XC Ski - Upper Works to Avalanche Lake - 3/22/14

Yesterday the weather forecast for the north country was for temps of 25 - 35 degrees and 2-4 inches of snow ending by noon today.  That caused me to change any thoughts of hiking to thoughts of XC skiing.

 

My favorite ski trail is the Calamity Brook Trail to Flowed Lands, Lake Colden and Avalanche Lake.  I hadn't skied it at all this winter, so today would be the day.  The calendar says it's spring, but up at Flowed Lands and Avalanche Pass, it feels like mid winter.

 

I started out at exactly 10 AM.  There were 2 other cars in the lot.  One was there for a 3 day camping trip.  The other car was 2 guys headed for Mount Marshall.  I found out that they skied to the Calamity Leanto, then left there skis there and switched to snowshoes.  They took the trail around Flowed Lands.  I would have left my skis on and crossed Flowed Lands and left my skis at the Herbert Brook leanto, but that was their decision.

 

I had my dog Rev with me.  I used the flexi leash which I fastened to the hip belt of my ski pack so I could be hands free.  This works out pretty well.  She pulls hard enough that on the flat she can pull me right along.  She also helps me on the uphill.  On the downhill I pass her, but she runs fast enough that I don't have to worry about out-skiing the length of her flexi.    

 

 

The re-route portion of the trail

 

 

It was 25 degrees at the start.  I hoped that the temp wouldn't hover at freezing, causing the snow to stick to my skis.  I brought my Swix F4 wax just in case.  It had started snowing pretty hard as we started out.  I followed in the fresh ski tracks of the guys headed for Marshall.  The skiing was perfect.  There was a firm base with a light coat of fresh powder on top.

 



Flowed Lands

 

When we got to the Calamity Leanto at Flowed Lands we saw the skis left there and the snowshoe tracks on the trail around the lake.  Rev and I headed straight out across Flowed Lands.  Other skiers were in the area, but ski tracks out on the lakes only lasted 5 minutes before the wind blew snow back into them. 

 

 

My first stop at Flowed Lands was at the Herbert Brook lean-to to check on it's condition.  Last year Leesa and I officially adopted it in the ADK Adopt-a-Leanto program.  Everything looked good, so Rev and I continued on.

     

Herbert Brook lean-to at the end of the tunnel

 

Herbert Brook Lean-to

 

 

The lean-to in the distance

 

I forgot to bring my camera today, so all these pictures are from my cell phone.  Visibility wasn't great, and it was snowing, but that kind of added to the mystical feel of the pass.  I really love this location and could just spend days skiing back and forth here.

 

Rev and I headed out onto Lake Colden.  We ran into Shawn, the winter caretaker at the Interior Outpost.  He was out for a short ski with 3 women.

 

   

Lake Colden looking towards Avalanche Pass

 

 

Leanto at Lake Colden

 

The Interior Outpost

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the Outpost, we continued on towards Avalanche Lake.  We took the "ski only" trail, and soon we skied out onto the lake.  The wind out on the lake was really blowing.  To get an idea, you can see my You Tube video here.  It is hard to believe that the video was taken today, 3/22, in spring!

 

 



 

 

 I saw two women out skiing today who started at Adirondack Lodge who skied to Flowed Lands and then down past the Henderson Monument to the highwater bridge, then back to the ADK Loj.  That's about 20 miles of skiing!

 

 

 

 

Avalanche Lake

  

 

 

 

 

The Trap Dyke

 

The Trap Dyke looked amazing as always.  Sometime I have to climb it (not in winter).  At this point, I took a couple videos and it was time to turn around.

 

Look at the amount of snow on the Calamity Lean-to!

 

Skiing down the Calamity Brook Trail is great fun.  Especially under these perfect conditions.  I may be back tomorrow, who knows.  The good snow won't last much longer.

 

Heading back out

 

XC Ski Stats:

Trip Distance:  13.7 miles

Trip Time:  4.5 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 1500'  

 

My Route

Flowed Lands and the Herbert Brook Lean-to - High Peaks Wilderness, 1/26/14

Plan A for Sunday was to attempt to climb Hoffman Mountain in the Hoffman Wilderness via the Big Pond Trail from the south.  The extreme cold wind chill caused me to reconsider.  Hoffman is a long bushwhack and I decided I should save it for a day with no severe weather. 

What I decided to do instead was hike from Upper Works to Flowed Lands to check on my adopted lean-to at Herbert Brook.  I would also possible do a little exploratory hiking in the vicinity of Calamity Mountain.

I arrived at Upper Works at 9 AM and expected the parking lot to be at least half full.  I was surprised to find only one car that had just arrived.  Just getting out of the car was a couple that were headed for Mount Marshall.  While they were getting there gear together, Rev and I headed down the trail. It was -4 degrees F but the wind didn't feel bad at all. 

First look at the McIntyre's

The re-routed section of the Calamity Brook Trail

We moved briskly to stay warm and we reached Calamity Pond and the David Henderson monument in an hour and 15 minutes.  At this point, I decided to explore the area around Calamity Mountain and headed east towards the northern shoulder of the Calamity Mountain ridge.

The going was tough.  The trees were dense and the blowdown made it slow going.  I did get some glimpses of the McIntyre range.  My toes started to get cold because I wasn't moving very fast.  The true summit of Calamity would be saved for another day.

The McIntyre Range from the northern end of the Calamity Mountain ridge

Change of course needed!

I got covered in snow moving through this forest

I made my way back to the Calamity Brook Trail, shook myself off and continued on to Flowed Lands.  The ice was solid so Rev and I made our way across.  When we reached the Opalescent River, I wasn't so sure about crossing it.  There was broken up ice that had refroze.  I could see the remains of tracks crossing the river, but I wasn't comfortable with the feel of the ice so I turned back to take the trail around Flowed Lands.

  

Some 5 foot icicles

Our turn around point at the Opalescent River

Mount Colden framed between the trees

A classic panorama of Flowed Lands and Mount Colden 

While I was on the trail around Flowed Lands, I noticed I had lost one of my Hillsound Trail Crampons.  I backtracked a few minutes, but didn't see it.  I never did locatedit so it probably came off while I was bushwhacking.  I'll do my best to locate it on another trip.

Soon I was at the Herbert Brook lean-to.  Things looked good at the lean-to.  The sun was doing it's best to warm the area.  It felt nice.

Herbert Brook lean-to

All quiet

My tracks on Flowed Lands

Algonquin from Flowed Lands 

Rev... perhaps wanting to climb Colden?

Next, Rev and I walked around the southern end of Flowed Lands to the Opalescent lean-to and the Griffin lean-to.  The person I saw out on the trails all day was a DEC person (Jim) heading for the Interior Outpost at Lake Colden to spend 5 days in residence there.  I want that job!

Flowed Lands (Opalescent) lean-to

Griffin lean-to

It was now 1:30 and clouds were quickly coming in, as was forecast.  Rev and I watched the changing skies as we made our way back around Flowed Lands.  I'm always sad to be heading away from this area, it's just a magical place. 

  

Even with clouds, this is an amazing view

A last look for today

Avalanche Mountain and Mount Colden

3:30 found us back at the car and headed home ending another weekend in the ADK's.

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  13.4 miles

Hike Time:  6.5 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~ 1800'  

My approximate route

Herbert Brook Leanto - Flowed Lands - ADK High Peaks Wilderness - 8/9/13

This past weekend, Leesa and I spent Sunday working on our adopted leanto, the Herbert Brook Leanto in Flowed Lands, High Peaks Wilderness, Adirondack Park.  For background on our adoption, see this  post from April.

 

It's a good feeling to give something back... in this case to the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK).   Our goal was to stain the leanto.  We left the Upper Works trail head at 8 AM carrying 4 gallons of stain, brushes, oakum. a saw, garbage bags, some small tools, rags etc.    

 

We chose Sunday, partly because of the weather, and partly because there would be less people in need of a shelter on a Sunday night.  The weather was absolutely perfect.

 



A beforehand look

We arrived at the site at about 10:30.  The first item of business was to cut down a small Hemlock that was jammed into the right side of the leanto.  I also reattached a board to the cover of the "thunderbox" outhouse.  The screws had pulled out and the board was laying on the ground adjacent to the box.

 

 

Partially stained

Before beginning on the staining, we added oakum, where needed between the logs, to improve the  "weathertightness" of the walls.  We started on the staining at 11 AM.  I quickly realized that this would take longer than I thought.

 



 

 One of the issues was how to keep our dog Rev entertained while we were working.  We found that we pretty much had to take turns walking her while the other one stained.  She just wouldn't lay down and take a nap.  There was too much excitement about being in a different place.

 

 

 

For the staining, we were using 3" brushes.  5" Brushes might have helped us do the job a little faster.  Brushing stain on logs is slower than staining smooth siding due to the irregularities in the logs.  We did the inside first so the floor could start drying.  We did the whole inside except the underside of the cedar shake roof before we moved on to the exterior of the structure.  

 

 

Bottle Gentians in the meadow

 

 

The Opalescent is a short walk from the leanto.  The water is still cold, but is nice on the feet. 

 

 

Staining complete 

 

 It was 6 PM before our job was done.  Just before we finished, we had a visit from Ranger Shawn from the Lake Colden Interior Outpost.  He thanked us for the good work we've been doing on the leanto.   When we were done working we had no time to relax afterwards.  We still had our 5.3 mile walk back to the car.  We quickly packed the empty cans and our equipment and headed out, arriving back at the car just as darkness was setting in.   

 

 

Flowed Lands and Mount Colden at about 6:30 PM 

 

It was a good days work, but we were beat.  Staining a leanto is tough work!

 

 

We usually start at Upper Works to approach Flowed Lands