dom15931
New member
This was my first NE hike since moving back to PA last December and a first for my golden retriever Aspen. I am glad Heidi (my GF) let me take her. I was finally settled into my new house and job so with a three day weekend I figured, weather allowing, it was time to get the 50th NE 4k mountain. After working all day Friday we left western PA at about 7pm for Keene Valley, NY. It rained clean to the 87 Thruway. We arrived at the garden parking lot at about 4:30 or so. I got our stuff together and walked Aspen. I laid down in the car for some sleep at about 5:15 and I dozed off for a half hour only. Aspen was restless and I knew there would be people pulling in soon so I decided to do this one with practically no sleep.
We left the car at about 6:30 or 6:45 and headed up the Brothers. This was a surprizingly nice hike. The views of Giant and the Great Range were awesome, even on a cloudy day. Only Marcy and the Gothics had occasional fog at their summits. The North Face of the Gothics looked ominous from this angle.
We made good time with the pleasant temperatures and good trail conditions. The leaves were already falling off higher up on the mountains. This is a dry area for the ADK's. Aspen had some prior hiking experience from PA and a som more in more challenging areas such as Dolly Sods and Blackwater Canyon, both in West Virginia. This was good because there are a lot of brief scrambles up the brothers. These were fun and she manevuered them well. Only once did I get nervous when Aspen was exposed to a would-be-fatal fall.
We made it to the summit of Big Slide around 9am. I took some pics and we quickly headed off to bag Yard Mtn also. The hike that way was more wet. There were thicker forests and much fewer views. After we got Yard we headed down Yard towards JBL. On the Klondike trail we saw our first other group of the day. Even at JBL there were very few people. I was really feeling tired at this point and longed to be back at the car.
We got to the car around 1pm. After camping that night we climbed Esther (no Whiteface) the next day to get it out of the way before heading back to PA.
photos here: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/553935560fDqdCj
-Dom
We left the car at about 6:30 or 6:45 and headed up the Brothers. This was a surprizingly nice hike. The views of Giant and the Great Range were awesome, even on a cloudy day. Only Marcy and the Gothics had occasional fog at their summits. The North Face of the Gothics looked ominous from this angle.
We made good time with the pleasant temperatures and good trail conditions. The leaves were already falling off higher up on the mountains. This is a dry area for the ADK's. Aspen had some prior hiking experience from PA and a som more in more challenging areas such as Dolly Sods and Blackwater Canyon, both in West Virginia. This was good because there are a lot of brief scrambles up the brothers. These were fun and she manevuered them well. Only once did I get nervous when Aspen was exposed to a would-be-fatal fall.
We made it to the summit of Big Slide around 9am. I took some pics and we quickly headed off to bag Yard Mtn also. The hike that way was more wet. There were thicker forests and much fewer views. After we got Yard we headed down Yard towards JBL. On the Klondike trail we saw our first other group of the day. Even at JBL there were very few people. I was really feeling tired at this point and longed to be back at the car.
We got to the car around 1pm. After camping that night we climbed Esther (no Whiteface) the next day to get it out of the way before heading back to PA.
photos here: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/553935560fDqdCj
-Dom
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Welcome back Dom!
