8.15-16 — Hiking the Adirondacks
Day 1 — Cascade and Porter, 6.2 miles
For the second straight year, I made a side trip from my usual New Hampshire vacation to hike in New York’s Adirondacks. Similar to the White Mountains in my every-year summer utopia, the ‘Dacks have a 4,000-footers club comprised of 46 peaks. I had knocked off eight in tackling the Great Range in 2012. My goal was to add five during two days this year.
After a drive that took over 5 hours on back roads in New Hampshire, Vermont then New York, I arrived at the trailhead for Cascade and Porter Mtns. at 3pm on Thursday, Aug. 15. I wasn’t too concerned about the late start because, according to my guidebook, these were two of the easiest 4,000-footers. Still, I slipped into my trail running shoes and took off at a brisk pace. Very quickly, my research was affirmed as I passed dozens of young kids on the trail. Yep, this was the easy one.
The trail was wide almost the entire 2.1 miles to the junction and offered plenty of different routes. Heck, the trickiest part was choosing which rocks or roots to step on (or over). Upon reaching the split — after having passed over 100 people — I decided to do the longer 0.7 miles to Porter first.
And it was MUDDY. Yep, the hardest part of my hike was keeping my shoes from being submerged in the thick, brown stuff (which I only kind of succeeded at). On top of Porter’s small but rocky summit, I was treated to views in all directions. I met a nice couple from Albany who talked briefly about their time living in D.C. I met another older couple with a good sense of humor. When the woman sneezed, she said she did it on every summit. God Bless!
After mostly eluding the mud on the return hike to the junction, the 0.3 miles up Cascade was fun and almost entirely on open rock. It was steep. It was distracting. And I had a fun time searching for each yellow blaze. Once on top, I had the wide-ranging views all to myself. Imagine that. On a summit that had seen probably 500 people during the day, by 5pm, it was EMPTY sans for a swooping raven who I thought was very interested in my gluten-free blueberry muffin. After taking it all in, I headed down, returning to the car around 6:30pm.
I then drove the 8 or so miles to the ADK Loj campground at Heart Lake, which is located where the trailhead to Algonquin Peak (5,114 feet, second highest in the ADK) begins.
The ADK grounds are really cool. Not only are there campgrounds, but there’s a lodge similar to the ones in the White Mountains in terms of services provided (if not elevation). There are also canvas cabins similar, I imagine, to the ones in Yosemite’s Curry Village, lean-tos, and a High Peaks Center with a little store, showers and restrooms.
Oh, and the lake. The small lake sits just below the lodge with great view to the west of a nearby ridge. There’s a dock with four chairs overlooking the water, a swimming area, and for a small fee you can rent kayaks and canoes. It’s a really cool facility.
Day 2 — Wright, Algonquin, Iroquois, 11.7 miles hiked
I was surprised at how deeply I slept Thursday night and didn’t emerge from my tent until 8am on Friday. It was fairly warm outside and I felt overly dressed in my fleece. After buying a new gas canister from the nearby store, I boiled water for oatmeal and had a filling breakfast. I geared up for the hike and was on the trail by 9am.
The first 3.4 miles on the Algonquin Trail to the junction for Wright Peak wasn’t all that different from the 2.1 miles I had hiked past the swarms of kids, dogs, and a blind person the day before — wide, rocky, rooty, not that steep. I was surprised when I came upon the spur for Wright (at 3.4 miles) after an hour and 15 minutes. Wow, I was making good time.
The 0.4 miles up to Wright’s 4,580-foot peak was no joke, with several steep rocky slabs to navigate before the trail completely emerged from the trees. From there, it was more steepness. As I huffed my way up the granite, I was impressed by a unique cairn that looked more like a concrete pillar than a pile of rocks. It had clearly been expertly constructed. On top of Wright, I chatted for awhile with a summit steward in charge of spending most of the day on the summit making sure people stay off the fragile vegetation and answering any questions. The guy told me how Mt. Colden (just to the south) had its northern side stripped of trees by a recent hurricane (he thought Irene) and how it wasn’t that difficult to hike up the slabs. He also identified all the nearby peaks and spoke on the importance of using microspikes on hikes beginning in October (maybe in my future). He then took a few photos of me on top and wished me well.
The 0.9 miles up Algonquin was what I expected — STEEP. But it didn’t seem particularly long. Maybe doing ascents such as the brutal 1,200 feet in 0.8 miles up South Twin has steeled me for such things. In any case, when I reached the summit, I didn’t stay for long, choosing to go ahead and get Iroquois and then relax on my way back.
After a fairly easy 1.1 miles down and up, I came upon the last stretch of hiking to the summit of Iroquois (4,850) and noticed two girls standing in front of a rocky ledge. They offered the challenge to me and, aided by my long legs, I slid my way up it. I didn’t want to interfere with their hike, so I continued the hundred feet or so to the open summit. But after a few minutes of not seeing them, I walked back to the ledge and they were still standing there, smiling, clearly having not figured out a way up. This is not to paint me as a savior by any means, but I offered my hand to one of them, and she grabbed it and climbed up the rock. She then helped her friend up. I’m sure they would have made it without my assistance, but it still felt good to do something for someone else on a mountain (a rare occurrence during my hiking adventures). As we chatted on top, I learned that the girls live in the Keene area where many of the high peaks are located. It was cool to meet some natives. We took our summit photos and then they parted for Algonquin. After knocking out a chapter of my Tony La Russa book, I did the same.
Hiking one 5,114-foot mountain is no joke. Doing it twice in an hour’s span? Very serious stuff. That’s what I did, although the steep ascent over flat rock slabs didn’t seem too bad. Maybe that’s because I knew I could chill on the summit for as long as I wanted, basically, and then it’d be all downhill. I love being on summits, but I’m not one to linger forever (I’ve just got this thing about moving) so after maybe 30 minutes, I was on my way down.
About a half mile from the summit, as I studied a long, steep, and somewhat wet rock slab, an older woman who was letting me pass gave a tip — act like you’re skiing. At first it didn’t register, but then I got it and used the advice the rest of my descent. If you keep your boots sideways as you walk down the steepest rock slabs, you’re much less likely to slip and bite the hard stuff.
Great advice!
I got back to the campground around 4:30pm, giving me a few hours to relax before darkness. I enjoyed the time as much I could, visiting the High Peaks store, going for a refreshing swim in Heart Lake (just a little colder than Squam in New Hampshire), taking a hot shower (a quarter buys you a minute!), then cooking some soup to go with cheese and crackers and finally taking my book to read on the dock.
As the sky darkened, the few clouds over the close western ridge gave the sky an ominous yet comforting look. I don’t know how else to describe it. There weren’t too many stars, but that was OK. I couldn’t think of another spot better to take in my last night away from reality (and before the insane traffic of the next day’s drive!!).
TOTAL MILES HIKED: 17.9 (about 62 total for two-week trip)
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