Gandalf
New member
July 23, 2005
This was my first Adirondack hike in quite some time in which all of my objectives were not met, but the day's experience was very enjoyable nevertheless. Wishing to get an early start (as I had on my 7/4 hike of Allen Mountain) I left Lake Placid at 2:45 and arrived at the Bradley Pond Trailhead in Upper Works at 4:00. The moon, just past full, was shining brightly in a clear sky upon the gravel road. About a mile in, I caught a good glimpse across a beaver clearing of what I believed was Wallface in this light.
Soon I had turned off the road onto the DEC trail, crossed Santanoni Brook on an elaborate bridge, and climbed along trail to the pass between Henderson and the Range I wished to climb on this day. At 5:15 I switched off my headlamp and noted the increasing mud along the trail, though stringers and rocks allowed for easy navigation for the most part. I took a few quick pictures by the spot where the trail edges right to the side of the brook. Eventually the grade slackened and the trail grew wetter yet, but despite some rain from the evening before, conditions never required gaitors or presented a real obstacle to forward progress. Immediately after a large blowdown, I came upon the sway-backed rock and the beginning of the herd path.
Turning west, I crossed the beaver pond and encountered a few campsites before Bradley Pond appeared through the trees. Climbing steadily, I passed the Panther cliffs on my right and bypassed one slightly confusing depression before reaching Panther Brook. Skinning a knee here, I filtered water before re-crossing and began a relentless, though never overly steep ascent to the three way intersection just below Times Square. Here I went right, navigated some mud on the path and was soon climbing the bare rock offering excellent views of Santanoni, Couchsachraga, and the Sewards before reaching Panther's summit at 7:30.
After a quick breakfast, I took some pictures in the wonderful morning light and retraced my steps to the three way junction. Going straight, I reached Times Square in about a minute and had no trouble finding the path leading west to Couchsachraga. This path was narrow and the intruding coniferous branches heavily laden with water. I was moving at a pace, though, where the drenching actually felt pretty good. Knowing how long many people took on the roundtrip of this mountain, I pushed on with all possible speed, only pausing once to take a nice picture north of the Cold River valley and the Sewards beyond. I bypassed some cliffs on the left and soon came to a swamp. Pushing straight through this with the aid of a few fallen trees and a long branch I used to test the ground, I soon reached the other side and began the three hundred foot ascent of the lowliest "46"er. I reached the summit rock (and memorably carved summit sign) at 9:15, a little over an hour from Times Square.
I only spent about eight minutes here, but the views (hindered as they were by trees in every direction) were better than I had anticipated. I didn't expect to see Whiteface, far off as it is to the NNW. A few glimpses of Long Lake appeared west and south as I soaked in the splended isolation, drying in the climbing sun. This place, so much more so than the Marcys and Algonquins 1300' and more higher, captures perfectly why I hike. The Panther-Santanoni ridge beckoned to the east beckoned however, and I was soon off in quest of it.
Almost half-jogging the easier sections, I eventually regained Couchie's swamp and my handy makeshift testing pole. Picking my way across, I paused near the far cliffs to change socks and to secure (or so I imagined) my wet pair to a middle loop outside my pack. I ran into some other hikers for the first time on this 800' stretch of climbing. A few sections just west of Times Square were quite muddy, but nothing to worry about. A minute or two past 10:30 I found myself back at this famous launching point for the various High Peaks in the range. My goal was three hours roundtrip for peak #2, and I'd beaten it by a half an hour.
Buoyed by my progress, I took what I thought to be the path to Santanoni and strode along it confidently. However, this quickly petered out into a dead-end. Impatiently I cast about for another path, and soon found one to the left. At this stage I was meeting and talking briefly with other hikers (couples mostly), exchanging information about Couchie and pleasantries about the weather when it would've been smarter to slow down and get a grip on my situation. However, my current path was clearly well-travelled and I was still intent on speed, wishing to have the time to relax on Santanoni and to take many pictures. Thus it was that I pushed on for a while before I began to notice a few things that didn't make sense. The path to Santa should've been dropping into a col, but I didn't notice this happening. I spied some cliffs ahead, but I didn't think I should've been that close to any open ledges upon the mountain. I took my Garmin GPS out of my pocket, changed the page, and found to my astonishment that I was quite near the little flag for Panther Peak! Disbelieving at first, I suddenly noticed that the sun was shining behind me rather than ahead of me as should've been the case for one going south at that hour.
Quite close to the viewing ledges now, I quickly made my decision. Rather than hurry back to Times Square to renew the haste and confusion of trying for all three summits, I would just reclimb to Panther's best ledge, enjoy a leisurely lunch, allow plenty of time for breaks and photos on the long way back to my car, and come back for Santanoni another day. Viewing that mountain while eating, I marvelled that I had noticed neither my path swinging steadily around to the left, nor Times Square which I must've encountered!
A bit before 11:30 I began the hike out. I passed more hikers now, giving advice (when sought) and relating my story of climbing the wrong mountain. One fellow observed that I had only one sock hanging from my pack, and to my consternation I found that he was right. Somehow the other had come free! With luck I will find it again as I'm currently planning to return to the Range soon, or someone else will spot it and pack it out as garbage. That's a detail I likely would've attended to at lunchtime if my mind hadn't been on other things!
I took more photos of the Panther cliffs and Bradley Pond during my descent to the DEC trail which I reached at about 1:00 in the afternoon. The sun was bright, but breezes from the northwest persisted throughout a day which never became uncomfortably hot. Pausing occasionally for Gu breaks, I soon came upon areas which had been dark when I first hiked them in the early AM. I took some pictures of bridges, beaver meadows, and occasional mountain glimpses on the way back to the road. For the first time all day some bugs annoyed me here, but insufficiently to warrant a DEET application. At 3 o'clock I reached the gate, signed out at the register, and drove out of a lot which had become surprisingly full after a great day (though not without its lessons) of hiking in the Adirondacks.
Pictures. Only pics #26-51 (the end of the album) apply to this hike...my apologies for that!
This was my first Adirondack hike in quite some time in which all of my objectives were not met, but the day's experience was very enjoyable nevertheless. Wishing to get an early start (as I had on my 7/4 hike of Allen Mountain) I left Lake Placid at 2:45 and arrived at the Bradley Pond Trailhead in Upper Works at 4:00. The moon, just past full, was shining brightly in a clear sky upon the gravel road. About a mile in, I caught a good glimpse across a beaver clearing of what I believed was Wallface in this light.
Soon I had turned off the road onto the DEC trail, crossed Santanoni Brook on an elaborate bridge, and climbed along trail to the pass between Henderson and the Range I wished to climb on this day. At 5:15 I switched off my headlamp and noted the increasing mud along the trail, though stringers and rocks allowed for easy navigation for the most part. I took a few quick pictures by the spot where the trail edges right to the side of the brook. Eventually the grade slackened and the trail grew wetter yet, but despite some rain from the evening before, conditions never required gaitors or presented a real obstacle to forward progress. Immediately after a large blowdown, I came upon the sway-backed rock and the beginning of the herd path.
Turning west, I crossed the beaver pond and encountered a few campsites before Bradley Pond appeared through the trees. Climbing steadily, I passed the Panther cliffs on my right and bypassed one slightly confusing depression before reaching Panther Brook. Skinning a knee here, I filtered water before re-crossing and began a relentless, though never overly steep ascent to the three way intersection just below Times Square. Here I went right, navigated some mud on the path and was soon climbing the bare rock offering excellent views of Santanoni, Couchsachraga, and the Sewards before reaching Panther's summit at 7:30.
After a quick breakfast, I took some pictures in the wonderful morning light and retraced my steps to the three way junction. Going straight, I reached Times Square in about a minute and had no trouble finding the path leading west to Couchsachraga. This path was narrow and the intruding coniferous branches heavily laden with water. I was moving at a pace, though, where the drenching actually felt pretty good. Knowing how long many people took on the roundtrip of this mountain, I pushed on with all possible speed, only pausing once to take a nice picture north of the Cold River valley and the Sewards beyond. I bypassed some cliffs on the left and soon came to a swamp. Pushing straight through this with the aid of a few fallen trees and a long branch I used to test the ground, I soon reached the other side and began the three hundred foot ascent of the lowliest "46"er. I reached the summit rock (and memorably carved summit sign) at 9:15, a little over an hour from Times Square.
I only spent about eight minutes here, but the views (hindered as they were by trees in every direction) were better than I had anticipated. I didn't expect to see Whiteface, far off as it is to the NNW. A few glimpses of Long Lake appeared west and south as I soaked in the splended isolation, drying in the climbing sun. This place, so much more so than the Marcys and Algonquins 1300' and more higher, captures perfectly why I hike. The Panther-Santanoni ridge beckoned to the east beckoned however, and I was soon off in quest of it.
Almost half-jogging the easier sections, I eventually regained Couchie's swamp and my handy makeshift testing pole. Picking my way across, I paused near the far cliffs to change socks and to secure (or so I imagined) my wet pair to a middle loop outside my pack. I ran into some other hikers for the first time on this 800' stretch of climbing. A few sections just west of Times Square were quite muddy, but nothing to worry about. A minute or two past 10:30 I found myself back at this famous launching point for the various High Peaks in the range. My goal was three hours roundtrip for peak #2, and I'd beaten it by a half an hour.
Buoyed by my progress, I took what I thought to be the path to Santanoni and strode along it confidently. However, this quickly petered out into a dead-end. Impatiently I cast about for another path, and soon found one to the left. At this stage I was meeting and talking briefly with other hikers (couples mostly), exchanging information about Couchie and pleasantries about the weather when it would've been smarter to slow down and get a grip on my situation. However, my current path was clearly well-travelled and I was still intent on speed, wishing to have the time to relax on Santanoni and to take many pictures. Thus it was that I pushed on for a while before I began to notice a few things that didn't make sense. The path to Santa should've been dropping into a col, but I didn't notice this happening. I spied some cliffs ahead, but I didn't think I should've been that close to any open ledges upon the mountain. I took my Garmin GPS out of my pocket, changed the page, and found to my astonishment that I was quite near the little flag for Panther Peak! Disbelieving at first, I suddenly noticed that the sun was shining behind me rather than ahead of me as should've been the case for one going south at that hour.
Quite close to the viewing ledges now, I quickly made my decision. Rather than hurry back to Times Square to renew the haste and confusion of trying for all three summits, I would just reclimb to Panther's best ledge, enjoy a leisurely lunch, allow plenty of time for breaks and photos on the long way back to my car, and come back for Santanoni another day. Viewing that mountain while eating, I marvelled that I had noticed neither my path swinging steadily around to the left, nor Times Square which I must've encountered!
A bit before 11:30 I began the hike out. I passed more hikers now, giving advice (when sought) and relating my story of climbing the wrong mountain. One fellow observed that I had only one sock hanging from my pack, and to my consternation I found that he was right. Somehow the other had come free! With luck I will find it again as I'm currently planning to return to the Range soon, or someone else will spot it and pack it out as garbage. That's a detail I likely would've attended to at lunchtime if my mind hadn't been on other things!
I took more photos of the Panther cliffs and Bradley Pond during my descent to the DEC trail which I reached at about 1:00 in the afternoon. The sun was bright, but breezes from the northwest persisted throughout a day which never became uncomfortably hot. Pausing occasionally for Gu breaks, I soon came upon areas which had been dark when I first hiked them in the early AM. I took some pictures of bridges, beaver meadows, and occasional mountain glimpses on the way back to the road. For the first time all day some bugs annoyed me here, but insufficiently to warrant a DEET application. At 3 o'clock I reached the gate, signed out at the register, and drove out of a lot which had become surprisingly full after a great day (though not without its lessons) of hiking in the Adirondacks.
Pictures. Only pics #26-51 (the end of the album) apply to this hike...my apologies for that!
