MY FIRST WINTER ADIRONDACK HIGH PEAKS

After Christmas and before New Years, Dan and I hiked our first winter Adirondack high peaks! Hiking all 46 Adirondack high peaks is a distinction in itself (I'm at 30), but hiking all 46 high peaks in the winter is on another level.

Ever since finishing my thru-hike in August, I've been keen on getting back to the mountains whenever I can (they don't exactly exist in the midwest) and I've been looking for new hiking goals to keep me motivated until the next thru-hike, so I figured winter break was the perfect time to get my Winter 46 started.

On the day Dan and I hiked, we left early in the morning to drive to Porter and Cascade - two mountains I've actually hiked in the summer before (Porter, 2013 / Cascade, 2013). Even though I've never done any "real" winter mountain climbing, the fact that I'd hiked them before coupled with roughing it in the woods for 5+ months was all it took to erase my worries. My parents felt differently (they acted like we were going to get stranded for days...), but Dan and I knew we were prepared and did our best to convince them so.

The hike itself was super icy and pretty short in terms of miles (6 miles), but it was so good! Given all the physical activity and all the layers, both Dan and I were so warm the entire time and even though the views were limited, the winter scenery more than made up for it. I love the city, but it reminded me how much I love the mountains.

Four Adirondack High Peaks

 
















Hi there and happy Wednesday! I'm here today to share some pictures from the hiking trip I took the weekend before moving to Chicago.

My brother Dan and I had wanted to go hiking, but hadn't gotten around to making plans, so when my friend Mountain Goat reached out about hiking, it seemed like the perfect time to make some plans. In less than a week, the three of us had plans made and were on our way up to the Adirondacks late on a Friday evening. The following morning, we started our twenty mile hike over Mount Marcy (which I've hiked twice before), Haystack (which I hiked once before), as well as Basin, and Saddleback.

The morning was brilliantly sunny with comfortable temperatures. For the first six or seven miles, I was going at a brisk 3.5 mile per hour clip and the guys were moving even faster than me! By the time we got to the base of Marcy, clouds had rolled in and our pace began to slow to something more sustainable to take on the climb.

When we reached the summit of Marcy, we stopped briefly to take in the highest point of New York State before the wind got to be too much, and then continued toward Haystack. After Haystack we stopped for lunch, our legs all getting tired. As much as Mountain Goat and I hated to admit it, we knew were starting to lose the trail legs we worked so hard to build on the Appalachian Trail, just weeks earlier.

After lunch we continued on to Basin and Saddleback. We climbed up Basin to find a foggy summit. Then we made our way up Saddleback. I had been warned that it was one of the steeper climbs in the Adirondacks. I had initially brushed it off since my mom was the one the warning came from, but she was right. Saddleback had one serious ascent! It was a pure rock scramble with few spots to grab, but it was one of those times when harder equaled more fun (or that's how I felt about it anyway!). The three of us made it up to the sightless summit after lots of maneuvering, and then down the slides on the other side of the mountain.

We arrived into camp exhausted around 6:30, had a quick dinner, and all retired to our tents by 7:15. In my day-to-day life I can be such a night owl, but early bedtimes and being in tune with the rhythm of nature and falling asleep when the sun goes down is such a nice change. It's actually one of my favorite parts of hiking.

The following morning we woke up with the sun and only had a quick three mile hike out. Once in town, we gorged ourselves on breakfast at The Noonmark Diner and then were on our way home.

As for my quest to hike all 46 Adirondack High Peaks (those over 4000'), I'm now at 31. Given that I'm now in Chicago, it might be some time before I hike another, although I'm really hoping to try out some winter hiking in the Adirondacks this year, so you never know!

Hiking Weather

This Christmas was certainly  a unique one with the unseasonably warm weather. The day we got to the Adirondacks, it rained and rained and rained. It never really stopped raining actually.There was no snow anywhere in sight and I still can't believe I didn't ski at Christmastime this year. This is the first time in twelve years that I haven't skied at Christmas. Quelle horreur indeed! 

Instead of skiing, we decided to make the best of it and enjoy the outdoors by going off for a hike up Crane Mountain. The fog didn't do much in the way of providing the spectacular views which Crane Mountain is known for, but it was still beautiful in its own dreamy way. Something about fog is so romantic to me in that olden days kind of way. What do you think? 

Four More Adirondack High Peaks!

Earlier in October, Dan agreed to come hiking in the Adirondacks with me after I pestered him about it all summer long. Over slightly more than twelve hours, we hiked four different high peaks - Colvin, Blake, Dial, and Nippletop - which spanned almost twenty miles. Here are some snippets from our adventurous day:

We hit the road up to the high peaks at 5:30 am. 

And hit the trail at 7:00 am. It was almost freezing. Definitely something I haven't encountered in awhile! 

We decided to make thefirst part of our hike Mount Colvin and Blake Peak. 

Shortly after we started to gain elevation, we reached the frost line. Definitely was not expecting that! The rocks were icy and the air was much cooler, which made the hike a lot more technical, but more exciting too. 

We had planned on eating breakfast atop Colvin, but once we arrived it was freezing and blustery so we took to eating these chocolate pomegranate candies Dan is obsessed with and kept moving along to Blake. 

The trail down Colvin and up Blake was slippery, rocky, and steep. 

This is the top of Blake. It gets the award for worst Adirondack high peak view to date. It did make for a warm brunch spot though.


Despite the lackluster peak, the climb down Blake had some nice views.

When we made it back atop Colvin, it was less windy so we took some time to soak in the frosty views before making our way to part two of our hike.




From part 2. Aka: The peak of Nippletop.

Dial came soon after Nippletop. Four peak done!

The sun was still bright in the sky and we started our descent. 

The trail twisted and turned and went up and down, and what seemed like an easy finish didn't seem so easy anymore. We climbed a non-high peak just as the sun was setting and since we knew hiking out in the dark was inevitable, we decided to watch the sun set. 

I think it might be one of my favorite hiking moment to date.

And then we kept hiking. The trail went on and on and on longer than either of us could've predicted. It turns out we weren't the only ones who made the same mistake though (we counted more than ten others doing the same thing we were!). Finally we made it back to the trailhead, signed out, and went to our beloved Noonmark Diner before returning to North Creek.