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!

It appears as though...

I got home from tonight's quickie bike ride just in time. About five minutes after I got home it started pouring, with crazy winds and pea sized hail...

Funny how hail makes me run outside like a little kid but the second it thunders I run inside screaming.

It's so hot in my apartment though, it was nice to sit outside in the wind and rain!

First real exercise activity in a week (not counting hiking as exercise,that's more of a leisure thing for me).  I did a quick bike ride as my legs are still not 100%.  Today my upper thigh of my left leg ached all day, again another really intolerable pain.  Not sure what that is.  Apparently I just have general issues with my legs.  Not ok.    Here's my favorite picture from Saturday's hike by the way...

It's not much of a hike time wise, it's a pretty steep 20 minute tuck up a mountain in a little town called Warrensburg, NY.  It's nice though because it overlooks the whole town and to the north you get great views of the lower Adirondacks.  The black flies were vicious!

The bike ride was not without warrant BTW, I did grab Wendy's on the way home today for dinner.  I don't know why I'm sabotaging myself right now but I've got get it under control.  It took me 5 months to lose 30 pounds, I don't want to spend another 5 months RElosing it.  Honesty with myself and you all is key.

So you all know about my job situation, I've been applying to many ads without much luck.  They're either A) fake - thanks Craigslist! or B) filled.

However today I got a call back for a position at a national insurance company (the insurance company I use for my car none the less...discounted insurance anyone?!)!  I'm stoked, I had to send back some paperwork to take a test and we'll see where it goes from there.  Better pay, better benefits, but about 30 minutes further away.  I have worked an HOUR away from home before, in vicious traffic.  The good news is this is WAY before the vicious traffic AND it takes me through Saratoga which is nice as it's a pain to go down there, but they have Old Navy.  I miss Old Navy.

Oh and it pays about $2 more an hour (granted that will probably be what I pay in gas) and has better benefits.

I'm sold.  Wish me luck!

Hope you're all enjoying your evening!  I should really be cleaning my apartment for company tomorrow, but I'm too busy blogging and watching Cars (yea I can't help it it's one of my faves...I'm like 6 at heart).  KA-CHOW!

I'm desperately missing this...

And this...

And even the rain...

And the stalkerish deer family (along with the bug spray perfume)...

I've been in a crabby mood all day, and to top it all off I weighed in to find that I gained back most of what I lost last week (big surprise, that was way too big of a loss for one week).

I want to go back into my woods and become a hermit.

For realsy.

Did you hear....?

Hines and Kym won DWTS!

Woop, woop!

I won't lie, I was surprised Kirstie came in second, she's got some pretty devoted fans!

I wanted to share that I'm OFFICIALLY a member of the Adirondack Mountain Club (finally).  I signed up for it a month ago and got my membership package in the mail yesterday.  I was so excited!

Now I feel like I can reach out and participate in the outings, although it seems like a lot of them in the next few weekends are all High Peaks, which although I want to start on that this summer...I'm NOT ready to start yet.  This weekend however we'll be hiking Goodnow Mountain, which will be my first hike of the season and...a fire tower!!  My favorite!  This is a picture of a fire tower from last summer, Hadley Mountain:

So I can't wait to start doing outings and volunteering for the organization.  Also, see that Ididaride pamphlet?  That's for a 75 mile bike ride in Indian Lake.  Not sure if I could do the 75 miles, but I know for sure I can do the smaller 20 mile option. There are a couple of things holding be back though: I don't want to be laughed out of the ride because of my $150 KMart bike and it's kind of expensive to register...so we'll see.  It's in August.

My diet is going really well right now, I think I've gotten a second wind if you will!  Today I did day 2 of the C25K program.  I took Monday and Tuesday off because I was BEAT.  Today was a LITTLE rough, but I pushed myself through.  Food wise...I've discovered what allows me to stay full and satisfied throughout the WHOLE DAY:

Yes.  Eggs and bacon.  Two eggs and two slices of bacon come in at 210 calories.  And yes!  I've actually been cooking it each morning!  It's the perfect breakfast, I could pretty much eat it every morning for the rest of my life, although I'm not sure it would be good when considering cholesterol numbers.  And look how perfect those eggs are!  I bought myself a fancy new frying pan (I have cheap crappy cookware) so each day my breakfast comes out perfect.  This seriously holds me beyond lunch time, but I have been having a banana around noon and then having a lean budget gourmet and small salad for lunch around 1ish.  It's working out really well.  I've also been allotting calories for my favorite bike treat...

Yes, I always get a kiddie twist, :)  After I did my wogging (I guess is the proper term?) I came home and ate dinner, then decided to go for a quick bike ride to get my ice cream.  This isn't my FAVORITE ice cream shop by any means (although I did have that last night), but it's close by.  About two miles round trip.

Oh btw, dinner today was spent like this...

That would be me, on my laptop, in my bathroom with my dinner on my knee.  Why you ask?  Well when I was walking back home I noticed the little baggies of Jesus papers on people's doors.  When I was cooking dinner, I saw the Jesus people across the street and I KNOW they saw me.  I wasn't in the mood to chat today, I really just wanted to eat my dinner in peace.  

So I quickly shut the door, locked it, grabbed my dinner and ran into my bathroom.  See my living room doesn't work because well...there's a door there and my bedroom wasn't an option because I don't have a working outlet in there (don't ask).  So...the bathroom it was.  DO NOT JUDGE ME.

I'm spent!  I feel like I'm way behind on my sleep because of DWTS, The Bachelorette and sleep overs.  I'm normally in bed by 9:30-10:00 (yes, you can start the old lady comments now) and the past few days I've been hitting the sack around 11:30-12:00.  So I'm off to visit my pillows now!  I hope everyone is enjoying their evening!