#27 Wright Peak and #28 Iroquois Peak

Less than a week after the miserable Mt. Marcy hike, I headed back over to the Adirondacks to meet my dad to hike Wright, Algonquin, and Iroquois.  Although I had already hit Algonquin, hiking over the top of it is the only way to get to Iroquois.  I also hadn't hit Wright.  My dad had done both Wright and Algonquin, so he planned to skip Wright and focus on getting over Algonquin to get to Iroquois.

Though the weather wasn't quite as bad as the Mt. Marcy day, it wasn't great.  It was misting at several points throughout the day, but never truly full-on raining, which prevented the trail from getting too wet to travel on.  One we hit the junction for Wright Peak about 3 miles in, I ventured off to tag the summit and my dad continued on to Algonquin.  As you can see, it was so cloudy on Wright I couldn't tell what direction was what!

After tagging the summit I headed back down to the trail junction and up to Algonquin, where I found my dad huddled behind a few rocks trying to stay out of the wind.  We headed along the herd path about a mile or so to Iroquois.  Very little views from Iroquois, but another summit tagged!  We headed back up to Algonquin and made our way back down to trail to our car.  The waterfall below would have been nicer with some sun in the background, but still pretty beautiful.  

 

Not the greatest day weather-wise, but two more high peaks under my belt and a great day up in the high country with my dad!

#25 Phelps Mountain and #26 Mount Marcy, New York

In early August of 2013, the Presidential traverse crew teamed back up to tackle a proposed 25+ miles and 6 or 7 high peaks in the Adirondacks.  Unfortunately, the weather was not as kind to us this time around and we had to cut the day short.  

We started at the Adirondack Loj and hiked in to Marcy Dam.  It was cloudy, overcast, and raining slightly.  We headed up the trail toward Mt. Marcy and took the side trail to Phelps Mountain.  It was a pretty miserable 1.2 mile stretch up to Phelps with the entire trail basically turning into a waterfall.  At the top of Phelps the three of us decided that we'd continue on to Marcy and then call it a day, forgetting about the 4 or 5 other peaks we initially wanted to hit.  We decided that there would be plenty of other opportunities.

The trail up to Mt. Marcy, though long, is quite manageable.  There really aren't too many overly steep sections.  On this particular day, though, it was cold, rainy, and view-less, and we were all ready to tag the summit and head back down.  After Sara dislocated her knee scrambling over a rock at the summit of Marcy, we all agreed that we had made the right decision to shorten up the day.  The only bad part was that we were now 7.5 miles from the car with a group member with a dislocated knee.  Fortunately, as mentioned before, the trail wasn't too difficult, and Sara was a trooper.  We all made it down in one piece.

All in all, it was great to be at the high point of New York State, but I'm looking forward to being able to hike Marcy on a clear day, tagging some other summits along the way.  No pictures.  It was miserable.

#20 Dix Mountain, #21 Hough Peak, #22 South Dix Mountain, #23 East Dix Mountain, and #24 Macomb Mountain, New York

Sam and I got up nice and early one summer day in late July of 2013 and cruised over to the southern Adirondacks to tackle the Dix range.  We had a commitment later in the afternoon that we had to be back for and were attempting to pack in 5 peaks and 17 miles, so we had to push the pace as much as possible.  This was pretty easy at first, considering the first 2 or 3 miles is basically a flat walk in to get to the base of the mountain.  But then, the climbing began.  We climbed straight up to the "Beckhorn" and then around to the summit of Dix, putting us somewhere between 4 and 5 miles.  Here is Sam at the top.

From here we took the herd path, a non-maintained or well-marked trail over to Hough Peak, which gave a few views back toward Dix but nothing spectacular.  We continued on our way to South Dix mountain along the herd path.

From here, we took a herd path about 1.2 miles east to get to East Dix Mountain.  At this point in the day the clouds were starting to burn off a bit and we had some better views.  Nothing had been to challenging at this point, though because the herd paths are not maintained they are quite narrow, which makes jogging difficult.  

From here we backtracked to South Dix and headed along the rocky ridge to Macomb Mountain.  Things became a bit more difficult here as the trail is poorly marked along the ridge and it took us a while to navigate the rocky section and find the trail again.  We found it, and summitted Macomb, which was a fairly disappointing view, so no pictures.  On the way down from Macomb, however, things got interesting.  We hit a massive rock slide, pictured below, and it took quite a while to make it down in one piece.  

 

Once at the bottom, having bashed our ankles several dozen times each, we struggled to find the herd path back down to the original trail.  The map showed the herd path following close to a brook and we found the brook, so we decided to follow the brook back down to the trail.  It was rough.  A lot of ankle-breaking rocks and slips into pools of water.  But we finally made it back to the trail!  We jogged the remaining 2 miles back to the car, finishing the 17 mile day in 7 hours.  It was quite the day!

#13 Mt. Madison, #14 Mt. Adams, #15 Mt. Jefferson, #16 Mt. Washington, #17 Mt. Monroe, #18 Mt. Eisenhower, and #19 Mt. Pierce, New Hampshire

What's the best way to celebrate a birthday?  Yes, agreed.  A Presidential traverse!  It actually fell a few days after my birthday, but I still considered it a birthday gift to myself.

On a Saturday night in late July I departed Burlington with two loyal hiking companions for the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  We dropped off one car at the end spot of the hike and spent an electricity-free night at an old farmhouse on Martin Meadow Pond in Lancaster, NH.  It which was wonderful.  We arose at 5:30am the next morning to hit the trail.

We ended up starting at 6:45am from Appalachia off of Route 2.  We headed up the trail toward Mt. Madison and when the trail split toward the Madison Hut, the most common way to get to the summit, we headed left on the Watson Path, one of the more challenging and exhilarating trails I've been on!  It was about 1.2 miles from the junction to the summit, with the last 1/2 mile or so out on an open ridge.

On top of Madison, the views were killer.  We snapped some photos, chatted with a few AT thru-hikers, and continued on our way.  Next was Mt. Adams, followed by Mt. Jefferson, a quick ascent of a "non-qualifying" peak called Mt. Clay before the assault on Mt. Washington.  To be honest, it was the least satisfying part of the hike.  The summit was swarmed with people who had taken the toll road or the cog railway to the top.  A few quick sips of water and we carried on our way.

We stopped for some snacks at the Lakes of the Clouds Hut before hitting Mt. Monroe, Mt. Franklin (another "non-qualifying" peak), Mt. Eisenhower, and finally Mt. Pierce.  We considered hitting Jackson and Webster as well, but as we had already hiked nearly 20 miles and we had all done Jackson and Webster before, we decided to head back down to the car.

All in all, we logged 21 miles, 9 peaks (7 official 4,000 footers), in 10.5 hours.  A delightful dinner at the now fully powered farmhouse and a relaxing evening was the perfect end to the perfect day.

Unfortunately we focused so much on pounding out the miles and soaking in the views that we took very few photos.  Here are a few. 

#12 Mount Katahdin (Baxter Peak), Maine

This past summer I took a wonderful trip up to Maine for some hiking and some down time.  I spent a few days in Acadia and decided to round out the trip with a jaunt up Baxter Peak, the highest point on Mount Katahdin.  Had I realized that Hamlin Peak, also on Katahdin, was itself a separate 4,000 footer I would have hit that one as well.  Oh well.  Another excuse to get back up to Baxter State Park.

We left mindboggling early from our campsite in Acadia and drove to Baxter, setting off on the trail at about 9:30am.  The park rangers told us we may not have enough time to make it all the way up to Baxter and back (10 miles round trip) and then to our campsite (2.5 miles from the parking lot), but we were feeling ambitious. 

It was a weird day, weather-wise.  The clouds were moving in and out so fast that we didn't have many lasting views, but a few breathtaking glimpses at the acres and acres of land within BSP was worth the trip.  The worst part?  The black flies.  Oh man, it was nearly unbearable coming down "The Saddle," a steep decent into Chimney Ponds Campground.  After that it wasn't so bad until the sun went down.  

The highlight of the hike was most definitely the Knife Edge, a mile long section of trail separating Pamola Peak and Baxter Peak.  It was essentially a rock scramble over a series of mini-peaks with unstable footing that at times made me believe I may be falling to my death.  In an odd way, it was a killer feeling.  Nothing like the fear of death to make you feel alive!

All in all, it was an awesome trip, culminating with conquering the highest peak in Maine!  Lesson learned?  Next time I go to Baxter (and there will be a next time) I won't go in late June, which apparently is the worst time of year for black flies.

# 11 Mount Mousilauke, New Hampshire

On a summer weekend last June, I trekked down to Hanover, NH and was treated to a delightful hike of Mt. Mousilauke in the southern section of the NH high peaks with some wonderful people.  The views weren't spectacular as it was a cloudy day, but fortunately the clouds were high enough above the summit that we were at least able to see west to Killington and up to the Franconia Ridge.  I can't remember the exact mileage, but it believe it was somewhere between six and seven miles.  I was also treated to a lovely dinner at the Mousilauke Ravine Lodge, staffed and operated by past and present members of the Dartmouth Outing Club.  

No pictures on this one.  As I'm chronicling these hikes I'm realizing that I need to do a better job of taking pictures.  Ah well.

#9 Giant Mountain and #10 Rocky Ridge Peak, New York

On an early June day in 2013, I got up early, drove down to Rutland, and ran a 10k with my dad.  After going out to breakfast, I started heading back up to Burlington.  However, the weather was just too good to pass up, so I dipped west and headed across the lake to the Adirondacks.  I had no plans and no particular peaks in mind, so I parked at the first high peak parking area I hit on route 73, which ended up being Giant Mountain.

I had a ton of energy and a very lightweight pack, so I kept a quick pace up the mountain.  While Giant gives an amazing panorama of the other high peaks, I was a little disappointed that it wasn't a 360 view.  About .2 of a mile from the summit there is a side trail that heads over to Rocky Ridge Peak after about 1.2 miles.  The trail dips way down and then way back up.  I'm guessing it loses and then gains over 1,000 feet in that short 1.2 miles.  However, I was rewarded on Rocky Ridge with stunning 360 views, looking east across the lake to the Green Mountains and west into the high peaks.  I was also the only person on the summit, which is always a plus. 

Another killer day in the high country.