Skylight, Gray, and Marcy

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king tut

New member
Joined
May 2, 2005
Messages
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Location
Burlington(just outside of the city)
I had spent a while looking at maps, trying to decide exactly how to tackle Skylight and Gray in the Adirondacks. Turns out that they are just in the middle of frickin nowhere. I originally planned to go in via Upper Works, until I realized while riding the ferry over to New York, that the trail from Upper Works was just as long or longer than the trails from the trailheads at The Garden or ADK Loj. I decided on going in from the Garden in Keene, since I had no ambition to drive all the way to ADK Loj, even though it would be an easier hike. I arrived at the parking lot just prior to 7:30 and turned on my GPS and noticed that it read about 1600 feet. I roughly did the math and realized that Marcy was a lot higher than this current point. The trail from the Garden to Marcy is approximately 9.1 miles, and gains around 3700-3800 feet or so. I made pretty good time going up, the only thing that slowed me down where the groups of Adirondack guides who were bringing up about 15 or so younger kids each. Now, for this hike, I decided to wear my Chicago Cubs breathable long sleeve baseball shirt, which is a wick away awesome shirt, great for hiking. My girlfriend is from Chicago, so on my trip last year to the Mother Land, I decided to buy this souvenir from a place they call "Dick's Sporting Goods". Anyhow, each of the groups of guides and kids made fun of me, I believe they said " Watch out kids, this guy coming up from behind us is wearing a Cubs jersey, he must be a loser or like losing" So I quickly passed them in shame, trying to convey the message that i was dating into the Cubs fan base, not actually a pathetic Cubs fan. I believe it was to no avail. Short side story, on the way down, I passed the same group of kids again, and they gave me some shout outs, and told me I was cool. I like those kids much better than their guides.

So I huffed and puffed a little, stepped in lots of mud, and stepped over about a dozen blow downs across the trail, and made it to the top of Marcy in about 3 hours and 45 minutes. I checked out the 55 foot views of mist and clouds, and decided to head on down towards Skylight. I had never been down the back side of Marcy before, and I judged by the way people were huffing and puffing and looking real pissed off, that ascending from this side was either not fun or these dozen or so of people were just angry people, who were mad at life. I got to 4 corners at some point in time, who knows when. It was when the sun was half past not visible in the sky. I climbed to the top of Skylight and took in the non views again. Pretty spectacular in a milky viewish kind of way. I chatted with a couple of nice guys, ate a roast beef sandwich, and headed back down into the soup.

At this point in time, I had received pretty good instructions as to where the herd trail to Gray started. So i went to the end of Tearof the Lakes Pond and decided whether phoenetically it was pronounced "Teer" or "TARE". I decided it was "Teer", then climbed the muddy mess of mountain. At some point I may have lost my leg in a few mud patches, but I was able to extracate it and continue climbing. I hit the peak after maybe 25 minutes or so, and I actually had views of Marcy. WoW! So i think I took some pictures, can't remember too much, most of this time was a blur.

I briefly considered hiking from 4 corners to Mt Haystack, but then decided that this might be a stupid idea, so I climbed back up to Marcy again to check out the non views. And a funny thing happened on the 1,000 vertical foot climb back up the hill. Partial views came out!!! Wow! I could almost see lots of peaks, it was semi breath taking. This was tempered by the fact that my lengs and lungs were burning on the climb back up Marcy. Here is a sadistic view of the climb back up,


I reached the top of Marcy, and then climbed 9.1 miles back down to The Garden. I will skip the details of this section of the hike. I will just use action verbs. Sucked, hurt, illusions, scrapes, falls, more singing kids. Hmm, i think i threw some nouns in there. I suck at English, and all other languages.

The hike was about 22 miles, and a little over 6,000 vertical. Although my altimeter said 7,000 so i will go with that and sound more tough. If you feel tough enough and dumb enough to want to do what i did, here is the elevation change chart of the trip.
 
Your majesty, we are all truly sorry that thine hike suckedeth. We doth pour contempt on our lowly selves and will striveth to make thine next visitation more glorious, as befits a King!

In the meantime we suggest that thou consulteth with thine royal USERCP. Thou wilt find an emerald-like tribute to thy mighty deeds! :D
 
Oh king, eh, very nice. An' how'd you get that, eh? By exploitin' the workers -- by 'angin' on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic an' social differences in our society! If there's ever going to be any progress--



Nice TR and photo, Now that you have sorted out your snazzy new GPS, please consider posting your GPS tracks on Wikiloc.
 
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I had spent a while looking at maps
This was not only a waste of time, it was a mistake. Maps can lead you astray.

Turns out that they are just in the middle of frickin nowhere.
Nothing beats a 2 or 3 hour strenuous warm-up with endless views of tree trunks en route to socked in summits.

I roughly did the math and realized that Marcy was a lot higher than this current point.
First thing I learned about peakbagging was that up is mandatory for success, and is almost always followed by a long dint of knee joint cartilage destroying down.

So i went to the end of Tearof the Lakes Pond and decided whether phoenetically it was pronounced "Teer" or "TARE".
I pronounce it tier, it rhymes with Leer, beer and mirror.

I briefly considered hiking from 4 corners to Mt Haystack, but then decided that this might be a stupid idea
You should stacked Haystack on. Then your hike would have had manly, tough guy character.

I reached the top of Marcy, and then climbed 9.1 miles back down to The Garden. I will skip the details of this section of the hike. I will just use action verbs. Sucked, hurt, illusions, scrapes, falls,
You mean waterfalls? I hope you enjoyed the bit from the Marcy-Haystack junction to Slant Rock. Lots of opportunities for falls there.

The hike was about 22 miles, and a little over 6,000 vertical. Although my altimeter said 7,000 so i will go with that
I'm pretty sure that your hike was really only 1 1/2 miles with 38 feet of elly gain. I usually do it in 32 minutes R/T.
 
Oh king, eh, very nice. An' how'd you get that, eh? By exploitin' the workers -- by 'angin' on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic an' social differences in our society! If there's ever going to be any progress--


"Help...I'm bein' repressed! Come see the violence inherent in the system!" :eek:


Sorry it wasn't the best hike, yer majesty, but remember: a bad day on the trail still beats a good day at work! ;)

Gray/Skylight is on my not-to-distant-future hit list for the 46, so any and all TR's are good info.
 
Man, I guess i turned out to be British in this thread instead of Egyptian, this is very confusing. Maybe I will just change my screen name to my other nicknames of Tut, Toot, Tuttles or any other derivation of my last name which sounds fun to pronounce.

This hike was actually fun in spots, the only real cruddy part was the last 9 miles down from Marcy. I actually enjoy pain and suffering, so while it may sounds like I am complaining in my trip report, it was actually lots of miserable fun.

Wiki Loc? I will have to check this out. Do you have any examples of what you can do with this Paradox? I tried google maps, but I had technical issues with my computer being like 8 years old, and I just got mad and yelled at it while it spit out data that was totally non-related to what my gps saved tracks said.

As far as not adding Haystack on, I felt I was already in the 94th percentile for manliness for the hike, so adding Haystack on might make people want to invite me on things like Presidential Traverses or Pemi Loops or other endeavors which might inhibit my time barbecuing and drinking adult beverages.

Neil, I hope one day to be as funny as you are. I laughed almost out loud (LAOL instead of LOL as the kids would say) when i read your post. Mostly because I was at work, not because it wasn't funny enough. As far as distance goes, my LCD on the gps shows I walked about 1 and 3/4 inches yesterday, book time of 6 minutes.
 
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Neil, I hope one day to be as funny as you are.
Funny? I was diagnosed at the Montreal Neurological Institute as having no sense of humor so I don't know what you mean and sadly, never, ever will.

When did you do this 1.75 inch hike? (metric would have been preferable, incidentally. You will remember that for next time please.) I did Haystack on Saturday and exited to the Garden by 4:40 PM EDST. You may have seen or heard me, I was wearing a large silver shroud over my head that buzzed constantly. (something new the folks at the MNI are trying as a last ditch effort)

My TR for Haystack is way manlier than your little walk. You can read about it here:
http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11874
 
I reached the top of Marcy, and then climbed 9.1 miles back down to The Garden. I will skip the details of this section of the hike. I will just use action verbs. Sucked, hurt, illusions, scrapes, falls, more singing kids. Hmm, i think i threw some nouns in there. I suck at English, and all other languages.

The hike was about 22 miles, and a little over 6,000 vertical. Although my altimeter said 7,000 so i will go with that and sound more tough. If you feel tough enough and dumb enough to want to do what i did, here is the elevation change chart of the trip.

Sounds like a good day. You should be proud. :cool: :)
 
Hey just busting on you! :D Sounds like a trip I would love to do!

Anyone who claims to be a King and wears a Cub's shirt is going to take some heat from time to time! ;)
 
Neil,
This epic trek was completed on Sunday. I read your trip report, and i must concur that it is very manly. But, you do know that they make trails that go to the tops of these mountains, you don't need to wonder through the woods with a GPS or compass. Also, I would do my trip reports in metric units, but the only metric measurements i know are of Molson Canadian in millileters. I did have one fellow ask me how I was doing in French when i was climbing Gray, so i answered in French, and then asked him something in French, and he told me that he did not speak French, only English. By far the most confusing part of my journey.
 
Well Mr. Tut. You may be aware that the Queen of England is currently touring Canada. In fact she is sitting at my side as I write this post and while she actually guffawed when she read your posts she scowled as she read mine.

Therefore, I suggest that you are the funnier of the twain of us.

She will be sleeping on a thermarest on my basement floor soon and I will read her your bedtime trip report if you don't mind.

A metric beer is the equivalent to 1/3.857 American gallons disregarding the volume fluctuations as a function of price, temperature and alcohol content.

But you already knew that.

Trailless highpeak hikes = a testosterone enriched life.
 
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Wiki Loc? I will have to check this out. Do you have any examples of what you can do with this Paradox? I tried google maps, but I had technical issues with my computer being like 8 years old, and I just got mad and yelled at it while it spit out data that was totally non-related to what my gps saved tracks said.

Wikiloc is a website where you can post GPS tracks, waypoints, and photos. You can also download the tracks and waypoints of others, and analyze them with Mapsource and other software.

Here is one of the hike I did today to The Horn, NH.

http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=998194
 
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