Tom Rankin
Well-known member
Yes, the series continues! 
See:
http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=7505&highlight=firetowers
and
http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=7649&highlight=firetowers
If you missed any of the installments.
After doing 2 and 3 Fire Towers in a day, we decided to see if we could put together a trip of the remaining towers on the Fire Tower Challenge List, that would allow us to climb 4 in one day. We also needed to keep an eye on the weather Saturday, as the forecast called for rain in the afternoon, and more so up North.
With that in mind, we started at 6:00 from Laurie's house, and drove North up to Azure, which is on a VERY long, but passable dirt road. The Fire Tower book over-states the distance to the trailhead, and we missed it the first time. A small brown sign is cleverly hidden from cars coming from the south. So, we stopped and asked directions from the locals. They told us to go up to the top of the hill, "just past the bathtub". Sure enough, a bathtub was sitting next to the road, with a garden hose feeding water into it from a small spring! So, if you're coming from the South and you see the tub, turn around! When we got to the parking lot, there were 3 LARGE vans and several other cars. 34 people had signed in as a group to go climbing, but thankfully, we never saw them!
We finally started hiking around 10:45, and got up the the summit at about 11:15 (only about 1 mile, and 900' of gain). There was only an old man sitting at the summit, who turned out to be a 46er, ADKer, and Fire Tower volunteer. He was handing out cards for people who made it to the firetower, and selling T-shirts for the 'Friends of Azure Fire Tower'. We bought 2, they are very nice. We stayed a few minutes and took in the great views, especially of the high peaks. Then we headed back to the car and left for our next destination around 11:50.
Back down the dirt road we went to St. Regis, which is near Paul Smith's College. We started at 12:30 and summited at 2:00. This was the longest hike of the day, about 6.6 miles roundtrip, and 1200' of climbing. The first 2 miles we went up and down small bumps thru a forest with many large trees, over a nice, new trail. There were several families, couples, and groups going both ways on this trail. The last mile is where you gain all the altitude. Someone asked us as we summitted how we would rate this climb, and Laurie said, "The book says it's a 3", thinking they were referring to the firetower challenge. At this point he became confused. He seemed to think this peak was one of the 46! I explained the 46 to him, and pointed over to Marcy and all his buddies. At the summit, we started getting a few drops of rain, but it was just a passing cloud. This tower is not climbable, but it still stands. The views from here were also great. We had lunch here, and were back at the car around 3:45. After a cold beer, we headed off the the next destination.
Arab was #3. It's a few miles West of Tupper Lake. This is another short climb, about a mile each way, and about 800' of gain. We started at 4:45 and got to the top around 5:15. We could see the village of Tupper Lake, and 2 storms rolling thru the mountains. The tower and the cabin have both been restored to excellent shape. Back down again, and out by 5:45.
The final destination was Bald. We had to drive a long way to get over to near Old Forge. It was 7:22 when we left the trail head, and amazingly, a group of 3 people was just checking out. We thought they would be the last people we saw on the trail that day. WRONG! (More soon). The trail is almost completely on open rock ledges, and we only had to gain 400' over a mile. We brought our head lamps for this one, as the sun was setting. We had probably just missed it, but we couldn't quite tell, as it was getting cloudier. We got to the top around 7:45. The tower was open and we had great twilight views of the Fulton chain of lakes. Venus and then Jupiter popped out from behind the clouds and put on a show for us, as we had a celebratory beer at the summit. A Loon called from down on the lake. Another nasty looking storm was moving in, so we headed off, head lamps on.
Just after leaving the summit, I heard voices, and then saw lights in front of us! A man and his son were heading up to the tower! Amazing, especially with the brooding storm. We got a few sprinkles on the way back down, but didn't really get wet. As we got to the trailhead, we saw *another* couple, ready to hit the trail, apparently to camp.
We drove into Old Forge, and it really started to pour. We had dinner at about 9:30, and when we came out, it was crystal clear. We drove down the road a few miles and got out of the car. The stars were fantastic! We drove back to Laurie's, got in around 12:30 AM, and fell sound asleep.
It was 12 miles of hiking over 5 hours with about 3200' of gain, and 13 hours in the car! But, we have a lot of memories and a lot of pictures. Speaking of pictures, I'll post some in a few days.
Now I can fill out the form for my Fire Tower Patch! Woo hoo! We'll keep going until we've done all 28 Fire Towers I'm sure.
This makes 22 towers Laurie and I have climbed this year.
P.S. Gas at virtually every station in the ADKs was $3.59/gallon for Regular. It was like they had all agreed on a common price. There were lots of 'vacancy' signs at motels. I wonder if the price spike had anything to do with it.
See:
http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=7505&highlight=firetowers
and
http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=7649&highlight=firetowers
If you missed any of the installments.
After doing 2 and 3 Fire Towers in a day, we decided to see if we could put together a trip of the remaining towers on the Fire Tower Challenge List, that would allow us to climb 4 in one day. We also needed to keep an eye on the weather Saturday, as the forecast called for rain in the afternoon, and more so up North.
With that in mind, we started at 6:00 from Laurie's house, and drove North up to Azure, which is on a VERY long, but passable dirt road. The Fire Tower book over-states the distance to the trailhead, and we missed it the first time. A small brown sign is cleverly hidden from cars coming from the south. So, we stopped and asked directions from the locals. They told us to go up to the top of the hill, "just past the bathtub". Sure enough, a bathtub was sitting next to the road, with a garden hose feeding water into it from a small spring! So, if you're coming from the South and you see the tub, turn around! When we got to the parking lot, there were 3 LARGE vans and several other cars. 34 people had signed in as a group to go climbing, but thankfully, we never saw them!
We finally started hiking around 10:45, and got up the the summit at about 11:15 (only about 1 mile, and 900' of gain). There was only an old man sitting at the summit, who turned out to be a 46er, ADKer, and Fire Tower volunteer. He was handing out cards for people who made it to the firetower, and selling T-shirts for the 'Friends of Azure Fire Tower'. We bought 2, they are very nice. We stayed a few minutes and took in the great views, especially of the high peaks. Then we headed back to the car and left for our next destination around 11:50.
Back down the dirt road we went to St. Regis, which is near Paul Smith's College. We started at 12:30 and summited at 2:00. This was the longest hike of the day, about 6.6 miles roundtrip, and 1200' of climbing. The first 2 miles we went up and down small bumps thru a forest with many large trees, over a nice, new trail. There were several families, couples, and groups going both ways on this trail. The last mile is where you gain all the altitude. Someone asked us as we summitted how we would rate this climb, and Laurie said, "The book says it's a 3", thinking they were referring to the firetower challenge. At this point he became confused. He seemed to think this peak was one of the 46! I explained the 46 to him, and pointed over to Marcy and all his buddies. At the summit, we started getting a few drops of rain, but it was just a passing cloud. This tower is not climbable, but it still stands. The views from here were also great. We had lunch here, and were back at the car around 3:45. After a cold beer, we headed off the the next destination.
Arab was #3. It's a few miles West of Tupper Lake. This is another short climb, about a mile each way, and about 800' of gain. We started at 4:45 and got to the top around 5:15. We could see the village of Tupper Lake, and 2 storms rolling thru the mountains. The tower and the cabin have both been restored to excellent shape. Back down again, and out by 5:45.
The final destination was Bald. We had to drive a long way to get over to near Old Forge. It was 7:22 when we left the trail head, and amazingly, a group of 3 people was just checking out. We thought they would be the last people we saw on the trail that day. WRONG! (More soon). The trail is almost completely on open rock ledges, and we only had to gain 400' over a mile. We brought our head lamps for this one, as the sun was setting. We had probably just missed it, but we couldn't quite tell, as it was getting cloudier. We got to the top around 7:45. The tower was open and we had great twilight views of the Fulton chain of lakes. Venus and then Jupiter popped out from behind the clouds and put on a show for us, as we had a celebratory beer at the summit. A Loon called from down on the lake. Another nasty looking storm was moving in, so we headed off, head lamps on.
Just after leaving the summit, I heard voices, and then saw lights in front of us! A man and his son were heading up to the tower! Amazing, especially with the brooding storm. We got a few sprinkles on the way back down, but didn't really get wet. As we got to the trailhead, we saw *another* couple, ready to hit the trail, apparently to camp.
We drove into Old Forge, and it really started to pour. We had dinner at about 9:30, and when we came out, it was crystal clear. We drove down the road a few miles and got out of the car. The stars were fantastic! We drove back to Laurie's, got in around 12:30 AM, and fell sound asleep.
It was 12 miles of hiking over 5 hours with about 3200' of gain, and 13 hours in the car!
But, we have a lot of memories and a lot of pictures. Speaking of pictures, I'll post some in a few days.Now I can fill out the form for my Fire Tower Patch! Woo hoo! We'll keep going until we've done all 28 Fire Towers I'm sure.
This makes 22 towers Laurie and I have climbed this year.
P.S. Gas at virtually every station in the ADKs was $3.59/gallon for Regular. It was like they had all agreed on a common price. There were lots of 'vacancy' signs at motels. I wonder if the price spike had anything to do with it.
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