Intel Request for ADKs

[eddie]

I am looking for some good intel for three specific bushwhacks:

1. Marcy to Gray

2. Marshall to Iroquois (Cold Brook) Pass

3. Iroquois Pass up to Shepards Tooth and Iroquois.

I do have the McMartin book that provides some info but additionalinfo would be highly appreciated. I only use map and compass, landmarks and my own internal gyroscope, so please provide landmarks to aim for and any other tips you can provide. GPS coordinates not required. I am heading to the ADKs on Thurs 8-25 pm.

Also, I am planning to summit Seymour. I haven't been there since 2003. Is it still easy to follow the herd path?

 

[BlackSpruce]

Would probably be a better idea to go directly from Marcy to Iroquois via Moss Pond and then directly from Marshall to Gray via Livingston Pond.

 

[Peakbagr]

Though you can get from Marcy to Gray, it's discouraged due to the fragile vegetation between the peaks. Better to come from Lake Tear for both.

Marshall to Iroquois is doable. Herd path from Cold Brook Pass to Marshall. And a steep, tricky 'whack from the pass to Iroquois.

 

[eddie]

Would probably be a better idea to go directly from Marcy to Iroquois via Moss Pond and then directly from Marshall to Gray via Livingston Pond.

Huh?? Maybe I should go via the backside of Phelps?

 

[Tom Rankin]

I am looking for some good intel for three specific bushwhacks:

1. Marcy to Gray

2. Marshall to Iroquois (Cold Brook) Pass

3. Iroquois Pass up to Shepards Tooth and Iroquois.

I do have the McMartin book that provides some info but additionalinfo would be highly appreciated. I only use map and compass, landmarks and my own internal gyroscope, so please provide landmarks to aim for and any other tips you can provide. GPS coordinates not required. I am heading to the ADKs on Thurs 8-25 pm.

Also, I am planning to summit Seymour. I haven't been there since 2003. Is it still easy to follow the herd path?

1) I agree with peakagr

2) I was just thru the pass in Saturday. The herd path is very obvious. It comes down to the trail a little west of the col. There was a small cairn. I've never followed it in either direction but it should be easy enough to find at the top. There actually appears to be 2 paths that leave the trail near the col. So, if you are descending, you might come to a split. The other one comes out at a sharp turn in the trail, where the trail goes around a large rock that sticks out in the trail.

3) I *THINK* I saw a faint path going up to Iroquois, but I'm not sure. It was east of the westernmost Marshall herd path. Search this board and/or ADKHPs for information. The Tooth is very easy to get to. Once you are near tree line it will be obvious.

 

[BlackSpruce]

Do not forget to bring a boat...

 

[TEO]

Though you can get from Marcy to Gray, it's discouraged due to the fragile vegetation between the peaks. Better to come from Lake Tear for both.

In fact, it's STRONGLY DISCOURAGED by the DEC, ADK, & the ADK 46ers. If that isn't good enough a reason, it's faster and more scenic to go from one to the other via the trail off the South side of Marcy & Four Corners.

 

[eddie]

I plan to bushwhack all of the 46 peaks like other have. How do/did they get through the fragile alpine areas?

 

[escapee]

I did the Marcy to Gray bushwhack, on a snow pack probably five feet deep. That's the only way I'd recommend it, in part to protect the vegetation.

Iroquois (Cold Brook) Pass to Marshall herdpath is obvious. You should have no problem finding and following it.

I've done the bushwhack from Iroquois over or around Shepherd's Tooth down to the pass twice. Below Shepherd's Tooth it is truly a bushwhack. Expect to do the last half-mile in about two hours going downhill. Probably much longer swimming uphill in the spruce. Coming down, you can easily wind up at the top of cliffs about thirty feet high at the top of the pass. Look for a cleft or chimney which provides a good route down the last bit rather than try down-climbing the cliffs.

Ethical and responsible climbers recognize that some past climbing routes and practices are not sustainable and should no longer be followed.

 

[Willie]

I plan to bushwhack all of the 46 peaks like other have. How do/did they get through the fragile alpine areas?

Fac quod dico, non quod facio.

 

[Tom Rankin]

I plan to bushwhack all of the 46 peaks like other have. How do/did they get through the fragile alpine areas?

You can ask peak_bgr or Neil on this board. But I assume they avoided this corridor. There are plenty of places to bushwhack that do not get heavy traffic. IMHO, whacking there is better than creating a trail thru fragile terrain.

 

[Neil]

It looks like bushwhacking the 46 is really catching on.

Most of the HP's don't have fragile alpine ecosystems to worry about.

Of some of the one's that do:

On Algonquin, once I broke the cripplebush I was able to rock-hop the entire way.

On Marcy (approached from Panther Gorge) the final few hundred feet had intertwined gravelly slide-like channels and rock and sees about 2 visitors every second year.

Iroquois, I did on top of 5 feet of snow. (Incidentally, there is a herdpath from the Marshall-Iro col to Shepherd's Tooth and then there is a very well defined and cairned path to the summit so from that side it's not really a bushwhack).

Colden has slides and slabs leading to the summit, or very nearly so on both sides.

Good luck with the endeavour, I think it just got a lot harder.

 

[Mike P.]

For the immediate future, the trails will resemble bushwhacks, especially the ones near brooks. As escapee said "Ethical and responsible climbers recognize that some past climbing routes and practices are not sustainable and should no longer be followed."

I'll finish the 46 someday (35 done) but since the 46'ers have worked on funnelling traffic onto the unmarked paths, it's hard to compare it to the bushwhacks of 30 years ago. When I did Redfield, Table Top, Marshall or Street & Nye, the route was pretty easy to follow if you paid attention. (SW Hunter on the other hand........)

 

[ALGonquin Bob]

I plan to bushwhack all of the 46 peaks like other have. How do/did they get through the fragile alpine areas?

Bushwhack in winter - it's much easier on the fragile vegetation. Following a herd path, such as you may find on alternate approach paths to some of the peaks, isn't really bushwhacking.