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

Cascade Mountain from Cascade Falls - 5/29/14

 

 Sandwiched between Upper and Lower Cascade Lake a the pretty little Cascade Lakes Day Use Picnic Area.  The entrance is tough to get into as you're heading west.  The entrance is on about a 150 degree angle and it goes downhill.  It's best to go to the Cascade Mountain trailhead, turn around and then pull into the picnic area as you are heading east. 

The picnic area is the site of the old Cascade House Hotel that existed from the late 1870's until the 1930's.  Behind the picnic area (to the southeast) lies a beautiful waterfall (Cascade Falls) and a slide (called the #7 slide since it is shaped like the #7 .  This slide was opened up by Hurricane Irene in August 2011.  The falls is known to be a great ice climbing in the winter.

There is an unmarked herd path that starts at the back of the picnic area that leads to the base of the falls in .3 miles.  I went in after work today to get some pictures of the falls and thought I would continue to the top of Cascade Mountain if the bushwhack wasn't too difficult.  I started out at 5:10 PM.

 

 

Cascade Falls in the background

 

It's an easy walk to the base.  I took some pictures there, then rather than scale the steep slide at the falls, I ducked into the woods on the left hand side a followed a faint herd path ascending the woods adjacent to the slide. 

 

Getting closer

 

On the base of the slide, heading for the base of the falls 

 

 

Alongside the falls

 

 

After getting up alongside the falls, I began to drift away as I climbed since the walking near the falls was getting increasingly rugged.  Once I reached an approximate elevation of 2800', I came across a herd path leading back to the falls.  At this elevation, I was above the falls and came out onto the #7 slide just above the falls.

 

Climbing the # 7 slide

 

The slide was not so steep at this point and I began climbing in the slide.  Soon I came to a fork and took the left branch which had more clean rock.   A couple pictures below show various points on the slide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I followed the slide up until the final headwall at which point I went into the woods on the right to skirt the headwall.

The final headwall can be seen at the end

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bypassing the headwall

 

 

 

 

Above the headwall, the bushwhacking was pleasant.  The woods were relatively open conifers and birches.  At about 3500' , I began to once again see various traces of herd paths.  They weren't needed.  The walking was easy.

 

Open woods above the slide

 

 

 

 



Approaching the summit of Cascade Mountain

 

At 6:30 I reached the summit.  It had taken 1 hour and 20 minutes to go 1.2 miles, but I had climbed 2000 vertical feet in that distance.  I spent about 10 minutes on the summit.  Nobody was there!  (See pictures below of the summit looking different directions). 

 







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After my summit photos on Cascade, I decided to high tail it over to Porter.  I trail ran the .7 miles in about 15 minutes.

 

The summit of Porter Mountain

 

I didn't linger on Porter, since it was now 6:45.  I turned around and went  back to the Cascade/Porter trail junction.  It was now 7 PM.  I decided to trail run down the trail rather than bushwhack my way back down.        

 

Zoom of Cascade from Porter

 

The trail was its' usual rocky, muddy, rooty self, but I got to the bottom in 30 minutes.  It was now 7:30 and I had the short walk on the road in the pass along Upper Cascade Lake to get back to the car.  That took 15 minutes, and I was on my way home at 7:45.

 

I must admit that I am enjoying the bushwhacks more than the trail hikes; especially in the high peaks, where the trails get so much use that they are somewhat of a mess.

 

 

This was a fine trip to the top and the first time I haven't used the trail to get there.

 

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  4.7 miles

Hike Time:  2.5 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  ~2250' 

 



 

The route (the bushwhack portion was from the lakes to the summit of Cascade)
(Click image to enlarge)

Cascade & Porter Mountains - 12/31/12

Cascade & Porter Mountains, located between Lake Placid and Keene, NY are the easiest Adirondack high peaks to climb.  They are also probably the most climbed peaks due to their accessibility.  This doesn't make them lesser mountains.  Cascade has a great open rock summit with fantastic views.  Porter is treed, but some views are possible.  They are also a nice pair to hike on a winter day.

On this last day of 2012, it was in the mid 20's and the sky was kind of funny.  There were pockets of sun, pockets of dark clouds, and where I was, it was socked in with clouds.

Leesa was working today and we were going to let our dog Rev stay home with her to rest.  Rev had been breaking trail for 5 straight days and we thought she would appreciate a day to sleep.  Quite wrong.  Rev didn't like the thought of me going without her and she made herself known by squeezing between me and the door.  Along came Rev.  That caused a change of plan.  I was going to at the Adirondack Mountain Reserve in St. Huberts and ski the lake road to the Weld trail, then climb Sawteeth.  It would be a good option since dogs aren't allowed on AMR property.  Since Rev "needed" to come along, Cascade and Porter became the new plan.  

The Cascade/Porter trail junction at 2.1 miles from Route 73

First good view of the summit (on a clear day)

I've been up Cascade and Porter many times, but never during the official winter season, so these 2 could increase my winter count.  I arrived at the trailhead at 9:30.  There were 5 cars ahead of me.

I put Rev's red coat on her, clinked on her leash, and she was ready to pull me up the mountain.  We passed 4 of the 5 groups on the way up.  The 5th group, a couple from the Syracuse area, were just coming off the Cascade summit cone when we reached it. 

The summit.  No visibility at all.

As Rev and I began to to climb the rocky summit cone, it was if we were stepping into a cloud, a snowy, windy cloud.  You could no longer see anything.  Even snowshoe tracks from minutes before were gone, windswept.  The summit had no familiarity.  I had to walk carefully to make sure I knew where I was.  Rev was surprisingly willing to go up to the summit, but we didn't stay long.  At the top, we did an about face and quickly retreated to the cover of the trees.

Rev forging ahead to Porter Mountain

In a minute, we were back to the trail split for Cascade/Porter.  I noted that while the Cascade trail had been stampeded, the Porter trail had only been broken in by several persons.  I thought the walk to Porter was extremely beautiful, and in fact a nicer walk than in the summer. 

The summit of Porter is flanked by signs on either end indicating distances to trailheads



One of the couples I saw along the way left there packs at the Cascade/Porter trail junction during there trek to Porter.  When they got back to there packs, and went to have a snack, they found out that a rodent had eaten into some of their trail food!

  

Rime ice, but the summit being in the trees felt mostly sheltered

The Porter Mountain summit is treed and nicely sheltered from the wind.  It is a nice summit to enjoy the current winter wonderland.  Once back to the trail split, Rev and I bombed down the mountain.  (She pulls up the mountain and down)!  We were back at the car in less than an hour.

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  5.7 miles

My Hike Time:  2 hours, 45 minutes

Total Vertical Gain:  ~2265'  

My route for the day shown in blue (click to enlarge)