peak_bgr
New member
We started out this full day adventure with one eye shut. At least I did. Lack of sleep the night before got me a little heavy on my feet. A couple times I considered canceling this one for another day, but we’ve postponed Alton a few times in the past-now was the time. We were in the parking lot at the Whiteface Inn, and this was the last peak we needed on the Lake Placid Quad.
So, from that statement you can probably tell we were taking the SOA Trail to the base of Alton, well as close to the base as we can get on the trail. The trail is quite lightly used in section. Some dead fall hindered the travel in spots and made us stop and look for the trail. This was a much slower hike than we thought it would be. We were glad that it was late fall and all the camps were empty, we felt a little like intruders passing so close to the front doors. 2 hours passed and we were at a rather large unnamed pond near the base of Alton. It was almost totally covered in a thin layer of ice-even upon Brian’s request to test its strength; I chose to stay on shore.
From here we had thought about checking out the other two ponds on our way to Alton, but after thinking about the possibility of unseen marshes and wetlands slowing us down we opted to hit the high road, and climb the ridge to our right. The woods started out a mess, with a heavy cover of shin hobble, tripping us up and slowing us down. The key was to stay along the pond for a while before heading up. Further along the pond, the woods were a little more forgiving. Even though there was a large amount dead fall branches we step over, the woods were fairly open. We contoured up but not to the top of the ridge we kept a bearing toward Alton but kept gaining elevation, kind of side hilling-while looking for the path of the least resistance.
We were soon on the end of the ridge looking over at Alton, the descent was a little more than we wanted to the col but it was nice in there, not to wet. The ascent was rather easy, a few cliffs to climb, but rather mellow. The ground was a little unstable, making for some aching ankles (say that 5 times fast). The summit not to our surprise was pretty heavily wooded. Small views in spots, but far from what I would call-worth the effort. But it’s a nice day in the woods-kind of felt like a 100 highest, in atmosphere and effort.
From here it was over to Pigeon Roost. A very large descent was ahead of us, and what looked to be a short climb to the top. Were we in for a surprise. The descent started out very mellow but through a lot of dead fall. Then it was rock hoping very steeply to the valley. The valley was pretty cool spot, a lot of large boulders, very open of trees, and extremely steep on both sides. Actually we were about to climb 400’ in 0.10 of a mile. Not only that there are several cliff bands we needed to climb or skirt. Actually we climbed one that now that I look back, maybe it was a little stupid to do. But we made it, no injuries, nice views from the ledge. Whiteface over the shoulder of Alton was pretty amazing, a view of Whiteface rarely seen. The top, again, wooded. Not thick, but still lacking.
The planned route was to go over to Owl’s Head and Blue but as we were descending we found ourselves running out of time. We still need to go over to Slide Mountain and descend to our car-over 3 miles of bushwhacking away. Not including Blue and Owl’s Head. We dropped the other two and took a direct heading toward Slide just before the col with Pigeon Roost and Owl’s Head.
What we couldn’t believe is the open woods we were finding. Think Indian Lake but better. We actually hiked over 0.60 mile of woods, which was park like. We literally didn’t touch one piece of vegetation other than what we were walking on. The tricky part of the day was crossing a beaver dam at the base of Slide. Quite the little fiasco that was. It was a three tiered beaver dam. We walked on the middle tier; it was over 100 long, and icy. On the other side we were welcomed by more open woods and a very moderate climb to the wooded summit of Slide.
On the other side of slide we found some nice terrain that we followed all the way to Grass Pond. But by that time night was starting to settle in, and there was a very nice sunset over the pond. Problem was we were .7 miles from where I marked our exit on the road. On our way out we came upon some old trail disked, dated ’67 on the bottom. Old state trail markers, but no trail left to follow. We found these off and on in the weirdest places. They still looked new though, not rusted, no tree growing around them-odd. Anyone have a clue? Was there a state trail here once? Anyhow we finally got out just before headlamp time, back to the Jeep and totally shot.
So, from that statement you can probably tell we were taking the SOA Trail to the base of Alton, well as close to the base as we can get on the trail. The trail is quite lightly used in section. Some dead fall hindered the travel in spots and made us stop and look for the trail. This was a much slower hike than we thought it would be. We were glad that it was late fall and all the camps were empty, we felt a little like intruders passing so close to the front doors. 2 hours passed and we were at a rather large unnamed pond near the base of Alton. It was almost totally covered in a thin layer of ice-even upon Brian’s request to test its strength; I chose to stay on shore.
From here we had thought about checking out the other two ponds on our way to Alton, but after thinking about the possibility of unseen marshes and wetlands slowing us down we opted to hit the high road, and climb the ridge to our right. The woods started out a mess, with a heavy cover of shin hobble, tripping us up and slowing us down. The key was to stay along the pond for a while before heading up. Further along the pond, the woods were a little more forgiving. Even though there was a large amount dead fall branches we step over, the woods were fairly open. We contoured up but not to the top of the ridge we kept a bearing toward Alton but kept gaining elevation, kind of side hilling-while looking for the path of the least resistance.
We were soon on the end of the ridge looking over at Alton, the descent was a little more than we wanted to the col but it was nice in there, not to wet. The ascent was rather easy, a few cliffs to climb, but rather mellow. The ground was a little unstable, making for some aching ankles (say that 5 times fast). The summit not to our surprise was pretty heavily wooded. Small views in spots, but far from what I would call-worth the effort. But it’s a nice day in the woods-kind of felt like a 100 highest, in atmosphere and effort.
From here it was over to Pigeon Roost. A very large descent was ahead of us, and what looked to be a short climb to the top. Were we in for a surprise. The descent started out very mellow but through a lot of dead fall. Then it was rock hoping very steeply to the valley. The valley was pretty cool spot, a lot of large boulders, very open of trees, and extremely steep on both sides. Actually we were about to climb 400’ in 0.10 of a mile. Not only that there are several cliff bands we needed to climb or skirt. Actually we climbed one that now that I look back, maybe it was a little stupid to do. But we made it, no injuries, nice views from the ledge. Whiteface over the shoulder of Alton was pretty amazing, a view of Whiteface rarely seen. The top, again, wooded. Not thick, but still lacking.
The planned route was to go over to Owl’s Head and Blue but as we were descending we found ourselves running out of time. We still need to go over to Slide Mountain and descend to our car-over 3 miles of bushwhacking away. Not including Blue and Owl’s Head. We dropped the other two and took a direct heading toward Slide just before the col with Pigeon Roost and Owl’s Head.
What we couldn’t believe is the open woods we were finding. Think Indian Lake but better. We actually hiked over 0.60 mile of woods, which was park like. We literally didn’t touch one piece of vegetation other than what we were walking on. The tricky part of the day was crossing a beaver dam at the base of Slide. Quite the little fiasco that was. It was a three tiered beaver dam. We walked on the middle tier; it was over 100 long, and icy. On the other side we were welcomed by more open woods and a very moderate climb to the wooded summit of Slide.
On the other side of slide we found some nice terrain that we followed all the way to Grass Pond. But by that time night was starting to settle in, and there was a very nice sunset over the pond. Problem was we were .7 miles from where I marked our exit on the road. On our way out we came upon some old trail disked, dated ’67 on the bottom. Old state trail markers, but no trail left to follow. We found these off and on in the weirdest places. They still looked new though, not rusted, no tree growing around them-odd. Anyone have a clue? Was there a state trail here once? Anyhow we finally got out just before headlamp time, back to the Jeep and totally shot.
