Hiking Trip: Wright Peak

PICTURE HEAVY POST

So a couple of Saturdays ago I had another hiking adventure that I’m just now getting to posting about!  Go ahead, slap my hand.

This was the first weekend the Eastern High Peaks Region was reopened since Tropical Storm Irene.  There was a lot of damage caused by flooding to this part of the Adirondack Park.  Because there wasn’t a lot of information about the condition of many of the trails we decided to do something within our skill level and what we’ve been working on time wise.  We narrowed it down to Wright Peak.

Facts:
Ranked #16 of 46
Elevation: 4580’
Trail head: From Adirondack Mtn Club (ADK) High Peaks Information Center (HPIC)
Travel time from Glens Falls (with detour through Elizabethtown): ~1.5 hrs

This was the first time that I’ve gotten to visit the ADK’s property in Lake Placid.  You may or may not know, but I am a newer member of the club, I joined back in April.  I haven’t gotten to really participate in any of the club’s outings but I’ve attended some of the lectures and have enjoyed some of the other benefits of being a member.  This property includes the HPIC, the Adirondack Loj (for overnight stays) and campgrounds.  It also provides parking for 200+ cars and access to many trails including access to the popular Van Hovenberg trail which can take you to many of the popular High Peaks, including Wright.  Adirondack Loj Rd was closed after the storm because the main bridge on the road was washed away…it actually stranded 30 visitors of the loj for a few days!  As of our trip, this was the condition of the bridge:



There is a fee to park at the HPIC.  For ADK members it’s $5, for everyone else it’s $10.  There is a discount for parking after 1PM although I forget how much it is.



So a lot of people will combine the trip of Wright Peak with Algonquin, which is the second highest peak of the 46.  We decided NOT to do that for a couple of reasons, 1) we were unsure of what kind of blowdown or other messes we were going to run into 2) we wanted to keep it simple 3) realistically speaking, we are not ready for Algonquin, it’s one of the hardest High Peaks.

We were quite pleased with our decision!  We started off right around 8AM, it was still quite chilly, I thought I saw frost on the grass along Adirondack Loj Rd but I’m thinking it was probably just dew since their first frost warning didn’t actually come out until the weekend after.  The trail starts following blue markers along the Van Hovenberg Trail.  This part of the trail you can tell is really well maintained and has many bridges and man made steps to use along the way.  There was a lot of evidence of blowdown, flooding and general storm mess but I was really impressed with how clear the trail itself was.  The trail was pretty muddy while we were going up, but due to the crowds (it was quite busy) coming down was worse.  I’ve hiked in worse mud, but mud in general is kind of an annoyance to a hiker…well to me anyway.




Bears!  Make noise, don’t run!






Eventually the trail stops following blue markers and switches to yellow markers.  While going along there are several points of crossing small streams, although this could’ve been more frequent because of the amount of water in the area.  There is one definite river crossing, where there was a small waterfall to see!  Beyond this the trail became really rocky, again because of the abundance of water there were a lot of small running streams going down the rocks, but I’m not sure if that would be an occurrence during a dry period.





We reached the peak a little bit before 11:30, about a 3 hour hiking time, which we thought was quite good for us.  There were a lot of people on the trail, which can really cause a lot of stress on my end because I’m a “nervous” hiker.  Since this is the same trail to Algonquin, most people were headed that way so we lost a lot of people at the junction.  Once past the junction for Wright Peak it became more and more steep and eventually became total rock.  There were definitely a couple of points where I really needed to stop and think and get some assistance to climb the rock (I’m a really terrible rock climber).  Something I really need to work on getting over as I continue the journey to being a 46er.  This summit was in an alpine zone so you need to be careful to follow the yellow blazes and stay inside the rocked trail and off of any of the vegetation.



This was difficult and scary for me, it took me a good 2-3 minutes more to get to the official summit than my BFF Alison but we both made it!
Lunch Time!

• Peanut butter and crackers
  
• Apples
  
• Monster Trail Mix
  
• Banana

This wasn’t the best hiking lunch…I didn’t realize I didn’t have bread until the morning when I went to pack, I did however have a pepperoni and cheese stick combo on the way up, but was definitely hungry towards the way down (yes I had more food, but I don’t like stopping to eat on the way down, I’m stubborn like that).



This is the neighboring Algonquin Peak.  It’s so much taller, and so much more steep!  It was kind of neat, you could actually see people going up and some people at the top!  Luckily our peak was SUPER quiet.  I think the entire time we were up there we only saw 4 other groups, made for good lunching, picture taking and resting.  One of us even decided to nap a little bit…




Mt Colden from the summit.  It has many slides on it including a new one created by Irene.



This is Cascade and Porter from Wright.  It’s funny, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to name these peaks but it’s starting to get easier and easier…at least to pick out the ones I’ve done   The smaller pictures don’t really give you the full effect, but you can start to see the leaves changing.  There was a predicted 3% change in the leaves for this weekend, we’re headed into prime “Leaf Peeping” season so our next trip should really have some amazing leaf colors in the pictures.



A view of Heart Lake and you can see Lake Placid in the background…if you look real hard you can see the ski jumps.  The tall peak in the back is Whiteface. Algonquin also had a new slide from Irene, you can see it here in this picture to the left.  Notice it’s not quite as smooth as the others:



People climb and ski these slides VIA bushwacking, I guess they get to name them if they’re the first ones to venture them. Gratuitous summit shots!




The summit was chilly, which was to be expected.  My bangs are dumb looking because of me sweating (prior to getting to the summit).  Premade Chex Mix muddy buddies (or puppy chow as I know it) is not nearly as good as when you make it yourself FYI. In the 60’s Wright Peak was the site of a deadly plane crash.  I’m taking this from memory, but I believe there were 4 individuals who perished.  They flew from the Plattsburgh Air Base (which has since closed) and were doing a practice flight.  We found a sign that directed hikers to a commemorative plaque and to the peak although we weren’t successful in finding the plaque.  We did however find a few remnants from the crash:




Ok so, going down was scary.  I mean, the scariest it’s been of any of our hikes.  So scary that I slid down the summit mostly on my bum…I ruined my favorite pair of hiking pants by doing this (don’t think that tiny hole in my rear is going to stop me from wearing them though)…



Once past this point the trail going down was quite enjoyable.  It did take us longer to get back down, we spent about an hour and half at the summit and didn’t get back to the trail head until 4.  So it took us about a half hour longer to get down, it didn’t feel like it though.  This was by far my most favorite trail to go down, with the exception of sliding down the summit of course. 

We made it back to the trailhead around 4:00 with several other groups.  My big thing after a long hike like this is wiping myself down with baby wipes and I usually like to at the very least change my pants and get out of my hiking shoes and socks.  Of course today I really needed to get out of my pants since I wore a hole in them, haha  After changing and cleaning up we visited the HPIC where I picked up the latest issue of Adirondack Life and we made our way into Lake Placid for dinner!  On the way back home we stopped in Keene to patron a couple of the businesses, although we wanted to go into Keene Valley it seemed that the road was closed.  We were a little nervous to go beyond the sign and into the hamlet.

Since our trip Rt 73 has reopened and so have many other trails.  Our next trip is going to be next weekend where hopefully I’ll get some pictures of the colorful leaves!

Giant Mountain Hiking Trip

Saturday my BFF Alison and I made a trek up our third High Peak.  We initially were going to do it on Sunday, but the DEC issued a warning on Friday urging people to stay out of the backcountry on Sunday and Monday because of Hurricane Irene so we made the wise decision to alter our plans.

We started our day off super early and were on the road by 6:30.  Last year when we did our fall hiking we made going to breakfast a part of the experience, however since it's best to get started as early as possible when hiking for more than say four hours, we've nixed that and made eating AFTER part of our routine.  We did however stop at Dunkin Donuts for some less than stellar hot chocolate.

Giant Mountain is #12 on the list of 46 Adirondack High Peaks and has an elevation of 4627'.  There were several trails of various timings and ascents to choose from, we decided on the trail that led along Roaring Brook  to get a chance to see the "waterfalls".



The main road that we drive on once we get off "The Northway" (I-87) to get to our hiking destinations is considered the "High Peaks Scenic Byway" and several trailheads are scattered along it, including the one we hiked last weekend.  It passes through the towns of Keene and Keene Valley and will eventually take you into Lake Placid.  This trailhead was significantly closer to the highway than we were expecting, so close we actually missed it!  Not a big deal though because we wanted to stop in the Keene Stewarts to use their bathrooms before starting our journey...Priority #1 = empty bladder.

I'd say by the time we got situated and back to the trailhead parking lot, it was about 8.  The lot had a few cars parked in it.  This particular wilderness area has camping spots scattered throughout, people can hike in and set up their tents and camp for free on a first come, first serve basis.  Hiking and camping do not go hand in hand for me, I don't have the gear, nor the desire to hike up a mountain with 25 pounds of camping equipment on my back.  As much as I love both activities, I don't want to combine them!

Anyway, we walked our way into the trail register.  We tend to rush to the register because whoever gets there first gets to sign in.  We decided to just start taking turns, this time it was Alison's turn.

Shout out to my Texas bloggy friends!!!

We took the trail to the bottom of the falls first, we thought that the trail was going to take us THROUGH the falls, but it didn't they were actually a little out of the way.  Either way, we walked to the bottom to find a bunch of rocks and a small bit of water flowing down...a little less than impressive, but a fun detour either way.




We walked back to the junction to actually go up Giant Mountain.  Boy this is steep and quick!  We both had long sleeved shirts on that we quickly peeled off.  This was just about how the trail remained.  At one point we had to cross the brook, which was scary for me...I literally crawled across the rocks.  This trail was enjoyable.  The first half of it is mostly stepping over and around tree roots and not many rocks.  I really struggle with climbing over rocks and rock slabs.  I'm a hiker, NOT a rock climber.  Unfortunately it's pretty common place in the High Peaks so of course once we got past the brook and about an hour in, the trail started getting rocky.  At this point Alison stays a good 30 seconds ahead of me.  She's a "go straight through" kind of person where I'm a "stop and assess to find the safest/easiest route up".

That's right, I'm slow ya'll!

The hike up provided several viewing spots that gave us awesome views of the High Peaks Region and a couple of opportunities for good "stop and eat something" breaks.  The trail was also scattered with wild blueberries, I don't believe in picking and eating off the trails in the park (or off trails in general) so I let them be and just take pictures.  It think it's nice to see a little bit of blue in a sea of green and brown. :)

Once "close to the summit" and I say close in quotes because well, it's not really close, but it's closer to the top than to the bottom, the trail became very rocky with several large slabs that we had to climb up and over.  We also saw stairs!  You don't see many man made trail assisting items on trails, so this was fun to see.

Right around noon we made it to the summit and boy were we glad!  At one point on the trail towards the top it flattens out for a bit, but you can see the top of Giant and it looks so high and so far from where you are.  It's very daunting...

The summit provided awesome valley views and views of the Great Range.  It was EXTREMELY humid that day and you can tell by my sweaty back (attractive, right?) and there was a general haze over the mountains.  I'm still terrible at identifying the mountains and bodies of water, but I can always find good old Whiteface (we'll be tackling you in the next month or so!).

The hike down had challenging points (again, rock slabs...I slide down them thank you very much) but it was pretty easy going for the most part.  We decided against going and checking out the top of the falls as there were people camping in that area although I would like to go back sometime to see them, as well as the washbowl.

I didn't walk away unscaved, I took a beating from a tree limb which has left this lovely bruise on my arm that people keep commenting on.  Hazard of hiking I guess...

Start Time on Trail: ~8 AM
Arrival at summit: ~Noon
Time back to car: ~3:30
Lunch at summit: PB&J (always tastes better when eating it at the top of a mountain), cheeze it crackers, apple
After hike meal: Grilled cheese and homemade french fries from Noonmark Diner

On a side note…

I know you are all probably tired of hearing about Hurricane Irene and although I faired well, my mountains did not.  Flooding has caused a lot of damage to the High Peaks Region of the Adirondacks.  The main road I mentioned has since been severely damaged and is currently closed, several mountains have new slides that were carved in from the excessive rain and many buildings and homes were destroyed.  Currently the Eastern High Peaks Region (where we’ve spent the past two weekends) is CLOSED.  Not only is the damage extreme to these areas, but the economic blow they’re about to suffer from not having campers, hikers and other outdoors enthusiasts in the area on Labor Day weekend is devastating.  The Adirondacks is full of a special type of people that can haul ass through any tough situation and this is no different, but it won’t hurt to send more positive vibes their way.  I’m hoping things get cleaned up and we can get back to hiking in this region soon, until then there is well over 5 million other acres to this playground to explore!

Lake Placid or Bust

Greetings friends!

Seeing as it's Tuesday already (or should I say, it's ONLY Tuesday) I figured I need to update you all on my wonderful weekend!  It was full of lots of adventures so I'll start right with Friday evening.

I spent Friday with my dear friend Eileen who I don't see nearly as often as I should.  From the 4th of July until Labor Day the Painted Pony Ranch puts on their championship rodeo Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturday.  Eileen married into the rodeo world and I have to say both kiddos got the gene.  Her son Dustin (10) rode in the rodeo and her daughter Ryleigh (turning 5 in a few days) kept talking about how she was going to be a barrel racer!  There are aspects of the rodeo that I don't really care for, but for the most part I enjoy the atmosphere and getting to spend time with one of my good friends.    I got some pictures although it was at this point that I started questioning which device was better at taking pictures, my camera or my phone.  If it's my phone, it's clearly time to invest in a new camera...

So like I mentioned my friend's son rode, this little girl also did some barrel racing.  She's actually come quite a way this summer as at the beginning of the summer she was being led and this time she did it herself!  I think she's 8 or 9...

Sal the Rodeo Clown waiting for the bull riders to come out.

 

A really blurry bull rider.

 

Below is the video of Dustin on his bull - he stays on longer than some of the pros!!!

 

 

Ok so the next bit is going to be super picture heavy...you've been warned!

 

Saturday my BFF Alison and I decided we wanted to hike and try out our first, not one, but TWO Adirondack High Peaks!  For those of you who are not cool enough to don't know what the Adirondack High Peaks are, they are 46 mountains in the Adirondack Park that are all above 4000'.  Technically there are a few at the bottom of the list that are NOT above that marker and there is one other that SHOULD be included that isn't but there is an entire organization of individuals who consider themselves 46ers (people who've climbed all 46) and because of them and general tradition, the list hasn't changed.

 

Anyway, I'd like to be a 46er before I turn 30, which is in about 4 years for those of you keeping track.

 

I’m the doofus who can’t pose in the pink…

 

Saturday we decided to do Cascade Mountain which is probably the most popular and one of the most accessible peaks.  It also provides the ability to do another one (which many of them do) Porter Mountain.  These are towards the bottom of the list, but a new challenge for me and Alison as we've only ever done local hikes. 

 

The trailhead is about an hour and half drive from home in Keene, NY.  We were originally going to start around 9ish but I woke up too excited and texted Alison.  Thankfully she woke up and we both agreed to just head out around 7:30.  I'm glad we did because everything worked out really perfectly this way!

 

 

I've done this drive I can't even tell you how many times.  I went to college in Plattsburgh, NY which is a straight shot up this particular highway and I've done work in Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake...not to mention all the times I've visited...But I took some pictures for my bloggy friends!!!

 

 

 

The Adirondack Park is 6 million acres of public and private wilderness land.  It’s bigger than several of the most popular national parks.  I LOVE The Adirondacks, I want to spend the rest of my life nestled in the woods somewhere in the Lake Placid/Saranac Lake region…someday!

 

Saranac Lake is actually past our destination and we did not go there on Saturday, but it’s often times considered one of the coldest places in the continental US in the winter.

 

 

The picture on the right is very close to our destination.  I consider it the “stretch of death” because on one side it’s cliffs and rocks and on the other side is water.  Driving this section in the winter is NOT fun.

 

We made it to the trailhead (a very BUSY trailhead I might add) at about 10:00 and headed on our way…

 

After about 2 hours of hiking we made it to the summit of Cascade Mountain!!

 

On this page I’ve posted pictures of Porter Mountain (the second mtn we did) from the summit of Cascade.  Cascade’s summit marker, me posing and then a picture of the village of Lake Placid from the false summit of Cascade.  If you look close, you can see the Olympic ski jumps!  I honestly wish I was better at identifying the peaks , for example I don’t know what’s behind me in the bottom picture…I’ll learn them the more I’m up there I guess!

 

 

So like I said, the mountain was EXTREMELY busy that day because it was the PERFECT hiking day.  The skies were blue, the temperature was perfect, there was a nice breeze and the bugs were at bay.  We passed a group of THIRTY boy scouts on the way up, they made it to the summit as we were going back down.  This mountain is a "rocky summit” and it was kind of scary climbing up the rocks.  Although it’s above the “Alpine Line” it’s actually a rocky summit due to several forest fires from many years ago.  Many sections of this part are rocked off to keep people on the trail (marked by yellow blazes) to avoid disturbing the alpine vegetation that is regrowing…

 

 

 

 

Once at the top of Cascade we had to climb back down to the Porter Mountain junction, which is about .3 miles away from Cascade’s summit.  This was challenging, this was the first time where we had to go up, come down, go down further and then go back up only to have to do the final climb down.  We paced ourselves REALLY well which is something we’ve struggled with in the past.  We were excited to be at the top of Porter.

 

 

The summit of Porter was .7 miles from the junction so it took us a little less than an hour to get to the summit.  Here I’ve got a picture of Whiteface Mtn on the left (the tallest ski slope looking peak), Cascade Mtn from Porter and the junction sign.

 

We made it back to our car around 4:00.  We were ready to be off the mountain, unfortunately we’re not very good about enjoying the walk down.  We both really have tunnel vision going down and just have the simple goal of getting back to the car.   I was starving because I didn’t eat enough of my lunch on the summits and we were both pretty tuckered out.  I did a quick double car door change and we headed into Lake Placid for dinner and tooling around…

 

 

Lake Placid was home to the 1932 and 1980 Olympic Winter Games.  Ever hear of the Miracle on Ice?  That happened here!   On this page you can see the ski jumps from the top of Cascade that Alison was able to zoom in on.  They give me anxiety although I hope one day to take a ride down the bobsled track.  I think it’s around $120 for about a 30 second ride, but HOW FUN!  The lake IN Lake Placid is actually called Mirror Lake, which tends to confuse some people.

 

Lake Placid is a bustling little village.  Alison asked me if I thought it was busier in the summer or in the winter, I told her I wasn’t really sure.  I’ve definitely been there on busy days in the winter!

 

 

The picture above is of the new conference center that’s attached to the old Olympic Center.  The conference center is made of all natural materials and is all eco friendly.  My employer did a lot of work for it so I couldn’t help but take pictures of it.  I thought it was done and open to public but it looked kind of messy and was closed on Saturday so I’m not sure what’s going on…

 

We did some wine tasting at Goose Watch Winery after dinner…

 

 

 

 

And finished the evening off by going to the Saturday Nigh Ice Show at the Olympic Center…

 

 

The ice show was actually really cute, we did it on a whim because it was really cheap but it ended up being a bunch of kids at different levels of figure skating from age 4-17.  One girl was REALLY good, like I would expect to see her, maybe not in the next winter games, but the one after (she was only 8).

 

So that’s it!  We made it back home around 11:00 and I have to admit I was glad to get into bed!  It was a great day with a great friend and now we’re just trying to decide what our next High Peak is going to be!  Oh and I’ve also learned on this trip that I DESPERATELY need a new camera.  Mine is only 4 years old and it’s crap compared to what’s out there now.  NEED.  NEED NOW.

 

I hope everyone had as great of a weekend as I did!