Street and Nye 1/16/11

[DSettahr]

Click Here to View Photos​

Route Taken: Indian Pass Trail to the Rock Garden Trail up Mt. Jo, then to the Old Nye Ski Trail, then up the herd path to Street and Nye

Snow Depth: Between 1 and 2 feet at Heart Lake, 3 feet or more on the summits

Trail Condition: Very well packed out and easy to follow the entire way

Traction Devices Used: Snowshoes the entire way

My 12th and 13th mountains this winter turned out to be quite a party. In addition to planning to meet up with a few members of the ADK High Peaks forum to climb Street and Nye, I'd also put word out to a few friends that I was going hiking, and several of them decided to come along. We arrived at the Loj parking lot to find it surprisingly busy (I guess it's been a while since I've been there on a weekend). While getting ready to go, Trail Boss and PackAJacket, presumably recognizing me by the beard, came up and introduced themselves. Photobug and his friend were also out to climb Street and Nye the same day, but had gotten an earlier start. As we were still waiting for our fourth companion, Trail Boss and PackAJacket got started, and we left a few minutes later once our group was complete.

We set a good pace, and quickly made our way around Heart Lake. Soon, we were on the old Nye Ski Trail. When I first climbed Street and Nye, nearly 5 years ago, I don't recall using this route- I'm fairly certain I headed down the Indian Pass Trail a little ways before turning right onto a herd path. In any case, the route we were following was well packed out and easy to traverse. We followed the downhill grades all the way to Indian Pass Brook, which we easily crossed as it was completely frozen over.

Soon, we were headed up hill again, and it wasn't long before we'd caught back up with Trail Boss and PackAJacket. We joined forces with them, and made steady progress uphill. At one point, we turned to see a peak behind us. I speculated that it was possibly Mt. Jo, a disheartening idea as it would seem that we'd not gained as much elevation as we'd thought. Further up, we caught a better view of the mystery peak. I pulled out my map (the only time all day I would feel the need to do so!), and examined it. We eventually concluded that it was not Jo, but rather a bump on the side of Nye to the northeast of us.

The trail remained easy to follow all day. As we gained elevation, the snow deepened considerably, and we started to encounter some blowdown here and there.. Fortunately, it was nothing major, and it appeared that it had been around a while as many of the fallen stems we encountered obviously had their branches sawed off. All were easy enough to scramble over or crawl beneath.

I've heard rumors of a “false junction” somewhere on these mountains, complete with it's own carving of an “N” and an “S” and associated arrows on a tree to indicate the herd paths to Nye and Street, respectively. My understanding is that while the real junction has an arrow pointing left for Street, and one pointing up for Nye, the carving at this false junction has arrows pointing both left and right. The first time I climbed Street and Nye, I'd not been able to find this junction, and despite keeping my eyes open, saw no sign of it on this hike either. I wonder if the junction has to do with the intentionally mis-leading herd paths that were created a few years back that Pete Hicky mentioned. If this is the case, then I'm sure that the current herd path stays clear of the false junction.

Much sooner than I expected, we walked into the clearing of the real junction (with the real N and S and associated arrows pointing the way to proceed). Photobug and his friend were in the clearing, taking a quick break after having already summited Street. I assume that he often has viewed photos of my past hikes, because when he looked up and saw my friend Danie walk up, the first words out of his mouth were “You must be Danie!” And I always thought no one ever looks at my photos!

After a quick break ourselves, we decided to hit Nye first with Photobug. The jaunt out to the summit of this northern peak was like a walk in the park... a very densely forested park covered in several feet of snow that is. The going was incredibly easy, and it took little time or exertion, and with a quick downhill and a quick uphill, all 8 of us were crammed into the tiny clearing on the summit. We paused here to take pictures, first one of all of use who work for or have worked for Adirondack Leadership Expeditions, and another photo for all of us who post regularly on hiking message boards. As usual for Nye, there were no views... not that we would've had views anyways, as the clouds had thickened considerably since the morning.

Soon we were on the trail again. After a quick walk back to the clearing where the herd path splits, we said goodbye to Photobug and his friend, and continued on our way south to Street. The climb up this second peak was definitely a bit tougher than Nye had been, but no part of it was as steep as the climb up the main herd path from Indian Pass Brook had been. At first, the path descended a little ways into the col between Street and Nye, but soon we were climbing Street itself. The summit of Street was a bit further away from the junction than Nye had been, but it wasn't long before we'd reached the summit.

Lunchtime was held at the top of Street. Trail Boss went further south in search of the overlook, and came back reporting that no views were to be had. After a quick lunch, we turned and began to head back. The descent was quick and easy, with some butt slides and a lot of glissades. In contrast to my descent of Lower Wolfjaws a few days before, where my snowshoes kept catching repeatedly on rocks and roots hidden in the powdery snow, the trail here was well packed and we encountered few hidden obstacles. Along the way, I fell into a familiar routine of knocking the trees so that the snow held by the branches would collapse around me in a dense shower of flakes, filling the trail with snow and making for some great runs on my snowshoes!

It was not long before we'd returned to Indian Pass Brook, and began the uphill climb back to Heart Lake. Few people like being forced to hike uphill back to the trailhead after climbing two high peaks, but fortunately the grades were gentle and the going fairly easy. It wasn't long before we could see Heart Lake itself to our right, and soon we were crossing the road and walking back through the parking lot to our cars.

It was definitely a fun day, and felt great to be out hiking with some close friends and to meet some new people with whom I've had contact through message boards for a while, rather than hike alone again. My last few high peaks have been quite tough, and it was nice to have an easy day in the mountains for a change. Overall, the hike took us less than 8 hours, as we'd started by 7:30 that morning and were done around 3 in the afternoon.

Here's a picture of those of us that post about our adventures online:

Back: Dsettahr, Photobug 65, PackAJacket
Front: Trail Boss, Photobug 65's friend​