Cascade & Porter Mountains - High Peaks Wilderness Area - 1/20/18

Leesa & I have been extremely busy with work thus far this year, but we took some time today to re-visit Cascade and Porter Mountains in the High Peaks Wilderness Area.  It was a warm day with temperatures in the mid-30's, but of course that doesn't apply to the summit of Cascade.  There was a moderate breeze that kept things feeling a little cooler.

We didn't arrive until 11:30, and weren't sure we'd be able to find a parking spot, but we were in luck.  We work our snowshoes the entire way.  They were required, but they weren't really needed.  Many folks were not wearing theirs on the way down, in favor of spikes to help with grip on the ice.

Of course since we started late, we saw many people coming down as we were going up.  We moved at a slow pace today and took 2 hours to climb to Porter.   On the way back, Rev and I dashed up Cascade.   Leesa opted to avoid the wind and get a small head start on us on the way down.

I always like to tag Cascade, even if the wind is whipping.  That last 0.2 mile transformation to climb above treeline can lead to a world of  isolation on the summit.   It always feels so cool to me.   You can tell by the final pictures below that it really is different up there.

Note:  - Leesa and I found some boots left behind in the mostly empty parking lot in the afternoon.  We picked them up in order to hopefully find their owner through social media.  If you left boots behind on Saturday 1/20 in the Cascade parking lot before 3:30 PM, send us a comment in order to reclaim them!          

A first peak below

Rev, leading the charge

Leesa climbing Porter

The summit of Porter

Leesa and Rev on Porter 

Rev heading for Cascade

Much windier on Cascade (as is often the case)

You can see the leash blowing and Rev fighting the wind

Pretty isolated looking on this day 

Leesa cautiously making her way down

Hike Stats:
Hike Distance: 5.6 miles
Hike Time:  4 hours
Total Vertical Gain: 2300'

The trails

Mount Skylight and Gray Peak - High Peaks Wilderness Area - 5/20/17

Saturday May 20th was the 125th Anniversary of the Adirondack Park.  With a great weather forecast, my dog Rev and I headed for Upper Works to climb Mount Skylight.  I hadn't been there in a few years and it's one of my favorite high peaks.

I got an an 8 AM start and was at the Herbert Brook lean-to at 10.  Four sleeping bags and gear were laid out, but the occupants were no doubt climbing peaks in the area.  I put on Rev's RuffWear harness with the carry handle and carried her down the ladder to the bridge at the Lake Colden outlet. We headed for the suspension bridge over the Opalescent and began climbing towards the Uphill lean-to.

It was 45 degrees at the start and there were no black flies all day.  I was comfortable hiking in a tee shirt and lightweight hiking pants.       

Opalescent River from the Calamity Brook Trail

Flowed Lands

A rocky sandbar on the Opalescent River. 

The suspension bridge over the Opalescent.  Rev has gotten used to these, although she still doesn't really like them. 

Although is was the Victoria Day Canadian holiday weekend, I saw less people than I thought I'd see. At the 3 hour mark I passed the Uphill Lean-to.  No signs of life there.  I went past the Feldspar lean-to and began climbing the Feldspar Brook Trail towards Lake Tear of the Clouds.  I began to see little pieces of snow spine; remnants of the compressed trail from a winter of snowshoe hikers.     

Rev inspecting Lake Tear of the Clouds

As I reached Lake Tear of the Clouds, and began to skirt around it to get to 4 corners,the spine spine became consistent and it was about 2 foot high.  I some places I could walk around it, but most places I could not.  Fortunately, the spine was strong enough that I didn't break through that often.

4 Corners.

At 4 Corners it is 0.5 miles to the top of Skylight.  Now it was an uphill climb on the snow spine. Still manageable, but I was thinking that coming downhill would be worse.  

Tree line.

As I reached tree line, the snow soon disappeared to to the exposure to the sun.  I reached the summit at 12:30 and I had the peak to myself!  In the distance, I could see at least 20 people standing on the summit of Mount Marcy.  I was glad to be on Skylight.  Rev and I sat down out of the wind and had lunch. 

Marcy from Skylight.

Mount Allen in the center background.

Zoom view of Mount Marcy.  You can see the people on the summit.

Going down the snow spine from Skylight wasn't bad if you went slow and didn't try to rush it.

Here is a picture of the snow spine.  Rev did fine on it.

It was still early afternoon so I decided to tack on Gray Peak.  The herd path up Gray didn't have as much snow since it faces south.

Skylight from Gray Peak.

A new summit sign on Gray Peak.

Mount Marcy from Gray Peak

After Gray, it was take to long the long 9 miles trek back the way I had come.  I began to see more people moving about.  Most of the were backpackers camping in the vicinity of Lake Colden and Flowed Lands.  It would have been nice to do the same and wake up Sunday Morning to do more climbing, but it was just a day trip for me.

Including my stops it was an 11 hour day, but well worth it.  Happy 125th to the Adirondack Park!

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  20.5 miles

Hike Time:  10.5 hours plus 30 minutes on Skylight

Total Vertical Gain:  ~4300'

    

The route...

Yard and Big Slide Mountains - High Peaks Wilderness - 3/22/15

I often that the path less traveled.  Today was no exception.  The chosen route was a loop hike of Yard Mountain and Big Slide.  I went clockwise from John's Brook Lodge via the Klondike Trail to the Yard to Big Slide Trail, when down the Slide Mountain Brook trail.

This adventure started from the Garden parking lot in Keene Valley.  I was surprised when I pulled in that there were only 3 parking spots available at just after 8 AM.  It appears that most of the vehicles had arrived the day before and folks had stayed overnight in tents or at the ADK facilities.  I thought that since the winter hiking season had ended, there would be more space in the lot.

I started in on the Phelps trail towards Johns Brook Lodge (JBL) and the only fresh tracks ahead of me were from 2 people on skis.  Between the Garden and JBL, I saw 15 people on their way out.  Some had spent the cold windy night in tents.  The wind chill had been sub-zero overnight.  The weather gods didn't get the word that it is now spring.

The closed up, winterized,  Johns Brook Lodge 

It's 3.5 miles to JBL, but it's an easy walk on a firm surface and I got there in an hour and 10 minutes.  From JBL, the Klondike trail is immediately behind the left side of the building.  There is is a sign denoting the start of the red marker trail. 

The Klondike trail goes from JBL to South Meadow  

I was excited to find the Klondike Trail had a firm base with 2" of fresh powder on top.  It was just about perfect for snowshoeing and it was very pretty with the fresh snow still in the trees.  On the entire loop starting at JBL and back to the Phelps Trail I only saw 2 people (a couple coming down the Slide Mountain Brook trail).    

Rev enjoying the Klondike Trail

The Klondike gets some skiers, but the trail to Yard doesn't get much traffic.  In winter it gets even less.  It certainly felt like the path less traveled today.  Once again, there was a base with a couple inches of powder on top, but as I got near the top (and along the ridge) the track was blown in.  I had to do a little route finding in a couple spots.  The trail is somewhat grown in, and is in need of some sidecutting.  Markers are also a little scarce.

I passed some nice ice flows on the south side of the first sub-summit.  The temperatures had been generally cold, but the strong sun is causing ice to form.

It's ice season

I had the best of both worlds today; I got to hike this loop that is little used, yet with a generally firm base until the ridge, I didn't have to break trail on the steep.  Re-breaking the wind blown ridge wasn't so bad; walking on a surface close to level.  I felt like I was far from civilization, yet I knew once I got to Big Slide, there would be fresh tracks,  I was thinking "this feels like a bushwhack, without the effort".  I got quite covered in snow from the tight trail and snow laden branches.  I also did a lot of walking hunched over  to get below branches when I could. 

Some views of pieces of the Great Range along the way 

Gothics!

A spring wonderland...

I believe this is Marcy

Sign at the top of Yard Mountain

the 2nd sign at the top

As expected, when I got to the summit of Big Slide, it looked like a quite a few people had reached the summit already this morning.  I was there at about noon.  I had the place to myself.  It had been windy on the ridge and I had been wearing my facemask, but the summit of Big Slide was sheltered from the wind and was getting hit by some strong sun rays.  It felt nice!  I gave Rev some food and we basked in the rays for a few minutes before heading down.

Rev on Big Slide

The Great Range

Giant Mountain in the background

Rev waiting patiently to leave Big Slide

... and then not so patiently!

Big Slide - A sunny hot spot...

The 0.3 mile descent from Big Slide to the first trail junction didn't seem as steep as I remembered.  I was able to stay on my feet, even with Rev pulling me.

  

Looking back up towards the summit of Big Slide

At the junction, I turned right to take the path less traveled.  Most people prefer to go back along the ridge over "The Brothers".  It's shorter and has better views.  I've done that enough times so I opted to turn right and take the Slide Mountain Brook Trail.

This trail, while pretty, has limited to no mountain views.  It does go along a nice brook (which was still frozen and snow covered today).  The trail has not seen any humans using snowshoes in the recent past.  All tracks in the snow were from bare booters.   Near the bottom, I ran into one such couple and easily passed them as they struggled without snowshoes .  Please folks, wear snowshoes when it's required.  I did my best to smooth out the trail with my snowshoes as I went down.

Once back on the Phelps trail, I had a easy 2.8 mile walk back to the car and saw no one.  Back at the parking lot around 2 PM and most of the cars were gone.  I signed out at the trail register and saw only 5 groups had signed in all day.

       

Rev climbing the Phelps trail towards the Howard Lean-to

Hike Stats:
Hike Distance:  12 miles
Hike Time:  5.5 hours
Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 3100'

The route and the elevation profile (click either to enlarge) 

The Nat Geo trail map