Project 100 - A Highly Impressive and Admirable Fundraiser

Why Fundraise?
How many of you have participated in an organized sporting event to raise money for your favorite cause?  Perhaps a walk or a run?  Maybe even a cycling or kayaking event?   Not only do you get exercise, you gain friends and raise money for something that matters to you.

Often you can support many of these types of activities with very little preparation. Sure, a full marathon requires an advance training regimen, but the majority of the "support a cause" events can be done with very little forethought...just sign up, show up, and have fun!!

Then there's Herculean Efforts and Passion
You know what I mean: those endeavors where you have to plan the entire event and train, train and train until you can train no more... and then go back and accomplish the entire set of obstacles you have set for yourself... perhaps in the worst of weather?  Yes there are a few crazies who do these things.

Neil Luckhurst is no stranger to fundraising, and no stranger to punishing his body through a set of physical and mental obstacles that energize others to pledge money to support his favorite causes.  In this case, the ADK High Peaks Foundation is the lucky recipient of his passion.

This Year it's Project 100
Neil's "Project 100" will be taking place this winter and will surely raise some hard earned funds for the foundation.   I'm not going to give away Neil's secrets here, just spreading the word so more of us adventure seekers can be in the know.  You can find out all the details on Neil's Project 100 blog for the event.  He's put just as much effort into his blog as he has to training (well maybe not, if you've seen him train)!     

In case you want the the whole link revealed, here it is:
https://project100singlewinter.wordpress.com/

It's sure to be a spectacular fundraiser.  Neil's got a fire and passion to make this happen.  There are many ways to help.... and once again make friends along the way.  Don't miss out.  Project 100 is coming to the ADK's this winter season!

 

   

Avalanche Mountain (3800') - High Peaks Wilderness Area - 12/16/15

When I looked at the weather forecast for the week, I thought Wednesday looked like a day with no weather obstacles.  Rain early in the week and late in the week, but Wednesday had a mostly cloudy forecast.

Things changed immediately as I left Lake George and headed north.  I started to rain before I reached Warrensburg.  By the time I passed Schroon and North Hudson, it was snowing; not enough to stick to the roads, but the trees were turning white.  As I passed through Cascade Pass, it looked like a winter wonderland (although it was less than an inch of snow).  The plows were out salting Route 73.  

Not expecting to have to bushwhack in the snow, I changed clothes at the High Peaks Information Center (HPIC) to put on something with a little more water repellency.  

My dog Rev, and I, started out at 8:30, planning to climb Avalanche Mountain via Caribou Pass.  There were only 4 cars parked at the HPIC.  The person who signed in before me was going to climb the Trap Dike.  Another one was going to climb Algonquin and Marcy.  Good luck to each of them.       

Rev's always ready to get moving. 

I reached Marcy Dam in the usual 40 minutes, and stopped to take some pictures of the snow and the interesting skies.

A fun mix of clouds and blue sky at Marcy Dam.

Most of my pictures from the day were taken here, with good reason.   It's such a photogenic spot.

The breached dam has been removed.

After I had sufficient pictures from Marcy Dam, I moved along to the Kagel lean-to where I had my first challenge of the day.  Marcy Brook had to be crossed.  The rock hop looked doable, but I couldn't tell if the rocks had a layer of ice on them or not.  I took the safe approach and put on my microspikes just in case.  Rev and I were both able to cross without incident.  I left my spikes on for the rest of the bushwhack so I wouldn't be slipping and sliding on the wet snow.

When I got to the Caribou Pass drainage, I followed it, staying on the keft side of the drainage.  Eventually I decided to turn up towards the ridge.  It wasn't my best decision, but I made it work.  I ended up on the ridge a ways north of the true summit.  I ploughed through the snowy trees, and propelled my way forward.  Before the final summit bump, I reached a ledge which I could not descend.  I kept going right until I was able to get down into the small col and resume the climb.

I was totally soaked before I even got on the ridge.  I remained uncomfortably wet the rest of the hike, but I knew it wasn't a full day hike and it wasn't that cold.  Still, I had to keep moving to keep some body heat inside the wet clothes.  I had even put on gaiters to help keep the legs and feet dry, but it only bought me a little additional time.   

This is why I got wet....

At 11:30, I reached the true summit, where there is a tiny clearing.  This was my final summit on the ADK Hundred Highest list!  I was now 102/102 (including Bullhead and Wilmington) which are not officially part of the Hundred Highest.

The summit

One more summit picture

Climbing the ADK 46 is a great achievement, but it takes some perserverance (and a high pain threshold!) to bushwhack the "other 54".  They are not all bushwhacks, but some of the ones that are, have quite a high tree density.

I savored the moment for just a minute, since I knew I had to keep warm.  For the return trip, I tried something different.  I took the route that I had intended to use as the climbing route.  This proved to be more forgiving and I was able to make better time (plus I was going downhill and was already wet, so I didn't try and thread through the trees to stay dry).

As always, it was good to return to the trail.  This trail was unusually quiet, but on a Wednesday the week before Christmas, I can understand it.  I only saw one couple all day.  

Marcy Dam 

A parting look

Cascade Pass, on the way home.

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  9.1 miles

Hike Time:  5.5 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~1850'  

The route

The bushwhack portion...

Sawtooth #5 (3460') - High Peaks Wilderness Area - 12/13/15

After having such a good hike to Sawtooth #1 & #2 on Saturday, I was hopeful that I would have the same experience on Sunday while climbing Sawtooth #5.  I started out from the Seward trailhead at the end of Corey's Road at 7:40 AM.

Two hours later I was at the pair of #4 lean-tos and shortly after that, I veered left to begin a short bushwhack to Saw #5.  I soon learned that short doesn't mean easy.  My general direction was NE, but I continually came across cliff faces, steep ravines and very dense spruce.  It wasn't at all enjoyable.

My one moment of solace was a side trip to the high altitude pond that lies just west of Saw #5.  The pond was socked in by conifers so it could easily be missed.  A light skim coat of slushy ice decorated the surface of the pond.  Rev happily pranced around in the pond grass, happy to be out of the thick spruce for a few moments.  It was a very peaceful spot.

Yes, there really is a pond. 

High altitude pond.

Sawtooth #5 on the right

Alas, I had to dive back into the unforgiving spruce.  The western face of Saw #5 appeared to have a fortress of rock protecting it from entry, but there was a break in the rock where it wasn't too bad to scale.  The top of Saw #5 was more open than the beginning of the bushwhack and I was relieved that the search for the high point wasn't an exercise in futility.  I found the summt sign and orange ribbon 4 hours into the hike (or after 2 hours of bushwhacking).   

The summit of Sawtooth #5.

I haven't figured out what ponds these are.  I believe I was looking East or SE.

Seymour and Seward

My dog Rev is usually willing to retrace our steps in decending, but this time she look us on a wild goose chase for 10 minutes before I realized she wasn't on our ascent route.  I readjusted and got her back on the scent and she was fine after that.

Gravity helped on the way down, and I was able to plow through the dense forest with greater speed.

Still, it felt nice to get back on the Ward Brook Truck Trail and out of the forest.  Two more hours and we were back at the trailhead at 3:15.  101/102 of the ADK Hundred Highest are complete. Avalanche Mountain will be the finish peak.  Perhaps this coming Wednesday!

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  16.8 miles

Hike Time:  7.5 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~2150' 

The bushwhack portion of the hike.

Fishing Brook Mountain #1 (3540') and Fishing Brook #2 (3480') - Blue Mountain Wild Forest - 10/24/15

The Fishing Brook Range lie in the Blue Mountain Wild Forest a few miles SW of the Town of Newcomb and just west of Goodnow Flow.

Fishing Brook #1 and #2 were my objectives for the day.  I got a relatively early start at 7:45 in hopes of beating any afternoon rain that might come in.  I headed for Fishing Brook Mountain first (#1).  I found the woods to be pretty easier to manuever and I found myself on the summit at 9:45 AM.    

Looking towards the High Peaks from Newcomb, pre-sunrise

A nice little 5' waterfall along the way.

The summit of Fishing Brook Mountain - 3540' 

 There was a dusting of snow all along the Fishing Brook ridge and it looked very peaceful and quiet.

Rev's orange coat stood out even more with the snow on the ground.

s

A nice zoom view of the Sewards?

Snow near the top of Fishing Brook Mountain

I left the summit and proceeded SW to work my way towards the un-named portion of the Fishing Brook range.  I dropped down to a col and went west of a my pond at the headwater of Roaring Brook.  As I climbed a small knoll, I looked up and a bull moose was on the knoll, perhaps 100 yards ahead of me!  I froze and my first thought was which camer to grab out of my pocket; my cell phone for my small travel zoom.  I reached for the travel zoom but in the 10 seconds it takes to power it up, the moose was gone.  My dog hadn't even seen it.  It continued to the knoll and all that was there was fresh moose poop and huge tracks in the snow.  It was now 10:30 AM.

I knew I probably wouldn't see it again, but I certainly would spend the rest of the hike watching for it.  I continued SW and had no problem negotiating the ridgeline.  There was no blowdown and the woods were relatively open.   Several trees along the way had moose scrapes on them.  Deer like to scrape on saplings that are an inch or two in diameter.  Moose like to scrap on young trees that are about 5 inches in diameter. 

A tree with moose scrapes.

At 11:45 AM, I reached the summit of the un-named Fishing Brook #2.  I was still overcast, but the temperature had warmed from the 20's to the 40's.  I had shed my heavier shirt and only had a techwick T-shirt on.  I was plenty warm as I moved along.

The summit of Fishing Brook #2.

Shortly after beginning my descent, the pines were gone and the woods opened up nicely.  Almost immediately I came acroos a nice hunters tree stand.  It was pretty high on the mountain.  If a hunter shot a deer here, it would have been a long drag back.  

The hunters tree stand

The woods continued to be open most of the way down.  Drainages had thicker growth near them so I stayed out of the drainages.  Two hours of easy walking and I was back at the car.

Hike Stats:
Hike Distance:  11 miles
Hike Time:  7 hours, 15 minutes
Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 3100'
  

Blue Ridge (3497') and Blue Ridge (3436') - Blue Ridge Wilderness - 10/10/15

There are just too many mountains named Blue Ridge.  There are four on the ADK hundred highest list alone.  I had already done the one in Indian Lake and the one in Schroon, so it was time to grab these last two.

Spencer Morrissey, in his book "The Other 54", said "The twin Blue Ridges are very inviting, especially on paper, with an attractive 2.5 mile ridge between the two.  Climbing both in a day, however, would make for a trying adventure."  He admitted though that he had not tried doing this. This gave me perfect incentive to give it a go.

I got a late start and didn't get on the trail until 9 AM.  I parked at a pulloff on Cedar River Road directly south of Round Top Mountain.  My plan was to skirt the west side of Round Top, then do a counterclockwise loop of the two Blue Ridges, thereby tackling the eastern one first.

A section of the Northville Placid trail (NPT) has recently been re-routed to get it off of Cedar River Road.  It now leaves the road at Wakely Pond and goes west of Round Top en route to Stephens Pond.  This alleviates hikers from a 5 mile stretch of road walking.  Hurray!  There is still a 2.5 mile road walk, but it is better than 7.5.

I knew that I would cross the NPT as well as the old Dishrag Pond tote road pretty earlier on in my hike.  The trees were wet from rain the day before so I soaked rather quickly.  My camera also got wet so I don't have many pictures of this trip.

It took me about 15 minutes to reach the NPT and once I reached it, I followed it northward for a quarter mile or so.  Very nice re-route.  I had to leave the trail to continue my NW direction.  After 45 minutes I passed the tote road.

As I continued to climb, I passed through some sections of Witch Hobble that slowed me down a little, but I was able to avoid blowdown and thick spruce for the most part.  After 2.5 hours, I was on the summit.  I did not find any ribbon or pipe hanger remains of a cannister holder, but it was the high point of ground and it had been trod on by others.  I scouted around a bit but didn't see any other points that looked higher.

There were no views here (or anywhere during this day).  It was just a quiet day in the woods.  There were not even any chipmunks or small animals to catch Rev's attention.

Blue Ridge (3497') ... the eastern one. 

Rev had no issues going over or under blowdown.

It looks worse than it was.

Since it was not even noon yet, I set off to follow the ridge westward 3 miles to Blue Ridge (3436'). It took me another 2.5 hours to complete the ridge.  Again, the woods weren't super dense, so even though there was quite a bit of blowdown, I could walk around most of it.

This time on the summit, I found the old strap that used to hold the cannister.  Now it just held a stick that someone put there.   I was surprised that I was still not hungry or or thisty.  I made myself eat and drink a little so I wouldn't get dehydrated or lose energy.

  

Blue Ridge (3436')

It was now 2 PM and I wasn't too concerned about getting downhill before dark.  I made my way south for a short while then turned SE since the grade wasn't as steep as I thought it would be.  I skirted just north of Dishrag Pond and came back to the tote road.

This time I followed the tote road two miles until I came to where the NPT crossed, at which time I turned right and followed the NPT 0.9 miles until it was time to drop back down to Cedar River Road.  I got back to the car at 5 PM.  No views and not much in the wasy of fall color on this hike (mostly in the spruce), but two more ADK hundred highest done.  I'm up to 93 now!

A beaver pond alongside the tote road

NPT bridge over Brown Brook

Hike Stats:
Hike Distance:  11.3 miles
Hike Time:  8 hours
Total Vertical Gain:  ~2450'

The route (click imae to enlarge)

Brown, Panther and Buell Mountains - West Canada Lakes Wilderness - 10/4/15

Having climbed Little Moose Mountain the day before as a warmup, and having camped nearby on the Moose Plains Road, I was ready to tackle Brown (3425'), Panther (3865') and Buell (3786') mountains in the West Canada Wilderness.  I wasn't sure if this was a good plan or not, but I would bail if I was getting behind schedule.

I packed up camp and was on the trail at 7:40.  I parked on the far side of Wakely Dam.  Rev started barking to let me know there were 2 campers at the campsite nearest I where we would begin or hike on the logging road.  The2 guys were breaking route and they told me that they were on day 6 of a Northville-Placid through hike.  They were in good spirits and they were enjoying the nice weather.  Rev and I passed them and their 2 dogs and we didn't see anybody else all day.    

Pre-sunrise from the campsite.

I followed the logging road for about 2 miles before branching off to head for Brown Pond.   I located the drainage leading to the pond and I followed on the left side.  I soon discovered another logging road which paralleled the drainage and I happily walked it. 

A quick walk on the logging road.

This 2nd logging road ended at the field below.  There was evidence that perhaps this field was manmade and perhaps there was a farm or structure here in years past.  All that I was a watering can, a couple pails and some pipe.

Once past the field there were no more paths to follow and I made my way up the steeper grade towards the pond.  Nearing the pond I entered into pines and moss and a pretty ravine.  It got thick as I cut over to the right to gain access to the pond.

Nearing Brown Pond.

Brown Pond outlet.

The pond was very peaceful and beautiful and I stopped for awhile to enjoy it.  It had taken 2 hours to reach the pond.

    

Water leaving the pond and entering the outlet. 

Brown Pond.

The trees got denser as I left the pond and headed for the summit.  It was a little unpleasant for a short while but then the trees opened back up.  At 2 hours 45 minutes, I reached the summit and found a lime green ribbon tied to a tree.  It was now 10 AM and I was still feeling good.

The summit of Brown Mountain.

Rev and I pushed on towards Panther Mountain.  We had some difficulty finding a way to descend Brown.  We were heading directly south and perhaps that was not the best route.  Once we got down of Brown, I changed course to south-southeast.  I crossed a well maintained jeep trail in the col.  The woods were pretty open going up Panther and 12 noon found us on top of Panther.  An orange ribbon decorated a tree at the summit.

I didn't linger longer than to eat a sandwich.  There was one more peak to claim.  I followed the ridge for a bit but then sidestepped the dense peak that separates Panther and Buell midway on the ridge. Soon I found posted signs on the spine of the ridge.  Private lands lie on the eastern slope.  I stayed on the spine or on the eastern slope.

I reached Buell at 2 PM and was glad.  I was looking forward to going down.  I was getting a bit tired by this point.  I could not find a ribbon or anything to mark the summit, but I was pretty sure I found the true summit and I roamed around a bit.

View from Buell Mountain.

I didn't know how long it was going to take me to get back to the car but I looked at the topo map and headed in the direction that I thought would be the fastest route.  As I dropped down off of Buell, I discovered the remains of a mylar birthday balloon.  I had also seen one the day before on Little Moose Mountain.  These things seem to be the biggest source of litter in the woods.  I'm finding more and more of them and they don't disintegrate very quickly. 

Another balloon.

I was hoping my route out would take me less than 4 hours and I was thankful that I did it in 3.  An all day bushwhack involving 3 mountains feels almost comparable to a Great Range traverse.  Just before I regained the initial logging road to take me out I came upon a sell constructed beaver dam.

Beaver dam on the way out.

Five o'clock and I was back at the car happy to sit down.  I fed Rev and she stretched out in the back seat and she was out like a light.

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  13.2 miles

Hike Time:  8.5 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~3400' 

The route (click image to enlarge)

The route on the Nat Geo map.