Nippletop & Dial Mountains - 2/4/12

Today was just the perfect winter day in the Adirondacks (except for the lack of snow).  I really wanted to go backcountry skiing, but the rain earlier in the week ruined that.  My only chance to find snow was to climb high, so that's what I did.

I parked in St. Huberts at the parking lot off of Rt 73 and hiked past the Ausable Club on the lake road to the Gill Brook Trailhead that leads past Elk Pass to Nippletop Mountain (4620').   I wore microspikes, but packed snowshoes in hopes of finding snow up high.



Sunrise approaching Round Mountain



I was on the trail by 7:15 and reached Elk Pass at 9:30.  At that point the trail climbs steeply about 1500 feet to the summit. 



Signage on the Gill Brook Trail



 I didn't run into any significant snow until I reached the summit ridge.  At that point it began to pile up quickly and I put on my snowshoes.   There was at least 2 feet of snow on the summit, maybe 3 feet.  Funny, since a half mile before the summit there was only a couple inches. 

Looking towards the summit of Nippletop


The weather was perfect.  Blue sky, sunshine, temperature in the mid 20's and no wind!  I was on the summit at 10:45 AM and no one was there.  Nippletop has great views of the entire Great Range to the north, views of Dix to the south and Giant and Rocky Peak to the east.



A great view of Dix Mountain





It really was a winter wonderland, but only at the summit





The southern half of the Great Range (Gothics on the right)



I left the summit of Nippletop and hiked northeast down the ridge past Dial Mountain (4020') and Bear Den Mountain (3399') as well as the shoulder of Noonmark Mountain before descending back to the Lake Road.

It was a great day, climbing 2 of the Adirondack 4000' peaks.  I was back at the car at 2:30.  Not bad for hiking 13 miles.  Tomorrow is supposed to be the same weather, so I'm planning on climbing Colvin and Blake (the same general area and 2 more of the 46 ADK 4000 footers).  They should take about the same time, or slightly less. I want to get back home in time to unpack so I can sit down and root for the Patriots in the Super Bowl! 

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  13 miles

Hike Time:  7.5 hours

Total Vertical Gain:  4510'

Elevation at Trailhead:  1250'

Dial Mountain Summit Elev.:  4020'

Nippletop Summit Elev."  4620'

My route shown in blue 



Stevens Mountain - Brant Lake, NY - 1/28/12

Yesterday  (Friday), I worked all day in the rain at Gore Mountain Ski Area.  The ski conditions actually became pretty good as the snow softened up.  I'll be there again tomorrow, so today was a hiking day.   Leesa and I didn't want to drive far so I suggested another mountain ridge north of Brant Lake that I hadn't hiked before.

This ridge consists of Number Eight Mountain, Little Stevens Mountain and Stevens Mountain.  The ridge runs east-west just north of First, Second and Third Brothers.  I knew that there were some open ridge views.

Today's weather was mid 30's with a mix of sun and clouds.  We parked on Pharaoh Lake Road and hiked north towards Pharaoh Lake about a half a mile before turning right (east) to bushwhack up Number Eight Mountain.  There is an open ridge just before reaching the summit where you get great views of Brant Lake to the south.  The summit is treed.  We continued on with a steep descent in hardwoods approximately 700 feet before climbing 500 feet to the top of Little Stevens.

The summit of Little Stevens also has a great view to the south.  We continued eastward toward Stevens Mountain.  The ridge between Little Stevens and Stevens only drops a hundred feet or so before climbing Stevens.

The summit of Stevens Mountain has a great open rock summit.  Great views every direction except north.  On the summit of Stevens we met my friend Dave who had arranged a 12 o'clock hookup with us on the summit.  After enjoying the summit for a bit, the 3 of us descended the steep southern face following a blue blaze trail marked by the boy scouts.  This trail leads to Scout property on Curtis Reed Road.   Dave had permission to park and hike from their property, so we returned via the blue blaze trail to his car.  He then brought us back to our car.

Hike Stats:

Hike Distance:  5.25 miles
Hike Time:  5 hours
Total Vertical Gain:  2250'
Trailhead Elev.:  930'
Summit Elev.  (Number Eight Mountain):  1942'
Summit Elev.  (Little Stevens):  1719'
Summit Elev. (Stevens Mountain):  2162'
Finish Elev.:  1140'      

Brant Lake from shoulder of Number Eight Mountain

Looking up towards the summit of Number Eight Mountain

  

In the distance, are First Second and Third Brother from right to left

Little Stevens from Number Eight Mountain

Number Eight Mountain from Little Stevens

Looking south from Stevens.  This  is a fantastic summit

Looking SW from Stevens 

Lots of rock and ice on the southern face of Stevens 

Our route shown in blue

The bushwhack on this trip was relatively easy.  We managed to avoid blowdown and thick pine forest.  The hike was quite similar to First, Second and Third Brother except that Stevens Mountain has quite a spectacular open summit compared to the others. 

We enjoyed the day.  We wore MICROspikes the entire hike.  The southern exposed ridge faces have very little snow,  only ice.  Even the shaded areas on the north side only had 4-5 inches of snow.