Favorite Adirondack bushwhack peak?

[PINPIN JUNIOR]

Favorite mountain

Hi Denis,

Before last week my favorite mountain was: Niagara/Nippletop for the same reasons, but now with the long hike to catch the Spruce Lake Mtn We changed for this mountain.

In the Winter verey nice mixed open forest with both side North/South great views: lakes, brooks, hills and mountains in a very quiet place, but You need to pay the price 13 milles approach (26 m. round trip).

If You go for his father unamed Otter Lake the same day You have over 30 miles round trip!!!! a long very long day hike We hiked Marsh 5 2009. Yé!

Pinpin The 3th

 

[timmus]

I was in good company too of course

He knows I'm still reading

My answer : McDonnell is the first that comes to my mind, but Blue Ridge was great too. Amazing unexpected views of the High Peaks. Which BR you gonna ask ?

The Slip/Saddleback traverse was nice too. I step in a hornet nest in the first mile, and was buzzed all day.

 

[Neil]

Which BR you gonna ask ?

The one with that petite river that runs along the bottom of it? Got a great shot of Colden from it.

However, the Hoffman Blue Ridge is a lot closer and has killer views too so I don't know.....You tell me.

 

[Dennis C.]

PinPin .... Spruce Lake Mtn in winter .... yikes! It's hard enough in 3-season getting that and W. Canada driving in part way. No doubt you used skis and perhaps an overnight backpack coming in from Nobleboro .... or other approach?

Wow! Some really interesting choices you all have for "favorite bushwhacks". Summit views aren't necessarily a key feature according to some of your selections. As for McDonnell; deep hard packed snow covering up blowdowns (and who knows what else!), plus the elevation gain accounts for a lot of the special winter views you were treated to. Nice going!

Another favorite of mine: Sawtooth No. 2, E Bump, with it's wide open small rock ledge summit . Spencer's "The Other 54" lists the W Bump as the higher of the two, but not the better for views!

 

[PINPIN JUNIOR]

only day hike

Hi my friend Dennis....

It was a crazy day, We used only snowshoes.

We need 13 h 30 m. in a day hike, Started after a car night sleep, We registed at 7.a.m. the trail was broken only for the 3 first miles!!

We lost the trail around 8 miles after the register, but after We checked the map We recognised the little swamp....

We started with Otter Lake Mtn.

After We returned in the trail, We took the decision to don't come back in this area.....We were lucky, a small icy bridge was directly in the compass direction, to cross the Spuce Lake Brook.

Many small cliffs after the first false summit, the snow base was good, only 6 inches deep snowshoes tracks for the musly part of the trip.

But We were a little bit tired, the day before We hiked West Canada Mtn, around 22 miles day hike.... a other nice day hike!!!

We signed out at 8h 30, with a real good feeling....

Now We need the only the 6 crazy mountains around Kitty Cobble with the must Winter difficult the Northrup Pk in the middle of noway place.....if the Mother Nature stay in a goog mood, We will go in this area this coming weekend...and We will finish the 221 (217 in your list and 4 more We are not sure but do not take achance with the 200 f. col) 3000 f. in Winter... but for now it is just a dream....

Everybody need a dream to stay in a challenge hike...........

Pinpin The 3th.

 

[Skyclimber]

I would have to say, some of my favorite bushwhacking is in the West Mill Valley. It's very beautiful country back there.

 

[hillman1]

I like all the responses, but my favorite was Wallface. After summiting, making my way over to the top of the cliffs was amazing. The views of the macs were outstanding, and looking straight down that cliff to the valley floor was neat. Pretty thick up on that top though.

 

[Skyclimber]

I like all the responses, but my favorite was Wallface. After summiting, making my way over to the top of the cliffs was amazing. The views of the macs were outstanding, and looking straight down that cliff to the valley floor was neat. Pretty thick up on that top though.

Wallface is probably my most favorite in the views, as it was quite fascinating, laying down, looking over the cliffs. The view of the MacIntyres are so close and beautiful.

 

[ColdRiverRun]

I like all the responses, but my favorite was Wallface..... Pretty thick up on that top though.

Looks damn nice in winter though..

The view of the MacIntyres are so close and beautiful.

I agree!

 

[ColdRiverRun]

As for McDonnell; deep hard packed snow covering up blowdowns (and who knows what else!), plus the elevation gain accounts for a lot of the special winter views you were treated to. Nice going!

See those huge open areas that most would believe are massive blow down fields of misery? I told Neil that they are apple orchards from the logging days so he doesn't need to bring much food. The trip report should be interesting.

Pic was taken from Redfield this winter.

Another gorgeous day out there, it made breaking out Redfield solo in knee to mid thigh deep powder worth it for those views.

 

[hillman1]

Another cool thing that happened on the way to wallface was meeting skyclimber at the lean to, where she shed some sage advice on the hike I was taking. I still want to go back and follow the trail I crossed on the mountain--others have reported crossing it also. I really want to know where it goes. It's not an animal herd path, maybe a secret campsite for the climbers or something. It was weird to cross way out there. Those climbers have some pretty nice campsites.

 

[Peakbagr]

Doug,

Spencer and I came across the path on the way down Wallface. We used it to shed some elevation. I'm looking forward to getting back to Wallface.

 

[Dennis C.]

Alan, in Spencer's "The Other 54", there's a bushwhack route outlined similar to the one Sonny and I used coming down Wallface. After tagging what we thought was the highest point, we made our way out to a cliff edge for views. Rather than backtrack, we just started bushwhacking NE and half way down came across a small rotting log bridge we thought must have been used years ago associated with logging operations. Were you with Spencer? Did you spot that bridge? Map: Insert N 44.14144 W 74.03026 into http://mapper.acme.com/ and adjust view).

 

[Peakbagr]

Dennis,

Yes, Spencer, Sunny(his dog) and I. One of my best in the moutains and one of my worst. Had the onset of heat illness nearing the summit. HOT and humid and the 'whack from the SW was over cliffs and football fields of blowdown. Didn't run a tracklog. We walked over to the cliff top for views and pictures. Our route down was NE. We stayed between the NE-SW blowdown field and where the terrain dropped down to the top of the cliff. Ran into some ledges in a few spots but the woods were as open as the Northway in comparison to the SW.
As we dropped, we encountered an unmarked trail that was better than a herd path. It dropped us down to where the 'I' of Indian Pass shows on the USGS topo maps. Don't remember a bridge other than when we got to the IP trail. Remembered remarking that the trail took us thru some pretty good drops and it was nice to have run into it. I plugged in your coordinates. Pretty sure we dropped down a little south of your waypoint, and just above the northern terminus of the cliff.
The actual summit is in a little clearing and I think there was a sign now but not when you guys were there. The cliff top with the view is less than a minute away.

 

[TCD]

Sounds like a climbers' descent path. I didn't realize Wallface was popular enough for the climbers to have worn a path. Climber's descent paths are often very useful, because they are direct, but lightly enough used to not get too eroded. On popular cliffs they often have to be rerouted, because the first descent path that develops is usually not well planned and is too direct to be durable.

Bushwhackers may find these paths useful, and they are seldom or never mentioned in "hiking" guides. If you are going to an area, and you want to know about these paths, pick up the local climbing guide book. Good guide books will usually offer pretty good detail on how to descend from the various formations. These trails make potential hiking routes up otherwise unhikable formations, also.

Caveat: Descent paths are climbers' routes, and so they may feature unexpected exposure, rappels, or other risks not present on hiking trails. Don't get into anything you can't get out of!

TCD

 

[Dennis C.]

Lost Pond adventure ....

Neil mentions the Lost Pond area as one of his favorites. In late winter in the mid 1990s, Sonny and I backpacked out to the shelter before the Wallface Ponds Trail. We set out with day packs to the Wallface Ponds trail height-of-land ( http://mapper.acme.com/ : N 44.15010 W 74.02989) and bushwhacked NNW up the wooded ridge with some views to the Adirondack's own "Little Crater Lake". Once over the top, we dropped down through mostly open woods and crossed the frozen pond. It was so quiet and peaceful .... a real winter wonderland! Once across, we wallowed through some thick green spruce with snow falling down over our hooded parkas before reaching an opening on the west side of the peak. After maneuvering up a short cliff section, we arrived at what appeared as the wooded summit with limited views off toward the Mac Intyre Mountains. Has anyone approached Lost Pond from some other direction and found better viewpoints?

 

[Neil]

I've done LPP from 2 directions in spite of beginning each whack from Indian Brook. Once, we came out at the south shore of the pond and detoured way around to the right of some cliffs before gaining the summit ridge. The 2nd approach was from the north and we came out on top of a small knob that lies ESE of the true summit and traversed west along the ridge to it. It was early spring and we had excellent views of Street as we ascended the knob. Fantastic in-your-face views of the Macs most of the way up from Indian Brk.

From the small but open summit we had unobstructed views of the Santas, Sewards and Sawtooths, plus a lot more.

Each time I found the lower section to be very steep with thick woods and very friable soil.

Pictures from the 2nd climb. Start with the first and click through the next 3 or 4. Then jump ahead to pics of Algonquin from our descent.