I was surprised at the trailhead that no one had signed-in for Allen on this beautiful fall Saturday. Nice to have it all to myself, I guess. I walked down to the Hudson in my wading shoes with my pantlegs rolled up and spent about 15 seconds of bliss in the cool, refreshing water. What a pleasure to start the day! Who needs that rusty old bridge, anyway? Actually, there was no bridge at all, only the cables hanging across the river.
The next fun was the new bypass of Lake Jimmy--six minutes of pure pleasure and wilderness splendor. By this time I was probably 15 minutes behind schedule, but I was not in a hurry--no record times contemplated today. I could just imagine the awful mud awaiting me on up the trail, the kind that hides under the freshly fallen leaves, ready to collapse under my weight and make a big sucking sound when my foot goes down into it. But first I needed to cross the Opalescent. I was just sure the rocks at my favorite crossing would be icy. I would be taking my life in my hands (actually my feet) in jumping across to the promised land. One slip and I would be cascading to Albany, or even NYC. I made it.
My next surprise was that the boot-sucking mud had mostly frozen, but the fresh leaves meant that I actually had to look up a couple of time to keep on the herdpath. I got to Skylight Brook with almost dry feet and almost mud-free pantlegs--maybe this is a record. I put on my old, worn out Microspikes for the next 1.5 miles and 2000 ft to Allen. I have new ones, didn't want to wear down the sharp new points walking on all the rock. After all, this is only November. I expected to be able to walk on mostly rock and avoid the icy areas. Definitely no need for crampons. Actually, I hate crampons.
The higher I got on the Allen Brook slide, the more I realized that I made a mistake in planning, and I really wished I had brought crampons. There was very little snow or crunchy ice suited for worn-out Microspikes--only hard smooth ice and it extended from side to side of the areas with bare rock. And it was thick, not the kind that Microspikes can punch through. I carefully made my way up, often going to the sides where there was bare rock with a little running water. Funny, this is the stuff you avoid in the summer. The big open slide area where the herdpath changes to the other side was particularly treacherous, with an ice flow more than a foot thick all the way across. No way I was going up that, but monkey-swinging on adjacent trees kept me safe. I could only wonder how I was going to come down . . . .
It was huge relief when I got to the herdpath higher on the mountain where there was dense, crunchy, snow which was perfect for my Microspikes. In minutes I was standing at the summit. The descent was not as difficult as I expected, I just had to be very careful and look for good horizontal landing spots. I washed and packed away my Microspikes at Skylight Brook and in 2 1/2 hours I was back at the trailhead.
Well, I learned my lesson, I guess. Don't think that Microspikes, especially dull ones, can substitute for crampons. When you need crampons, you NEED crampons. I even wrote in the trail register "Need Crampons". Maybe other hikers will be smarter than I was.
The next fun was the new bypass of Lake Jimmy--six minutes of pure pleasure and wilderness splendor. By this time I was probably 15 minutes behind schedule, but I was not in a hurry--no record times contemplated today. I could just imagine the awful mud awaiting me on up the trail, the kind that hides under the freshly fallen leaves, ready to collapse under my weight and make a big sucking sound when my foot goes down into it. But first I needed to cross the Opalescent. I was just sure the rocks at my favorite crossing would be icy. I would be taking my life in my hands (actually my feet) in jumping across to the promised land. One slip and I would be cascading to Albany, or even NYC. I made it.
My next surprise was that the boot-sucking mud had mostly frozen, but the fresh leaves meant that I actually had to look up a couple of time to keep on the herdpath. I got to Skylight Brook with almost dry feet and almost mud-free pantlegs--maybe this is a record. I put on my old, worn out Microspikes for the next 1.5 miles and 2000 ft to Allen. I have new ones, didn't want to wear down the sharp new points walking on all the rock. After all, this is only November. I expected to be able to walk on mostly rock and avoid the icy areas. Definitely no need for crampons. Actually, I hate crampons.
The higher I got on the Allen Brook slide, the more I realized that I made a mistake in planning, and I really wished I had brought crampons. There was very little snow or crunchy ice suited for worn-out Microspikes--only hard smooth ice and it extended from side to side of the areas with bare rock. And it was thick, not the kind that Microspikes can punch through. I carefully made my way up, often going to the sides where there was bare rock with a little running water. Funny, this is the stuff you avoid in the summer. The big open slide area where the herdpath changes to the other side was particularly treacherous, with an ice flow more than a foot thick all the way across. No way I was going up that, but monkey-swinging on adjacent trees kept me safe. I could only wonder how I was going to come down . . . .
It was huge relief when I got to the herdpath higher on the mountain where there was dense, crunchy, snow which was perfect for my Microspikes. In minutes I was standing at the summit. The descent was not as difficult as I expected, I just had to be very careful and look for good horizontal landing spots. I washed and packed away my Microspikes at Skylight Brook and in 2 1/2 hours I was back at the trailhead.
Well, I learned my lesson, I guess. Don't think that Microspikes, especially dull ones, can substitute for crampons. When you need crampons, you NEED crampons. I even wrote in the trail register "Need Crampons". Maybe other hikers will be smarter than I was.
