Blake, Colvin, Nip, Dial/Gravestone Brook

[Dhiker]

Blake, Colvin, Nippletop, Dial Peaks #37,38,39, 40
August 5,6, 2004 (Thursday, and Friday)

What an excursion! We spotted our car on route 73 at the Round Pond trailhead and had a taxi service take us, our gear and our dogs to Elk Lake where we began the hike. The trail from Elk Lake to the designated camping area prior to the ascent of Pinnacle was marvelous. It was soft on the feet and dry, and not rocky. We went to bed early with the intention of jumping on the trail before first light the next day. Friday morning however, was brutally cold for August (we later found that it had been in the upper thirties..brrr!) so we didn’t start the day until 7:30 AM. Starting your climb up Pinnacle when your still cold and wearing full packs isn’t the most pleasant thing in the world.

The two scenic views on Pinnacle may have been the best of the day outside of Colvin’s summit. It was really awesome to be able to look one way and see The Ausable and look the other and see Elk Lake. We had breakfast here and moved on. One comment worth mentioning here is that not once did any trail signs reference Blake peak, only Colvin. Think what you will of the lifestyle and personal friendship between Blake and Colvin, but when you consider the place in the history of the high peaks that Colvin has, it probably was his close companion and aid Mills Blake that did much of the leg work that Colvin is credited with as the leader of the surveys. That being said, the ridge to Blake is longggggg. The ridge is very cool in that it is so narrow that you get many framed views in both directions. As we closed in on Blake the clouds started playing rain and fog dances with us. The views became fewer and fewer. Getting to Blake took much longer and much more energy than we anticipated. As we descended Blake, we ran into our first human contacts.

On to Colvin, which although steep in spots did not take long to summit. From the summit by the surveyor mark was the last great view of the day to the west. I didn’t realize that you could see Marcy from here, I expected Haystack to block it. Indian Head looked so different from this angle. We descended into Elk Pass where we saw a group of young adults doing trail maintenance for ATIS. At this point, it was becoming late in the afternoon, and I suggested to Lizzie that we consider staying at Elk Pass for the night and finishing the next day. She felt we didn’t have enough food for another day and wanted to push on and stay on schedule.

It was a long steep climb to the summit of Nippletop, with absolutely no views at this point due to the rain cloud we were in. That probably was good, because we didn’t stay on the summit long. Finally, we had some downhill to walk! We started to feel a little better now-rejuvenated. We summited Dial around five PM. Again, there were no views, and we were now getting concerned with the most challenging part of our hike.

We descended to the col between Dial and Bear Den, where we began to search for Gravestone Brook. There was no sign of the brook, and looking at the topo, you could see that you had to descend about two hundred feet before you would find it. So we proceeded east to the compass through thick brush and blowdown in search of Gravestone Brook. It seemed we would never find it, so we just kept going East and down further into the col. Finally, we found a small stream and tried to follow it but kept getting detoured away due to the brush and blowdown. After another fifteen to thirty minutes, staying east, we heard a louder sound of running water and low and behold; Gravestone Brook. We were excited that we had finally found it and that the last leg of our journey was here. The Brook appeared to be beautiful and easy to move on…not so. It became very slippery and had many deep pools that we had to negotiate around on shore. Once on the land your leg would sink knee deep on root holes.

Then time started setting in. We hadn’t found the trail, which crosses the brook, and were starting to wonder if it was possible we missed it. We were running out of light and still also needed to filter some water before taking the trail to the car. Finally, at 8:30PM, we found the trail. We filtered our water and took to the trail. We got to our car at 10:30PM-happy, hungry and filthy.

 

[Dhiker]

The Ridge was interesting, but I'd avoid Gravestone Brook at all costs. We had no choice because of our dogs and AMR regulations.

 

[Peakbagr]

Dhiker,

Great report. Very interesting reading. I've done the Pinnacle ridge or variations a few times. Most memorable was the trip where we bushwacked to the Pinnacle once from the Marcy-Elk Lake trail and then did the ridge and hiked out to St Huberts.
Lots of ups and downs that don't show on the map.
Another we climbed the eastern Blake Slide, tagged the northern Blake summit and then bushwacked from the Pinnacle to the Elk Lake -Marcy Trail.

I was very interested in your Gravestone Brook adventure. I have a number of friends who have come up Gravestone Brook and describe the route in glowing terms. Open woods, easy going most ot the way, etc. Is it possible that late in a long day you could have descended a subsidiary brook?

 

[Dhiker]

Initially, we may have since it was a very small brook. But as we descended,we eventually ran into the correct brook. I had been in correspondance with Joel from Adirondack Journeys, and he told me after, that due to Gravestone Brook, of the 229 trail recommendations he had made, only one was worse.

I just thought that I would easily find a herd path to lead us there, but that was not the case. Then, the scramble down the brook to hit the trail to lead us to Round Pond and out was longer than expected, and until the point where we found the trail, darkness was fast approaching. I did not want to be in the brook in the dark.

And YES-there are a lot of ups and downs along the Ridge.

Great experience, great fun, and my oldest lab now has 38 peaks.We figure she will finish with forty one.

 

[Rivet]

Gravestone Brook

I just did the bushwack via Gravestone Brook this weekend and didn't find it too terrible (as far as bushwacks goes). Bushwacking always takes much longer than expected. Typical time is 1 mile/hour or slower.


Date Hiked: 9/5/2004

Conditions: Muddy in flat areas, but not bad.

Comments: I chose this route to avoid AMR land so I could hike with my dog.
Started from Round pond trailhead and proceeded along the trail for about 3-4 miles. Bushwacked from Dix trail up to Dial/Nippletop ridge parallel to Gravestone Brook. On the way up, I mistook which brook was Gravestone Brook and ending up North of it and reaching Bear Den near its summit. (There are several brooks draining into the Bouquet river here. The "correct" one is the largest and there is a sign on the South side that says "Trail" with an arrow on it.) Had some short steep climbs near the top and had to fight through a spruce thicket on Bear Den. Hiked to Dial (no view because of fog) and then Nippletop (again no view). Returned to Dial and clouds thinned out somewhat. Above 5000 feet were blue skies. Between 4000 and 5000 was clouds. Kind of a cool site.
On the way down, was able to pick out Gravestone Brook. I followed it a little bit, but mostly stayed North of it. The woods were pretty open in spots with birch trees and gardens of ferns down below. As I got closer to Bouqet River, the undergrowth got a little thicker and the brook was too slippery to walk in. Never really encountered a lot of blowdown though.
This was a long hike - about 15 miles. And a full day - 12 hours. The bushwack (just over a mile) added to the time considerably.

 

[Rik]

Dhiker,
I am curious as to what taxi service you used. Dog friendly is nice. Also if you don't mind what was the cost of the ride?

 

[Dhiker]

Rik,
Mountain Taxi Service provided the ride. I have their business card someplace- I'll put the number up tonight. They charged us $52 and that included my wife, self, the two knuckleheads...I mean the labs and our gear. They used a van for the service. They said they'll go anywhere at any time! We called the night before, and no problem. Interestingly, I asked a clerk at the Mountainsmith shop in Keene (Keene Valley?) about taxi services for this purpose, and he was unaware of any. I found the business cards on their bulletin board.

Rivet,
I'm glad you had no trouble. It was at the end of a long day and the only unknown in our hike, so not being 100% on the location of the brook initially was a little unsettling. Then once we found the stream, darkness was approaching quickly, and we did not know for sure how long before we found the trail. But it was fun.

 

[Dhiker]

Mountain Taxi Phone# is 962-2977. I think its a 518 area code. They are out of Westport, NY and are only like a year and half old. I definitely recommend them. They were on time, animal friendly and made every effort to give us the best value for our dough. I initially thought $52 was too expensive, but for the service they provide-its more than worth every penny.

 

[percious]

Very nice trip report. I am glad you decided to climb the not-oft traveled Pinnacle Ridge Trail. I climbed it last year, in July, with three types of flying things to eat you, and 90 degree temps at elevation. Phew. The small waterfall in the first 1/3 was our only relief. Despite this experience, I really love the ridge, and I don't think I would climb Blake any other way. You can tell by the aweful trail erotion that most people just hit Blake via Colvin. I think these people are missing out on the true idea of what it means to be a 46er. Sometimes the trail less travelled is more compelling.

-percious