Tuesday, August 10, 2010

A visit to the MacIntyres

Finally a cool of couple of days this past weekend in this otherwise sultry summer. Mike and I had discussed a hike to get Allen off his list and Saturday looked like a prime day to make a go of it. Alas I got derailed with an unavoidable appointment and Mike went it alone with roaring success. At home on Saturday I was a little disappointed at missing a good day for a hike. Sunday didn’t look near as good with risks of thunder showers after lunch but I decided to go for it anyway. Besides, I had a new body I wanted to test out. Umm, rereading that last sentence perhaps I should clarify, I have a new camera body – my personal body is the same old slightly scruffy one I have had for a while now. Drove down to Lake Placid to camp at South Meadow Saturday night. Perhaps an early start would get me up and down before any lightening was spotted.

Sun on Wright
Early morning light is worth the effort

South meadow was jammed with a Saturday night crew but I found a few square inches to jam my tent and set the alarm for 3:30am… perhaps I would get up and make a sunrise summit the next day. Alas when the bell went I looked to the sky and could see not a single star  so I went back to bed for another hour. Didn’t sleep much and decided to get going early to stay ahead of the crowds that would surely be out on such a prime summer day. Made the short drive to the Loj and was the first to sign in on the day. Headed up the Algonquin trail with my headlamp burning bright. Sure enough, still hiking in the trees, the clouds parted and I would have got a sweet sunrise had I left at my original time. Ah well, next time for sure. At the junction for Wright I made the quick decision to pop up and see if I could find the plaque dedicated to the B47 bomber crash in 1962. Short hike up above the trees and now the warm humid air gave way to a cold, blasting wind. Donned a jacket and made my way out onto the summit to look for the memorial. Indeed after a short search I found the right boulder just to the north of the main summit with the plaque and the small collection of debris left behind. For those curious the trail comes around the south side of the summit and the plaque is over on the north side. A few small cairns show a path down to it.

Wright wreck debris
Small memorial

Back on the Algonquin trail I headed up confident that I would have the rare treat of the summit of Algonquin to myself. The last few pitches of the trail are pretty steep but I kept looking back to see if anyone was chasing me up the trail. Plodded up the last pitch only to find two individuals packing up camp on the summit. They were spread out over a nice pitch of rare, arctic grasses and were tromping back and forth collecting their gear.

“Ummm, you fellas know it’s illegal to camp above 4000 feet in the summer?”
“Oh yeah, but it was an emergency we got up here late and it was too dark to go down either side.”
“Sounds a little like an emergency of your own making… couldn’t you have realized earlier on in your hike that you weren’t gonna get over the peak before night fall and turned back?” I said.
“Oh, well…, um…, we didn’t want to drive all the way down from Toronto (why did they have to be from Toronto!) and not make the summit – It was pretty tough out here last night so I think we did well to make it through the night!”
“NO, you did not do well. Friendly advice from me is to pack and get off the peak before the summit steward gets up here. She will take a less friendly approach and have a big, honking ticket for you!”
”But it was an emergency... ”
“Again, No, it was not an emergency….”
Headed off towards Iroquois with these two scooping up water for their water bottles from a small puddle. Sigh…

Climber on Iroquois
Clambering up Iroquois

The ridge walk to Iroquois is always fun open-rock walk and then a tight little trail through the krumholtz before another scramble up Boundary and then Iroquois. The traditional big mud holes were there but none too wet so I made good time. At Iroquois I sat and enjoyed some lunch and took a few shots before starting my trek back. Met my first hiker of the day (apart from my friends on the summit) on Boundary and then another group at the junction down to Lake Colden. Took this trail down and its reputation as a steep climb/descent is well earned. Some might even say it is “murderously steep” so I was in part grateful I was at least descending although that too can be pretty tough on the joints. The trail eventually dips into a brook and follows it down (and down and down). Earlier in the year this brook would have several stunning waterfalls but right now there is little more than a trickle of water spilling through the rocks. Still it made a nice spot for a second break.

Matildas
A bit grey in the pass by midday

Rejoining the main trail through Avalanche pass the clouds had moved over and the views were not ideal. Add to that it was now mid day so the crowds were charging through the jungle gym of a trail along the lake. Lots of folks headed up Trap dike on probably a good (and dry) day for this route to Colden. From the pass it was a quick tramp back to the Loj where I cleaned up and hit the road. Picked up a sandwich at Saranac Lake and the rain started to fall just as I pointed the truck for home. Good timing all in all and another good hike in the park. The new camera performed admirably well but I must say it is pretty heavy. Not sure it will make it on too many epic hikes as I’d rather carry something lighter… but I’ll find a lot of good uses for it I’m sure. Straight back in to the heat and humidity at home… Will September never come?
Narrow flume

Wednesday, August 04, 2010

Dog Days of Summer

Not much to report in the last few weeks so all has been quiet on the blog. July has been hot…. Really hot and I just don’t respond well to that kind of weather. Energy levels and motivation become low and all I can think about is the snows of winter… and how far off they seem…. sigh! Life without July seems like a pretty sweet plan but alas I think it’s hard to put into practice. Perhaps I should join the Canadian Cross Country Ski team and spend July’s in New Zealand for some sweet skiing before returning to fall “already in progress”. Still I have been getting out a bit. Evening rides in the park (when the days start to cool down) are the extent of my activities at home. I did sneak away for a quick hike in the Adirondacks back on Canada Day. The day in fact was the last cool one we’ve had in a while - starting at a frosty 5C in the morning!! I took the nice ridge hike up Giant and Rocky Peak and – much to my surprise on a long weekend - had it mostly to myself until I was almost down again. Since then the heat has made me less than eager to expend energy climbing up mountains and I’ve kept to the bike and found interesting rides to go on.

Taking in the views
Taking in the view

This past weekend was another long one and I did want to try to get away for a little bit. The weather was slightly cooler than the past few weeks so it seemed like a reasonable chance to slip in some hiking. Last minute Pete called and had some free time. He was interested in getting in a little hiking/ camping trip and had his mind set on Vermont so I loaded up the car and we set off on Saturday. On the drive down we stopped at the trailhead for Burnt Rock Mountain. This was a spot I had discovered while I was hiking the Long trail. It doesn’t get a lot of attention (or so I thought) compared to the big peaks but it was a beautiful little summit with some fun scrambling so I thought it would make a good destination. My “secret little spot” however proved to be popular on a summer day as we were just able to squeeze the car into the last spot in the carpark and greeted many hikers coming down the mountain. That said the summit has lots of nice little outcrops so even on a busy day there is lots of room to sit back, relax and enjoy the view. After the hike we supplied up and headed to the campsite where a good evening was had burning a little firewood, drinking a few beverages and solving most of the world’s problems…. Just can’t think who took the minutes of the meeting tho’ so some of those problems will have to stay unsolved for a while yet.

Burnt Rock mountain
Topping out on Burnt Rock Mountain


On Sunday we opted for a nice loop hike up and around Pico peak. With a relatively recent piece of newly aligned Long Trail now skirting the peak one could hike up and over Pico on the old version of the LT and then link up with the new trail and loop back to a main road. A short road walk would put us back at the car. Seemed like a perfect plan. Sadly our thinking hats must have been left at home. Part way up the trail we came to a little lookout on the side of the ski trail. Why not hike up the ski trail and enjoy the view – looks straight forward so off we went. Sadly looking at a ski hill in summer from a distance, the slopes look covered in nice short grass. From my new experience this is not the case! The grass is very deep – shoulder to head high in places. This makes for energy intensive wading through the tall grass. And when the trail isn’t brutally steep up… it’s a bog! Even the slightly cool August weather can be hot when you are slaving up a mountain. From now on I think I’ll stick to shady trails in the heat of the summer and pop out onto the summits to enjoy the views. Summit reached we claimed a spot on the deck of a ski hut that had a nice overhanging roof and took a well earned rest. The rest of the hike – back on trail was a breeze in spite of having to do a little road walk at the end.
Trail side cabin
Lunch break on the summit of Pico - a little more civilized than I anticipated but the porch gave a welcome break from the heat

Monday the heat and humidity returned so we opted to do a couple of short hikes at lower elevation and by the end of the day, as we drove home, the inevitable thunder storms hit us hard. Good weekend away though. Interesting to see a few rogue trees are starting to change colours which suggests – in spite of another hot week here at home - that cooler weather can’t be far off. Perhaps it’s time to start working on my ski fleet in anticipation of the coming snows…

Moss Glen falls
Moss Glen Falls