peak_bgr
New member
Another day another couple peaks closer to finishing a quad. Saranac Lake Quad to be exact, only three left, but after today they will have to wait until the snow is a little more consolidated.
We decided to go for Baker and Little McKenzie as a pair of peaks. I had been on Baker 12 years ago, and remembered little, so it was very nice to go back. Baker is an excellent peak with outstanding views from McKenzie to the Sawtooth Range to the backside of Nye and its slides. The trail up Baker, happy to see, was broken the day before, and very well I might add.
We arrived at the top after 0.90 mile trail hike in excellent time, feeling very good about going to Little McKenzie. Here’s the amazing part. From the summit of Baker Brian found a herd path, that looked to be broken at one point, but not after the storm. We could see the indentation of the path with 12’’ of snow on it, but a hard base to stay on. The further on we went, we could see that certain trees had been limbed to open up the path. This herd path led to an amazing view point over looking McKenzie Pond, 10 times better than the summit of Baker.
From here the path stayed atop the open ledge ridge and entered the woods on a marked trail. Blue disks, perfectly round, not hand cut and not can lids. They are made of the same material as the state disks but solid blue no writing. We followed this trail steeply in spots over 12’’ of powder on a hard base. At this point I was feeling very good about our progress, so good in fact, I thought it was good time for a face plant. I was gliding nicely down this section when my snowshoes had plowed up so much snow they stopped dead without telling my upper body. Face first, off the trail into 18-20’’ of very cold powder. I felt like a fish out of water flopping around to turn over, then a turtle on its shell, because I couldn’t get off my back. Ask Maddi, she’ll say it was her favorite part of the trip.
The trail however didn’t last; it ended at just above North Bay of McKenzie Pond. From here it was untouched, unbroken, unconsolidated-whatever you want to call it, it was tough. We were just over 0.60 miles from the summit of Little McKenzie and it took us an hour and a half to do that short distance. 800’ of elevation or so, not super steep, but it had its moments. It also seemed the steeper the section the more the snow. On the flats Brian was breaking 14’’ of snow and I was breaking another 8’’ after him. When we hit the steep sections we were pushing through waist deep snow in spots.
There are some nice cliffs on Little McKenzie that offer some nice views, but the summit was wooded, with not a lot to offer, but a good day’s exercise. We were back to the car pretty quick, now that we had a broken route to follow.
Does anyone know what this trail was were found, it seemed to stop at the bay. Is it another route up Baker from the pond for boaters? Is it a private trail? The land isn’t posted; all we were on was part of the McKenzie Mountain Wilderness.
We decided to go for Baker and Little McKenzie as a pair of peaks. I had been on Baker 12 years ago, and remembered little, so it was very nice to go back. Baker is an excellent peak with outstanding views from McKenzie to the Sawtooth Range to the backside of Nye and its slides. The trail up Baker, happy to see, was broken the day before, and very well I might add.
We arrived at the top after 0.90 mile trail hike in excellent time, feeling very good about going to Little McKenzie. Here’s the amazing part. From the summit of Baker Brian found a herd path, that looked to be broken at one point, but not after the storm. We could see the indentation of the path with 12’’ of snow on it, but a hard base to stay on. The further on we went, we could see that certain trees had been limbed to open up the path. This herd path led to an amazing view point over looking McKenzie Pond, 10 times better than the summit of Baker.
From here the path stayed atop the open ledge ridge and entered the woods on a marked trail. Blue disks, perfectly round, not hand cut and not can lids. They are made of the same material as the state disks but solid blue no writing. We followed this trail steeply in spots over 12’’ of powder on a hard base. At this point I was feeling very good about our progress, so good in fact, I thought it was good time for a face plant. I was gliding nicely down this section when my snowshoes had plowed up so much snow they stopped dead without telling my upper body. Face first, off the trail into 18-20’’ of very cold powder. I felt like a fish out of water flopping around to turn over, then a turtle on its shell, because I couldn’t get off my back. Ask Maddi, she’ll say it was her favorite part of the trip.
The trail however didn’t last; it ended at just above North Bay of McKenzie Pond. From here it was untouched, unbroken, unconsolidated-whatever you want to call it, it was tough. We were just over 0.60 miles from the summit of Little McKenzie and it took us an hour and a half to do that short distance. 800’ of elevation or so, not super steep, but it had its moments. It also seemed the steeper the section the more the snow. On the flats Brian was breaking 14’’ of snow and I was breaking another 8’’ after him. When we hit the steep sections we were pushing through waist deep snow in spots.
There are some nice cliffs on Little McKenzie that offer some nice views, but the summit was wooded, with not a lot to offer, but a good day’s exercise. We were back to the car pretty quick, now that we had a broken route to follow.
Does anyone know what this trail was were found, it seemed to stop at the bay. Is it another route up Baker from the pond for boaters? Is it a private trail? The land isn’t posted; all we were on was part of the McKenzie Mountain Wilderness.
