Fantastic late summer day to take advantage of the new slide on Wright. Of the many new Adirondack slides, this is the one that had looked the most intriguing to me. There had already been at least a few people who ascended this slide before me and there was even a story in Adirondack Explorer about the slide barely two weeks after it fell during Tropical Storm Irene.
I headed out from the Loj a few minutes after 8 AM and noticed little in terms of big differences along the main trail. Just before getting to Marcy Dam, a trail reroute took you across Marcy Brook and met up with the truck trail (due to the bridge washout at the Dam). Once at Marcy Dam, I got a good look at the new slide on Wright and cut back across the edge of the mostly drained pond to the Hudowalski lean-to, where I began the bushwhack to find the slide. Took a heading WSW but gradually realized that I hadn't cut far enough south. I stuck with it for awhile gaining elevation and getting excited every time I saw a few downed trees. Eventually, it set in that I was hopelessly beyond the slide.
Frustrated but not defeated, I decided to head back east but took a higher line. If I had indeed gone too far, I would surely intersect the slide if I bushwhacked along the contour I was now on. Soon enough I saw a clearing and then a massive wall of trees ... this had to be it. And it was. As I made my way over the top of the trees, I soon saw I was peering into some sort of a canyon. Great ... the chute that was mentioned in the Explorer article. So back into the woods I went and dropped just enough elevation to get below the chute and stepped on the slide at exactly 10 AM ... two full hours after leaving the Loj.
But I was on the slide and that's what counted. And man, it looked fun. The chute is just flat-out cool. High walls and sections of two-to-three foot deep water. Water runs through the whole thing and it is just kind of idyllic. So I worked my way upwards and just loved how clean the rock on the slide was. Eventually you reach a fork. The right fork looks like crap with lots of downed trees; the left fork looks clean but there is a huge wall of downed trees blocking the way about 1/2 way up. I took the left fork and figured I'd deal with the trees when I got to them. It all worked out because at the point you reach the wall of trees, you can just cut across an open patch of what used to be woods over to the right fork (eventually, the two forks merge) and continue the ascent. The steepness gradually progressed from Class 1 to Class 2 but the route stayed nice. There was more junk to deal with higher on the slide in terms of debris but that will eventually wash off.
Finally I reached the Class 3-ish headwall. I had been gravitating towards the cracks in the slide my entire hike and stuck with my strategy. I worked my way up the lower part of the headwall easily but the upper part was a little wet. I tested my boots on a few wet sections and the traction was good so I continued and angled towards a crack that surely would take me to the top of the slide. But my luck ran thin and this crack was filled with mud making it hard to get good traction. I continued up in the crack as far as I thought I could go but my boot traction was now filled with mud and both hands were firmly against the rock. No more than 15 yards from the top of the slide, I reached the conclusion that I was no more than two or three strides from losing my footing and starting a painful slide of shame. So ever so gingerly and carefully, I put it in reverse and backed down to a position of safety. I briefly considered redoubling my efforts and taking another whack. Had the glory of a first ascent hung in the balance, I probably would have, but I already had attained what I'd come for ... a great experience on a new slide. So down I went.
The descent was fun but uneventful and I looked forward to hiking to the very bottom of the slide, which I'd missed out on the ascent. Once reaching the bottom, I skirted around to the left of the massive wall of trees and then back right and was more than a little surprised to see a stream although in retrospect I shouldn't have been. There was clearly running water going through the chute only 1/4 of a mile up the slide. So anyway, I decided to follow the stream figuring it would meet up with Marcy Brook. And sure enough it did only about 1/10 of a mile south of Marcy Dam. This stream shows up on my National Geographic map but not on my ADK map. I've never seen it myself before so I can only speculate whether the stream bed was widened by Irene. In any event, it is a far better route to/from the slide than a bushwhack as it takes you directly to the base of the slide. No guess work involved. If coming from Marcy Dam, follow Marcy Brook south for about 1/10 of a mile. You come to a fork. The left fork is Marcy Brook. The fork immediately to the right is the stream that will take you to the slide in another 10 or 15 minutes.
Great day, great slide.
I headed out from the Loj a few minutes after 8 AM and noticed little in terms of big differences along the main trail. Just before getting to Marcy Dam, a trail reroute took you across Marcy Brook and met up with the truck trail (due to the bridge washout at the Dam). Once at Marcy Dam, I got a good look at the new slide on Wright and cut back across the edge of the mostly drained pond to the Hudowalski lean-to, where I began the bushwhack to find the slide. Took a heading WSW but gradually realized that I hadn't cut far enough south. I stuck with it for awhile gaining elevation and getting excited every time I saw a few downed trees. Eventually, it set in that I was hopelessly beyond the slide.
Frustrated but not defeated, I decided to head back east but took a higher line. If I had indeed gone too far, I would surely intersect the slide if I bushwhacked along the contour I was now on. Soon enough I saw a clearing and then a massive wall of trees ... this had to be it. And it was. As I made my way over the top of the trees, I soon saw I was peering into some sort of a canyon. Great ... the chute that was mentioned in the Explorer article. So back into the woods I went and dropped just enough elevation to get below the chute and stepped on the slide at exactly 10 AM ... two full hours after leaving the Loj.
But I was on the slide and that's what counted. And man, it looked fun. The chute is just flat-out cool. High walls and sections of two-to-three foot deep water. Water runs through the whole thing and it is just kind of idyllic. So I worked my way upwards and just loved how clean the rock on the slide was. Eventually you reach a fork. The right fork looks like crap with lots of downed trees; the left fork looks clean but there is a huge wall of downed trees blocking the way about 1/2 way up. I took the left fork and figured I'd deal with the trees when I got to them. It all worked out because at the point you reach the wall of trees, you can just cut across an open patch of what used to be woods over to the right fork (eventually, the two forks merge) and continue the ascent. The steepness gradually progressed from Class 1 to Class 2 but the route stayed nice. There was more junk to deal with higher on the slide in terms of debris but that will eventually wash off.
Finally I reached the Class 3-ish headwall. I had been gravitating towards the cracks in the slide my entire hike and stuck with my strategy. I worked my way up the lower part of the headwall easily but the upper part was a little wet. I tested my boots on a few wet sections and the traction was good so I continued and angled towards a crack that surely would take me to the top of the slide. But my luck ran thin and this crack was filled with mud making it hard to get good traction. I continued up in the crack as far as I thought I could go but my boot traction was now filled with mud and both hands were firmly against the rock. No more than 15 yards from the top of the slide, I reached the conclusion that I was no more than two or three strides from losing my footing and starting a painful slide of shame. So ever so gingerly and carefully, I put it in reverse and backed down to a position of safety. I briefly considered redoubling my efforts and taking another whack. Had the glory of a first ascent hung in the balance, I probably would have, but I already had attained what I'd come for ... a great experience on a new slide. So down I went.
The descent was fun but uneventful and I looked forward to hiking to the very bottom of the slide, which I'd missed out on the ascent. Once reaching the bottom, I skirted around to the left of the massive wall of trees and then back right and was more than a little surprised to see a stream although in retrospect I shouldn't have been. There was clearly running water going through the chute only 1/4 of a mile up the slide. So anyway, I decided to follow the stream figuring it would meet up with Marcy Brook. And sure enough it did only about 1/10 of a mile south of Marcy Dam. This stream shows up on my National Geographic map but not on my ADK map. I've never seen it myself before so I can only speculate whether the stream bed was widened by Irene. In any event, it is a far better route to/from the slide than a bushwhack as it takes you directly to the base of the slide. No guess work involved. If coming from Marcy Dam, follow Marcy Brook south for about 1/10 of a mile. You come to a fork. The left fork is Marcy Brook. The fork immediately to the right is the stream that will take you to the slide in another 10 or 15 minutes.
Great day, great slide.
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