A
AlpineSummit
Guest
The quest continues..........
Well, the forecast was a bit iffy, but the best one we’ve had in a week. As it turned out, the day was pretty decent: muggy but not hot, buggy but not overwhelmingly so. Good thing, as I am sick and any more adversity than necessary woulda either killed me or sent me whimpering back to the truck.
The trek to Allen is a long and grueling one, but on this day trail chatter passed the time well and almost before we knew it, we were at Skylight Brook! How many miles was that? A few minutes later, Mrs. Alpine had her first look at Allen Brook and she feasted her eyes on that idyllic setting where numerous cascades tumble down the slide to form a waterfall that ends in a sweet little pool at the bottom. So very pretty a spot it was that we wasted some digital film and took us a little break.
The herd path up Allen is ragged and slippery, but very easy to follow. This has almost all of the elements of the perfect herd path: it is very muddy, lots of roots, and it beats you up a little bit – all quite proper attributes for an ADK herd path. Its only downfall is that it’s very hard to lose, so there is little backtracking and head scratching along the way. On this day it was exceptionally muddy and slippery, that rust colored lichen doing its magic underneath our boots. Surprisingly, we suffered no falls today – just a few Adirondack Two-Steps to keep our feet underneath us.
Through it all, Mrs. Alpine flew upwards and I had only occasional glimpses of her fanny pack as my hurtin’ bones barely kept up. She was a hiker possessed today, her summit fever raging.
As one ascends Allen, the terrain gets steeper and steeper. Breathers along upper Allen Brook offer lovely views to make stopping worthwhile. Allen does offer a ‘no nonsense’ approach though: no false summits, just climb higher & higher and then, Bingo – you’re on top and it’s an easy 2 minute stroll to the summit. (I did not step in dogshit this time, which was good) The sign was in place and, as I’ve said before, that particular sign is a sweet sight indeed. Today, I kissed it. Weird yes, but ya had to be there to see me today – climbing ugly, very ugly.
At the summit I marveled at how blind I must have been to previously, somehow, miss the path to a spectacular northerly lookout featuring Haystack, Marcy, and the headwall of Panther Gorgeous. Nice. Sawteeth also lends itself to a perfect profile shot from Allen’s eastward view spot. Many High Peaks visible from here and an unusual perspective for many of them.
Time to retreat now and we met DeadFred and co. about 3 minutes from the top. 3 of his party of 4 were within moments of finishing their rounds today and they were suitably excited. We were too as we have met Fred before on Times Square and he’s a good guy. Major Congratulations Fred, to you and to your buddies. Welcome to the gang.
The trip down was a little hair-raising with all the slick stuff, but we were soon at that nifty little spot described above, this is where the trail leaves Allen Brook and begins the long, long slog out. Again, we managed to pass the time well and were at the truck in relatively short order.
Man oh MAN, but the truck looked good today! Mrs. Alpine had her traditional jar ‘o wine and I pounded an ice-cold Coke,,,,,,,,, and we headed home.
So, Mrs. Alpine is now a 43’er – Is there no stopping this gal?
Well, the forecast was a bit iffy, but the best one we’ve had in a week. As it turned out, the day was pretty decent: muggy but not hot, buggy but not overwhelmingly so. Good thing, as I am sick and any more adversity than necessary woulda either killed me or sent me whimpering back to the truck.
The trek to Allen is a long and grueling one, but on this day trail chatter passed the time well and almost before we knew it, we were at Skylight Brook! How many miles was that? A few minutes later, Mrs. Alpine had her first look at Allen Brook and she feasted her eyes on that idyllic setting where numerous cascades tumble down the slide to form a waterfall that ends in a sweet little pool at the bottom. So very pretty a spot it was that we wasted some digital film and took us a little break.
The herd path up Allen is ragged and slippery, but very easy to follow. This has almost all of the elements of the perfect herd path: it is very muddy, lots of roots, and it beats you up a little bit – all quite proper attributes for an ADK herd path. Its only downfall is that it’s very hard to lose, so there is little backtracking and head scratching along the way. On this day it was exceptionally muddy and slippery, that rust colored lichen doing its magic underneath our boots. Surprisingly, we suffered no falls today – just a few Adirondack Two-Steps to keep our feet underneath us.
Through it all, Mrs. Alpine flew upwards and I had only occasional glimpses of her fanny pack as my hurtin’ bones barely kept up. She was a hiker possessed today, her summit fever raging.
As one ascends Allen, the terrain gets steeper and steeper. Breathers along upper Allen Brook offer lovely views to make stopping worthwhile. Allen does offer a ‘no nonsense’ approach though: no false summits, just climb higher & higher and then, Bingo – you’re on top and it’s an easy 2 minute stroll to the summit. (I did not step in dogshit this time, which was good) The sign was in place and, as I’ve said before, that particular sign is a sweet sight indeed. Today, I kissed it. Weird yes, but ya had to be there to see me today – climbing ugly, very ugly.
At the summit I marveled at how blind I must have been to previously, somehow, miss the path to a spectacular northerly lookout featuring Haystack, Marcy, and the headwall of Panther Gorgeous. Nice. Sawteeth also lends itself to a perfect profile shot from Allen’s eastward view spot. Many High Peaks visible from here and an unusual perspective for many of them.
Time to retreat now and we met DeadFred and co. about 3 minutes from the top. 3 of his party of 4 were within moments of finishing their rounds today and they were suitably excited. We were too as we have met Fred before on Times Square and he’s a good guy. Major Congratulations Fred, to you and to your buddies. Welcome to the gang.
The trip down was a little hair-raising with all the slick stuff, but we were soon at that nifty little spot described above, this is where the trail leaves Allen Brook and begins the long, long slog out. Again, we managed to pass the time well and were at the truck in relatively short order.
Man oh MAN, but the truck looked good today! Mrs. Alpine had her traditional jar ‘o wine and I pounded an ice-cold Coke,,,,,,,,, and we headed home.
So, Mrs. Alpine is now a 43’er – Is there no stopping this gal?
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