iceclimber
New member
Friday night after a loooong day of work got my girl and I up to the Upper Works trailhead at 8:30. Obviously it was already dark, and there were people with tents already setup and sleeping in. Did we do the same? Heck no, we put on some gear, I threw the kitchen sink on my back, and we headed out, on course for hopefully herbert brook tent sites. Well, the night was amazing, and the hiking started off great. But after working 10+ hours, driving 2.5+, then finding out you have 6 AA batteries (for the GPS) and 0 AAA for the dying headlamp.. well.. yeah you get the idea. Anyhow, at least she had a new battery in her Ion, so we kinda both hiked together on the way out. By the time we got to Flowed Lands, my eyes were really tired from the strain caused by only seeing your next step or so for over 3 hours. It was almost midnight, and the leantos at Calamity were full. We briefly looked around for tent sites there, but after seeing the one good spot taken we headed out around the Lands (yes, this was my first time into flowed lands, so and not having a good headlamp and being tired didnt help finding a spot.) Anyhow, after carefully trudging around the Lands, and briefly heading up the Marshall headpath, we ended up at our original destination, 20ft up from Marshall herdpath. There was one other lady already in her tent, that we found out had been sleeping since 7pm (i was just getting out of work in albany around then!). I setup the tarptent, stashed the bearvault, and out like trout we were. The next morning (sat) we packed up, and made our way up to Uphill LT. A party of 2 had left their bags directly in the middle of the LT, so, thinking better, we decided we would throw up the tarptent again. There was a nice spot 30yrds back or so that we settled into. We through our daypacks on, and headed up the redfield herdpath shortly before heading over to the Cliff path. We missed the 1st cairn, but when we got the the 2nd (our goal) we started going through the blowdown before thinking better and turning back up the herdpath at that 2nd carin. We made good time up and over all the trees, and before we knew it were traversing the false summit over to the top. Once on top, we were greeted by PIN-PIN! This was my first time seeing him in the woods, and was not dissappointed! He said hello to Sunny and I after I asked "Hey aren't you PIN-PIN"!?, then was quickly on his way. Nice meeting you PinPin!
Anyway, we made it down after shortly losing the real herd path on the false summit. We started up Redfeild, and that thing might as well be a maintained trail it was so nice! The water and rock hopping was a needed break from all the blowdown. There is slim to no blowdown on your way up, and the views are great. Woohoo to Redfield! Back on down to the tent at Uphill, and a COLD COLD night. I hear it got down to mid 30s that night, and at 3200 or whatever ft we were at, it sure felt COLD.
We woke the next day, and headed up to Lake tear of the Clouds. The path up to Gray is nice! I enjoyed it a lot. The summit was easily reached in very short time from the lake. We decided that since we loved the tight paths on pough/hough, we would whack on over to Marcy. And we did. Wow, its tight, you can't even see your feet most of the way! I found myself getting whacked in the face, and laughing. I don't know why, maybe because I knew what we were up for and that made it ok and funny? Anywho, we broke onto the rocky slabs of Marcy, and took great panos from skylight over to Haystack. Marcy summit, was, well it was Marcy. Lots of people, etc etc. We headed down the maintained trail to four corners. After refilling at Lake Tear, we headed up Skylight. The trail is as many know, a constant steep step up rocks, and then the nice opening. We summited pretty quickly, and only 2 others were on top. Sunny laid down under the rock pile after we dropped our rock offerings off, and I headed over and took amazing 360 degree panos. After leaving the summit, nearly 100 yards off the summit, she got sick. I think it was too much water mixed with heat exhaustion, but we were both scared. Let's just say it was a long back to Uphill that night. We got back around 6, ate, then while she dozed off, I read some stuff, and enjoyed the woods.
The pack out the next day was long, but we met some nice folks on the way out from syracuse. The one girl was injured and I hope she made it back to Upper Works ok!
All in all, a great weekend away for me. Sometimes you just need some times in the woods to rejuvenate oneself. Peaks 26 and 40 for her and I respectively.
Anyway, we made it down after shortly losing the real herd path on the false summit. We started up Redfeild, and that thing might as well be a maintained trail it was so nice! The water and rock hopping was a needed break from all the blowdown. There is slim to no blowdown on your way up, and the views are great. Woohoo to Redfield! Back on down to the tent at Uphill, and a COLD COLD night. I hear it got down to mid 30s that night, and at 3200 or whatever ft we were at, it sure felt COLD.
We woke the next day, and headed up to Lake tear of the Clouds. The path up to Gray is nice! I enjoyed it a lot. The summit was easily reached in very short time from the lake. We decided that since we loved the tight paths on pough/hough, we would whack on over to Marcy. And we did. Wow, its tight, you can't even see your feet most of the way! I found myself getting whacked in the face, and laughing. I don't know why, maybe because I knew what we were up for and that made it ok and funny? Anywho, we broke onto the rocky slabs of Marcy, and took great panos from skylight over to Haystack. Marcy summit, was, well it was Marcy. Lots of people, etc etc. We headed down the maintained trail to four corners. After refilling at Lake Tear, we headed up Skylight. The trail is as many know, a constant steep step up rocks, and then the nice opening. We summited pretty quickly, and only 2 others were on top. Sunny laid down under the rock pile after we dropped our rock offerings off, and I headed over and took amazing 360 degree panos. After leaving the summit, nearly 100 yards off the summit, she got sick. I think it was too much water mixed with heat exhaustion, but we were both scared. Let's just say it was a long back to Uphill that night. We got back around 6, ate, then while she dozed off, I read some stuff, and enjoyed the woods.
The pack out the next day was long, but we met some nice folks on the way out from syracuse. The one girl was injured and I hope she made it back to Upper Works ok!
All in all, a great weekend away for me. Sometimes you just need some times in the woods to rejuvenate oneself. Peaks 26 and 40 for her and I respectively.
