Chip
Well-known member
The Decision
An old High School friend, Tom, has been doing a winter outing in the Marcy Dam area for years. I hadn't done this area since I was in High School, but it's a special place and I would join him this year. We'd been talking about the weather and made the decision on Wednesday to leave Thursday morning. He was more compelled than me since he wanted to secure a Lean-To and thought they'd be full by friday afternoon.
Thursday: Marcy Dam & Phelps
We arrived at Heart Lake/Adirondak Loj parking area at 11am. We got on the trail and were at Marcy Dam #4 Lean-To by 12. My friend Tom is more into Randonee than peak-bagging but I assured him Phelps would be a good warm-up for the rest of the trip. "Just a hike" were his words as we headed out for Phelps a bit after 1pm. This is 2 miles and 1982' from Marcy Dam, plenty of base snow and occasional exposed ice. A steep trail in the mist and rain offered a work-out and a "peak" but no views. We were back at #4 by 4pm. A couple of "Los Alamos" dry Martinis, an MRE, good conversation with an old friend, some dry clothes and I was done for the day.
Friday: Avalanche Lake & Algonquin
We were up at 7 and ready to hike by 8 but as I put my first boot on it started raining. We hung back until about 10 when the weather looked brighter. Avalanche Lake is a destination in it's own right and is 2 1/2 miles and about 500' up from Marcy Dam. Another mile across the lake and we reached the "Interior Outpost", a well built cabin and barn on the western shore of Lake Colden. We met the current Ranger and her Husky, had some lunch and talked about the next decision. At 12:30 it was overcast and raining lightly. Tom wanted to ski back down through Avalanche and I wanted Algonquin, so we agreed to attempt radio contact between 2:30 and 3 and went our separate ways. Algonquin is 2.1 miles and 2350' up from the Interior Outpost. I'm sure more challenging trail sections exist, but in the wind and rain and alone, it didn't feel like it at the time. Just below tree-line I took a break, added layers and made my way towards the summit. There's a section just at/above tree-line before the cairns start where I lost the trail. Fortunately I saw the back of an "Alpine Zone" sign and re-took the trail. The summit area was in the clouds, cairn to cairn and a heavy wind (at my back). After summiting I figured the wind would calm down, but it was worse. I had to lean back, in a sitting position, to brace myself and place one foot at a time on the ice to avoid being blown down while trying to spot cairns and trail marks. I lost the trail briefly again when the cairns ended, but spotted another trail sign down further and made my way to it. The trail north off the summit was a bob sled run of snow-shoe skiing, butt-sliding, jogging, ice patches and frozen waterfalls. I was able to contact Tom at 3 and let him know I expected to be back in camp by 4. I missed the Whales Tail trail cut off and was back at Marcy Dam by 4:30.
Saturday: Pine Martin Alarm and Marcy in the sunshine !
You know how you "hear things" camping, especially in a lean-to. We were hearing things, waking up and falling asleep again repeatedly on friday night. Finally at about 4am there was a metallic CRASH. Tom had a head lamp handy and as more cook-wear crashed to the floor from his shelf, we spotted a fine looking animal, about 2 feet long, working through the items. My first thought was it looked like a fox, cute, colorful. It was a Pine Martin and it left us alone after we had all scared each other sufficiently for one evening. Saturday morning was still overcast, but not raining with patches of blue. We left camp at 9:30. Passing Indian Falls I remembered having stayed in a lean-to there about 30 years ago. They have since been removed. Further on I had a brief conversation with a man who had done the Santanonis friday. He was talking and said "All of the sudden I hear "thup.thup.thup.thup.thup.thup" behind me and it's Pin Pin, do you know Pin Pin ?" ", I said I had read his trail reports, but no "alligator eggs" were exchanged so we moved on. We summited Marcy at 1. It was a beautiful day, a real pay-off for the drizzle and lack of views from the tops the previous days. On the way down I heard a helicopter which I assumed was recreational. Getting back to Marcy Dam at 3 we decided to bug out and were at the Loj parking by 5, where we learned the helicopter was a rescue, probably a broken leg, off Algonquin. I hope they're fine, but was happy it was not me. We were home by 10.
Shutterbook is under construction. I'll post pictures when I can.
An old High School friend, Tom, has been doing a winter outing in the Marcy Dam area for years. I hadn't done this area since I was in High School, but it's a special place and I would join him this year. We'd been talking about the weather and made the decision on Wednesday to leave Thursday morning. He was more compelled than me since he wanted to secure a Lean-To and thought they'd be full by friday afternoon.
Thursday: Marcy Dam & Phelps
We arrived at Heart Lake/Adirondak Loj parking area at 11am. We got on the trail and were at Marcy Dam #4 Lean-To by 12. My friend Tom is more into Randonee than peak-bagging but I assured him Phelps would be a good warm-up for the rest of the trip. "Just a hike" were his words as we headed out for Phelps a bit after 1pm. This is 2 miles and 1982' from Marcy Dam, plenty of base snow and occasional exposed ice. A steep trail in the mist and rain offered a work-out and a "peak" but no views. We were back at #4 by 4pm. A couple of "Los Alamos" dry Martinis, an MRE, good conversation with an old friend, some dry clothes and I was done for the day.
Friday: Avalanche Lake & Algonquin
We were up at 7 and ready to hike by 8 but as I put my first boot on it started raining. We hung back until about 10 when the weather looked brighter. Avalanche Lake is a destination in it's own right and is 2 1/2 miles and about 500' up from Marcy Dam. Another mile across the lake and we reached the "Interior Outpost", a well built cabin and barn on the western shore of Lake Colden. We met the current Ranger and her Husky, had some lunch and talked about the next decision. At 12:30 it was overcast and raining lightly. Tom wanted to ski back down through Avalanche and I wanted Algonquin, so we agreed to attempt radio contact between 2:30 and 3 and went our separate ways. Algonquin is 2.1 miles and 2350' up from the Interior Outpost. I'm sure more challenging trail sections exist, but in the wind and rain and alone, it didn't feel like it at the time. Just below tree-line I took a break, added layers and made my way towards the summit. There's a section just at/above tree-line before the cairns start where I lost the trail. Fortunately I saw the back of an "Alpine Zone" sign and re-took the trail. The summit area was in the clouds, cairn to cairn and a heavy wind (at my back). After summiting I figured the wind would calm down, but it was worse. I had to lean back, in a sitting position, to brace myself and place one foot at a time on the ice to avoid being blown down while trying to spot cairns and trail marks. I lost the trail briefly again when the cairns ended, but spotted another trail sign down further and made my way to it. The trail north off the summit was a bob sled run of snow-shoe skiing, butt-sliding, jogging, ice patches and frozen waterfalls. I was able to contact Tom at 3 and let him know I expected to be back in camp by 4. I missed the Whales Tail trail cut off and was back at Marcy Dam by 4:30.
Saturday: Pine Martin Alarm and Marcy in the sunshine !
You know how you "hear things" camping, especially in a lean-to. We were hearing things, waking up and falling asleep again repeatedly on friday night. Finally at about 4am there was a metallic CRASH. Tom had a head lamp handy and as more cook-wear crashed to the floor from his shelf, we spotted a fine looking animal, about 2 feet long, working through the items. My first thought was it looked like a fox, cute, colorful. It was a Pine Martin and it left us alone after we had all scared each other sufficiently for one evening. Saturday morning was still overcast, but not raining with patches of blue. We left camp at 9:30. Passing Indian Falls I remembered having stayed in a lean-to there about 30 years ago. They have since been removed. Further on I had a brief conversation with a man who had done the Santanonis friday. He was talking and said "All of the sudden I hear "thup.thup.thup.thup.thup.thup" behind me and it's Pin Pin, do you know Pin Pin ?" ", I said I had read his trail reports, but no "alligator eggs" were exchanged so we moved on. We summited Marcy at 1. It was a beautiful day, a real pay-off for the drizzle and lack of views from the tops the previous days. On the way down I heard a helicopter which I assumed was recreational. Getting back to Marcy Dam at 3 we decided to bug out and were at the Loj parking by 5, where we learned the helicopter was a rescue, probably a broken leg, off Algonquin. I hope they're fine, but was happy it was not me. We were home by 10.
Shutterbook is under construction. I'll post pictures when I can.
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