MacNaughton via Wallface Ponds 3-7-09

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Adventurous

New member
Joined
Apr 16, 2004
Messages
339
Reaction score
167
Location
Wakefield, RI
The culprits – HuiYeng (7summits), Jason (ferrisjrf), Gillian, Aaron and myself

The plan – MacNaughton via Wallface Ponds

We had long standing plans to go to the Adirondacks the weekend of 3/6 – 3/8. Our original goal had been to hike the slide on Gothics while Leaf and company climbed the North Face of Gothics. As the weekend got closer, we started throwing out other ideas. I wanted to do MacNaughton since July 07 when I completed the ADK46 so I suggested it as a potential hike for Saturday. The idea sounded good to everyone, so Jason did the research. Cory had been out there on Thursday via the route that we were considering taking – that’s all it took for our group to commit to doing MacNaughton.

We had a leisurely breakfast at Cedar Run while waiting for Aaron and his friend, Shawn, to meet us there. Once they arrived, we headed over to the ADK Loj. I was very surprised to find there was thin snow cover at lower elevations. The red trail around Heart Lake was icy so we put on our snowshoes for traction. Once past the ice, the snow was wet and heavy so we kept the snowshoes on for the entire day. The red trail up to Scotts Clearing was well packed and easy to follow. The snow bridges are starting to melt but they’re still crossable. From Scott’s Clearing, we took the blue trail leading to Wallface Ponds where the bushwhack to MacNaughton starts.

This blue trail is far less traveled than the red trail is. It appeared that Cory had been the only person out there recently. The snow was not as packed and we had a few spruce trap incidences. As the day warmed up, the snow got heavier, which slowed our pace down a bit. Temps were easily in the mid 40’s and most of us were hiking in short sleeved shirts – which felt a bit weird considering it was March 7th. We stopped at a pond about a mile from Wallface Ponds to catch some rays and get a bite to eat. After lunch, we continued on to the ponds. We were a bit hesitant crossing the ponds given the warm weather but opted to follow the tracks across them and didn’t have any problems at all.

After crossing the largest of the Wallface Ponds, we began the bushwhack up to the summit of MacNaughton. We had 800 feet of climbing to do in less than a mile. To our surprise, we didn’t have any spruce trap problems and we didn’t have to push through thick areas. Besides the steepness, it was a pleasant climb with a few views along the way. We soon reached the summit ridge where we were afforded fantastic views of the MacIntyre Range and the Santanoni’s. We were only a short distance from the summit sign so we continued on. We reached the “McNaughton” summit sign…took some pictures and headed over to the other end of the ridge to make sure that we tagged both high points. Once on the other end of the ridge, we took more pictures and offered our congratulations to each other – HuiYeng, Jason and myself had all completed our ADK46 but had not been up MacNaughton so it now felt official. This was also Gillians first ADK winter peak so it was a big day for all of us.

The dark clouds started to roll in so we didn’t spend much time celebrating. We went back to the bushwhack trail and headed back down to Wallface Ponds. Five minutes after leaving the summit, the snow started. By the time we reached the largest of the Wallface Ponds, the snow was very heavy. In the middle of the pond, it turned to sleet and then to rain by the time we crossed it. For me, it’s no surprise that we were getting rained on - almost every hike that I did in the Adirondacks was in snow, sleet or rain. Once across the pond and into the woods, we put our raingear on. It continued to rain for the entire 7 miles back to the Loj.

The snow was even heavier than it had been on the way up to the ponds. Every time you lifted your trekking poles or your snowshoes, you had a few pounds of snow on them. It was an exhausting hike out to say the least. Despite the rain (which never stopped), we still had a great day. I’ve really missed being on a summit for the first time, especially an ADK summit, and to spend it with an awesome group of people made it even more special. Thanks for a great hike everyone and sorry about making you worry about us Leaf!!! Pics will be posted later.
 
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Nice write-up Adventurous. We lucked out and only got rained on for the last mile of our hike out to the Garden. The rain for us was actually quite refreshing at the time.. but that's because the sun was still out. :p

Despite all of the group's apparent lack of cell coverage, therefore NO text messages back to me to stop me from worrying at 9:30 p.m., I'm glad you guys made the trek out to the Adirondacks with me. ;) Good apres-hike/climb time.
 
In the middle of the pond, [the precipitation] turned to sleet and then to rain by the time we crossed it.

I think I actually ended up with video of the exact change from snow to rain. Impeccable timing. Now to upload it...someday. :rolleyes:

It was definitely cool to get my brother out again. His first two experiences in the High Peaks have now been Wright's Left Wing, and a winter MacNaughton trip. That's style. :cool:

I'm not even gonna post any pictures, cause Hui Yeng's will be way better than mine anyway.

Edit: never mind...here are my pics.

Jason
 
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NIce hike Kim, fun group to drag along with you!! :D

Can't wait to see the pics!! :rolleyes:

Hike with you soon!
 
Despite all of the group's apparent lack of cell coverage, therefore NO text messages back to me to stop me from worrying at 9:30 p.m., I'm glad you guys made the trek out to the Adirondacks with me. ;) Good apres-hike/climb time.

On the up side we know you didn't get your panties all in a bunch over it :D
 
Kim,

Sounds like you had a great group to hike with. Congrats on being an "OFFICIAL" ADK 47-R

Adam

Congrats also go to HuiYeng and Jason for their "OFFICIAL" ADK 47-R finishes and to Gillian and Aaron for their first ADK winter peaks. It was a joint celebration for all parties involved.

GG - yeah - it was a long wet slog out. I don't seem to remember you guys giving me crap though...I must have tuned out all negative comments :D
 
Sounds like a fun trip! Yoooo hoooo...Hui Yeng...pictures please. (no offense Jason)
 
MacNaughty baby!

IMG_4825.JPG


Wicked beautiful day in the woods that's for sure, at least the first part of the day anyway. We got a little bit of everything in a day, nice warm sun to begin the day followed by snow/flurry/drizzle and ended with steady rain.

Thanks for getting our arse back to ADK, Court. It was very nice to meet Craig, Aaron and Shawn who we hiked together for about 5 min :). Thanks everyone for the fun weekend. Hehehe, nice pictures and videos, Jason and Kim, love the clip that captured the snow disappeared into rain. But now prepare yourself for my wicked awesome pictures. :p Kidding, enjoy!
 
OK...I'm not on top of things like Leaf with the awesome slideshow of Gothics that she put together as soon as she got home but alas, my pictures have been uploaded.
heh heh. well, i'm sure you're more well-rested than i am.

cool pix guys.. but where are the views? i thought you guys had ledges and views and stuff? :confused:

correction: ok, it looks like kim took the pix of the views.. just saw hers.

huiyeng, anytime i can drag you to the ADKs again, you just let me know. :D
 
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