Visiting (the) Santa(s) in September

Headed down to the Adirondacks for the weekend. Saturdays hike was to the Santanoni range. This is one of the hikes I have been dreading since I started going to the Daks to climb. It’s a long (long) hike over rough terrain. Things started badly as – on the drive down Friday evening – I found all the grocery stores closed so I had to load up on food supplies from a gas station minimart for my Saturday lunch - slim pickins...

Started just after 6am and headed up a short stretch of gravel road to the main trail. Soon I was off the trail and onto a herdpath for Santanoni. It was steep going and the weather was looking grim as the sun came up – heavy overcast clouds with a ceiling of ~ 4000ft. When I finally got up on to the ridgeline (at ~ 4500ft) I found the far (west) side of the ridge clear! Maybe things were looking up!! Tagged the summit and then waited in hopes that the neighbouring peaks to the east would poke out through the cloud cover but it wasn’t to be.

Headed off for Couchsachraga, which is a small bump on the Santanoni massif that involves an out and back hike from the main ridge with a lot of down (and then some up… and then back down and back up again to the main ridge!). The trail out to Couch wasn’t too bad and the weather had cleared nicely. Lots of down, a (thankfully) mostly dry swamp at the bottom and then a short climb to the summit but I was surprised at how tight the trail was. This was the longest time I’ve spent on a herdpath (unofficial trail only “lightly” maintained by the 46ers club). The herdpaths are maintained by agreement with the DEC in order to concentrate us hikers onto one route rather then creating a maze of paths on the fragile high peak vegetation. They are usually great trails especially considering the light maintenance they receive. This one required lots of plowing through the narrow scrub on the way through the bush. Never any problem finding my way but narrow and scratchy the whole way…. and a long climb back up to the main ridge again.

Finally on my return to the main ridgeline I climbed up Panther Peak and met a guy from Rochester sunning on the summit rocks. He had been given a “free pass” from his wife to take the weekend on his own (he has a family of five girls!) to commune with nature, howl at the moon, clear his soul etc – whatever his Y chromosome required. He’d spent most of the weekend alone at a nearby leanto and clearly this wasn’t what he was used to in his household so he was eager to chat. It was a beautiful afternoon in a beautiful spot so I wasn’t in a rush to leave. After about an hour we parted ways and I made the long descent back to the car.

Strangely dark clouds started to form as I descended the east side of the ridge – a real storm maker this peak was turning out to be and I lifted my pace to get out before any rain came. Somewhere along the way out I ran out of water but decided that I should push for the car rather than stopping to filter some water from a nearby stream. This may have been my last mistake of the day as dehydration effects slowed me in the final walk out. By the time I crawled (not literally) into the parking lot I was done (physically and literally). I had planned to head to camp before making dinner but I was so hungry I pulled out the stove and made dinner on the spot. A big bowl of pasta, a beer, lots of water and half a Hershey bar (all I had left) later I was ready to consider setting up camp. Lucked into a nearby camp spot and spent an early night as I tried to read for a bit but was quickly overcome by sleep.

Santa played a strong role in my dreams that night....

Santanoni 32 of 46
Couchsachraga 33 of 46
Panther 34 of 46