hikes in the Adirondacks

[Greenpoint]

My wife and I have hiked for years in the White Mountains but never in the Adirondacks. We're looking to do a little hiking there in June and we're looking to start off with a hike equivalent in effort to Garfield, Chocorua or Osceola, if any of you are familiar with those in the White Mountains.

 

[Nessmuk]

The Adirondacks are extensive. Do you have an idea of what area you might like to try? I am not familiar with the Whites, but I am sure you can find something you will like in the Adirondacks. I can highly recommend a series of guide books, Discover the Adirondacks, now by Bill ingersoll. They describe trails in detail and include interesting historical information on each.
http://hiketheadirondacks.com/pages/Discover_the_Adirondacks_Series

 

[Greenpoint]

Thanks for that. The mountains I mentioned are about a 6-8 hour round trip hike, not too strenuous and have nice views. We're coming from Central Massachusetts and have no particular destination in mind yet - just somewhere in the Adirondacks.

 

[nartreb]

How about Giant Mountain, near St Huberts? The route from Chapel Pond is a little more short-and-steep than your examples, but the Roaring Brook route (Roaring Falls trailhead) should be right up your alley.

 

[TCD]

There are great options all over the Adirondacks. Coming from Mass the Eastern side of the Adirondacks is a shorter drive to get to.

Many of the High Peaks have longer approaches than the NH Peaks. So while the climbing is the same, there's a long walk to get to the mountain. Giant (suggested above)and Cascade are exceptions to that. Cascade is spectacular, but will actually be a shorter hike than your 6-8 hour target. Both those mountain will also have a lot of people on nice weekend days. Don't know if that matters to you.

Consider some of the "non-High-Peaks" also. Noonmark and Round are both spectacular; if you do both it would be about the right length hike. Traversing the ridge of Pitchoff is another; another one might be Nundagao Ridge with a side trip up Hurricane.

Many options, depending on your preferences.

Plan for bugs, just like in NH.

 

[Greenpoint]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I have some reading to do tonight

 

[Nessmuk]

You don't have to focus on the High Peaks to get climbs in the wilderness with great views. There are 3 million publicly accessible acres in the Adirondacks (half of the total park) and the high peaks are only a very small and highly over crowded sliver of the whole.

These photos are from a remote wilderness area quite a few miles to the west of the HP region. I do this moderately easy climb annually. The guys in the photos are in my student guide trainees. In 28 years I have never seen or encountered other people up there at the same time, very unlike what you would experience in the High Peaks region. There are more like these in several other areas if you look around. Adding travel by canoe gets you to many.

 

[Tom Rankin]

Of the 4Ks, I can think of these:

Giant
Dial
Phelps and/or Tabletop
Algonqiun and/or Wright
Street / Nye (herd paths)
Wolf Jaw(s)
Whiteface and / or Esther (herd path)

Many of the peaks are very close to one another, once you finally get there. For instance, if you do Lower Wolf Jaw, Upper is very close, and then so is Armstrong, and then so is Gothics, and then ...

I will also recommend you check out http://adkhighpeaks.com/forums

 

[nartreb]

Of the 4Ks, I can think of these:

Giant
Dial
Phelps and/or Tabletop
Algonqiun and/or Wright
Street / Nye (herd paths)
Wolf Jaw(s)
Whiteface and / or Esther (herd path)

Many of the peaks are very close to one another, once you finally get there. For instance, if you do Lower Wolf Jaw, Upper is very close, and then so is Armstrong, and then so is Gothics, and then ...

I will also recommend you check out http://adkhighpeaks.com/forums

re WolfJaw-Armstrong-Gothic: these peaks are close to each other in distance but the cols in the Great Range can be brutal. You drop about 500' between the two wolf jaws - it's similar in height and distance to the Madison-Adams col. A clear step up in difficulty compared to Champney Falls trail or the standard routes up Garfield or Osceola. And the wolf jaws don't give you much of a view, either.

 

[Peakbagr]

Chocorua = Noonmark Mt

 

[Mike P.]

Peakbagr has a good comparison for Chocorua. As I also speak the two fluently.... Garfield, 10 RT, never really steep, same with Osceola which is about 6.4 RT unless you up from Greeley Ponds, then it is steep.

I'd say the Osceola comparisons are either Hurricane or Wrights's Peak. Both are bare offering extensive views, one s almost 3700 feet, the other 4,580. Giant is not a bad choice, it is a pretty steep climb with places with views when you need a break. If Monroe stood by itself, the trip up the Ammo would be similar to Giant IMO.

For a Garfield comparison, I'd go with either Phelps or Colden Phelps is shorter, but is easy for much of it and then a decent climb in the last mile, harder than anything on Garfield and a bit eroded. Colden by Lake Arnold is more than 10, very easy to the old Marcy Dam, then as you get closer to Lake Arnold it is a bit harder. The last bit on the Lake Arnold Trail is pretty steep, however, once you get out of the trees, it's a great view and not to long. (The Trap Dike is their Huntington Ravine or Six Husbands, maybe even harder, don't go that way.)

Cascade and Porter are often done first, they have a high crowded start from 73 and the saddle between them is pretty easy. Steeper than Osceola, it's not too bad, they probably compare with Osceola, I'd try to do Cascade & Porter mid-week if possible. Regarding the WMG Vs the High Peaks Guide, I would say that when the ADK guide says steep, they mean really steep. The Three Agonies on Lafayette would not be so nicknamed in the ADK & the South Twin climb from Galehead would be Moderate to steep. There is terrain similar to Flume Slide or the Tripyramids, but no headwall trails.

Parking is an issue in the ADK. Hurricane is on the road and likely less crowded than any other listed. Colden, Phelps & Wrights is all done at the High Peaks Visitor Center at the ADK Loj and parking is limited and roadside is not allowed so weekday or an early arrival is a good idea. There are a couple of hostels or B&B options in the area if staying up there the night before tp save yourself from a 4:00 AM start (which may not get you into the Loj lot depending on what you call Central MA.)

 

[DayTrip]

If you don't care about bagging 4k's one of my first hikes in the Adirondacks was the Rocky Peak Ridge from the New Russia (East) side. It sees far less hiker traffic than the main trail heads and is a fantastic hike with many open vistas at and around Bald Peak and above treeline stuff for lengthy sections. If you descend just past the peak there is a mammoth birch glade in the col that is very cool. You can continue on to RPR which is a phemonenal open ridge with amazing views but be advised the col between Bald and the shoulder of RPR is very steep and rough, more wilderness area conditions than the usual trails. This is a really tremendous hike, possibly my favorite so far in the Adirondacks and I'd highly recommend.

Another off the beaten path hike I really enjoyed was Porter and Cascade from the Marcy Field (East) trail head. The initial climb is very steep (comparable to Osceola from the East but somewhat longer) but the open ledges toward the top of and after Blueberry Mt are awesome. From there it is a pretty comfortable but lengthy cruise along the ridge with various viewpoints and grassy areas before reaching the summit of Porter. You will see far, far fewer people this way on Porter. The day I did it (was late September - perfect day with peak foliage) I saw 12 people until Porter. From Porter to Cascade I saw about 300. Yah. Cascade is a more dramatic summit and isn't all that bad of a trip from Porter but it is definitely very, very crowded.

Of the "main stream" popular peaks I've done so far Giant was my favorite, via the Ridge Trail from Rte 73. This is an extremely busy route. Algonquin and Wright was also pretty nice but has a lot of sloping ledge in the upper parts and is pretty steep. And it is usually crawling with people too on weekends.

 

[Mike P.]

right now, the black flies are brutal. NH has barely any in comparison. We ended up on Vanderwhacker