TMax
New member
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2005
- Messages
- 589
- Reaction score
- 85
HarryK and I started out with little motivation expecting another day like the many we've had recently, wet wet wet! (The day before we'd been on Whiteface in sleet!) We slowly and sluggishly worked our way through rain and wind while driving to the AMR parking area. Somewhere just outside Lake Placid, we saw a dime-sized spot of blue in the sky 
. I refused to have hope! We got to the parking area, dressed in rain gear and headed off. (I returned shortly for my forgotten camera which I was later thankful for.) From the golf course we could see a bit of Sawteeth but most everything else was socked in. There was no rain and by the time we were signing in, We decided to tempt fate and take off rain jackets. That dime-sized patch of blue continued to grow and eventually I removed rain pants and my pack cover hoping mother nature wouldn't decide to teach me a lesson! We made good time to the dam, stopped for some eats and headed up. The trail is in pretty good condition with very little water and mud. At the junction between Sawteeth and Gothics, the sun was shining strong and we even had a little view of the Pyramid slide. But as we started up that last half-mile, the clouds moved back in. This section of trail was in much rougher condition with lots of blowdown and some real muddy portions on the flat sections. We stopped on the summit for food and pictures but were deprived of any views. Oh well, we were still dry! Several hikers came up from the scenic trail and strongly recommended it so we decided to take that route down. Good choice! While a little rugged, it was a great deal of fun with neat scrambles and interesting ladders. Several of the lookouts are really nice and the "first" one even has some a#$ puckering exposure! We took a side trail (Marble Point) whose view of the lake was well worth the diversion. Interestingly, it took us longer to get out on this trail than it did to get up on the standard trail. While we did stop and look at the views often, the journey was lengenthed by the ruggedness of the trail. As we were making the last few hundred yards to the parking area, the skies darkened and the winds picked up...we thought Mother Nature was going to soak us this day after all, but it blew over. Another great day in the Daxs!
. I refused to have hope! We got to the parking area, dressed in rain gear and headed off. (I returned shortly for my forgotten camera which I was later thankful for.) From the golf course we could see a bit of Sawteeth but most everything else was socked in. There was no rain and by the time we were signing in, We decided to tempt fate and take off rain jackets. That dime-sized patch of blue continued to grow and eventually I removed rain pants and my pack cover hoping mother nature wouldn't decide to teach me a lesson! We made good time to the dam, stopped for some eats and headed up. The trail is in pretty good condition with very little water and mud. At the junction between Sawteeth and Gothics, the sun was shining strong and we even had a little view of the Pyramid slide. But as we started up that last half-mile, the clouds moved back in. This section of trail was in much rougher condition with lots of blowdown and some real muddy portions on the flat sections. We stopped on the summit for food and pictures but were deprived of any views. Oh well, we were still dry! Several hikers came up from the scenic trail and strongly recommended it so we decided to take that route down. Good choice! While a little rugged, it was a great deal of fun with neat scrambles and interesting ladders. Several of the lookouts are really nice and the "first" one even has some a#$ puckering exposure! We took a side trail (Marble Point) whose view of the lake was well worth the diversion. Interestingly, it took us longer to get out on this trail than it did to get up on the standard trail. While we did stop and look at the views often, the journey was lengenthed by the ruggedness of the trail. As we were making the last few hundred yards to the parking area, the skies darkened and the winds picked up...we thought Mother Nature was going to soak us this day after all, but it blew over. Another great day in the Daxs!
