddenly blowdowns were limbos instead of army crawls. Navigating the cliffs made us happy we'd left the packs below. Just enough hand holds in the trees to get it done safely. Not a glorious summit, but a good view of Colden, which is quickly becoming my favorite peak, viewable as it is from almost anywhere in the central high peaks, the axis of the whole region.
Even though it was only 1-ish, Fin had to make moves back home to get some kind of sleep before his 13-hr shift the next day. Marcy and her siblings will have to wait, perhaps to be saved as capstone peaks for a grand finale (?). So we headed down Feldspar Br trail back to the Loj. Coming back into Marcy Dam was like walking into Central Park in summertime. People shooting photos with selfie-sticks, others just parked in the snow, lounging on sleeping pads, a guy playing fetch with his dog. It's always weird being out and not seeing a soul for 24 hours or so, then coming back into civilization. It's like, "Whoa, humanity! Forgot you were a thing." Mixed feelings every time.
As with each outing: learning, learning, learning. Getting better, honing systems, increasing efficiency. Can. Not. Wait. To get back out again!
My hiking buddy, Fin, drove up Thursday night with two days to fit something in before work on Sunday. After some debate it was settled that we would do Marcy, for him - a lifelong goal. And for me - Marshall, Cliff, and Redfield, since i generally hike solo and hadn't gotten a look at any of the herd paths yet. (The exception was the first mile or so of the Street and Nye trail. But we were turned back at Indian Pass Brook after the thaw two weeks ago). We were also eager to overcome our last (and first ever) winter camping experience of a couple weeks ago, which was not so good:http://http://baggerbros.blogspot.co...ewbies-on.html.
We hit the Loj trailhead at 7:30 with the sky dropping more snow than i'd expected from the weather report, and no wind to speak of despite the gusts that were predicted. We switched out of spikes at Avalanche LT and headed out toward the Lake which, in the daylight was even more profound than it had been in the twilight just 36 hours before. It was Fin's first time and the place stopped him dead.
"WOOOOOOW!!" He said.
"Right? Insane. I know. Me, too."
Snowdrifts had covered the track over the lake with maybe 4" of fresh powder, so i led and we tried to trace them as best we could, one step on, one step off, almost the length of the lake. Where we could find it it was packed in pretty well. At the Colden kiosk, the register was in a mess of a state. Entries from May mixed in with September and January. The problem may have been the lack of writing utensil. There was only a red pen, and the ink was, predictably, frozen. Several pencils likely lay on the ground directly beneath the register, out of reach until June.
We hiked past the interior outpost at Colden. (What a cool place for a cabin! Who gets that job? i want it!) Thought to stop, then didn't. Then couldn't find the trailhead for Herbert Brook and wound up cutting back across the lake to the outpost to ask. With luck, someone (a ranger? Kind of young, no uniform) had just skied there and greeted us at the door. When i explained that i was sure we'd passed it because we'd gotten to the lean-tos that appeared, on my Nat'l Geo Trails Illustrated map, to be past the brook, he explained that a) my Nat'l Geo Trails Illustrated map was useful for topo info, but useless for almost everything else, namely LT placements, and b) if we'd gotten to the second LT we had been standing 15' from the trailhead. So we went back the way we'd come, noting to ourselves a) to always stop and ask, even when you think you know, and b) to invest in an ADK Club High Peaks paper map the second we get back to the Loj. The trailhead was in fact 15' from where we'd been.
5" maybe, of fresh powder covered what was otherwise a very well-packed trail. We followed the brook side for the first .5 mile, then up the brook itself for another .5 mile, only veering off-course up an embankment once, about 2/3 of the way up where a blowdown concealed the path's continuation further up the brook. It was only our second time breaking out anything (RPR on the 10th, the other). Fin was sick, some bug he'd gotten from the petrie-dish school he works at, and looked throughout the day like Jordan did after that flu game in the '97 Finals. At times it looked like standing was more than he could bare. The summit was clouded in. The climb would have to be its own reward (the feeling of needing to heave was Fin's only reward). We'd intended to get Cliff and Redfield, but it was late by then and Fin was getting worse.
Only a couple tracks going toward Uphill LT. Shoed the whole way. Loved the LT! Well situated, felt very protected from the elements. If only it had been protected from the mice!! They taunted us the entire night, finding their way all over our bags, despite being hung up and zipped. We threw our boots from one end of the LT to the other until the early morning when, exhausted, we conceded defeat and fell asleep.
Despite sleeping only a couple hours Fin felt markedly better in the morning. The sun was out, and lo and behold, some AMAZING person had broken out both Redfield and Cliff!! (Thank you: Great Expectations!!! I now see why people seem to rave when they find a broken trail ) We went up Redfield with our packs on, just in case. (Had recently heard a story of someone falling into Uphill Brook, and wanted no part of it, so was happy to see the path was broken out along the bank the whole way). The summit was clear and beautiful! Finally got a good look at Marcy. What a mountain!! From that angle, with the snow on top, it looked like the Paramount logo. With its pyramidal shape, had someone told me it was a volcano i wouldn't have doubted.
Went up Cliff without our packs. What a difference! Suddenly blowdowns were limbos instead of army crawls. Navigating the cliffs made us happy we'd left the packs below. Just enough hand holds in the trees to get it done safely. Not a glorious summit, but a good view of Colden, which is quickly becoming my favorite peak, viewable as it is from almost anywhere in the central high peaks, the axis of the whole region.
Even though it was only 1-ish, Fin had to make moves back home to get some kind of sleep before his 13-hr shift the next day. Marcy and her siblings will have to wait, perhaps to be saved as capstone peaks for a grand finale (?). So we headed down Feldspar Br trail back to the Loj. Coming back into Marcy Dam was like walking into Central Park in summertime. People shooting photos with selfie-sticks, others just parked in the snow, lounging on sleeping pads, a guy playing fetch with his dog. It's always weird being out and not seeing a soul for 24 hours or so, then coming back into civilization. It's like, "Whoa, humanity! Forgot you were a thing." Mixed feelings every time.
As with each outing: learning, learning, learning. Getting better, honing systems, increasing efficiency. Can. Not. Wait. To get back out again!
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