Adventurous
New member
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.
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.
Last edited:
