Dory
New member
My friends Colby and Mike; my sister Amy and I drove through a rainy Friday to the High Peaks. We arrived around 3pm and had our ritual stop at the Mountaineer and Stewarts for water and supplies. The team was splitting up this trip. Colby and Mike would drop Amy and I at the Ausable Club road and after an evening of fun, they would leave the car at Heart Lake and start on their trip.
The plan was for us gals to hike in the Ausable road and up the trail to Pyramid/Gothics to a nice little camping area about .5 mile inside the state land. Saturday we'd do Pyramid/Gothics/Saddleback/Basin/Haystack and crash at Panther Gorge. Sunday we were considering the Trapdike or Marcy and out to the car. The guys plan was to head in from heart lake, do Wright/Algonquin/Iroquois/Boundary/Colden Trapdike w/ descent SE slide/Marcy all on Saturday, meet us at Panther to camp, then Sunday hike out the great range.
We would pick them up late Sunday; showers, dinner, hotel with beds would follow and then the drive home Monday.
Ahhh, the best laid plans.
The guys did drop us at the Ausable Road. And a quick thanks to Pete, that really saved a lot of time versus hiking the trail. We started around 4:15 and arrived at our campsite around 6:30. Unfortunately (#1), As we were walking in, Amy realized she had forgotten to put her lunch food into the bear can. No problem, because I had brought some extra food. Unfortunately (#2), Amy had worn boots she wasn't used to and by the time we reached Rainbow Falls, she had a good blister on her heel. Unfortunately (#3) She was also feeling a bit under the weather. Regardless, we got to the site, we put up a tarp, cooked some mac and cheese and called it a night. Unfortunately (#4), I had miscalculated how much fuel for my stove, and realized I would not have enough to cook 2 more breakfasts plus another dinner. Never fear! We won't give in to Unfortunately... yet.
The next morning we knew the weather was to be nice which was exciting, BUT, Amy woke up and wondered why her feet were damp. Turns out Unfortunately (#5) her hydration bladder leaked all over the bottom of her down sleeping bag. Oy! So we broke camp around 8:15 and headed up. We summited Pyramid around 9:45 to just spectacular views. It is so cool to be above the clouds and see the blue sky above you. I loved the slides of Gothics and Basin from Pyramid. It is a very very cool peak. We snapped some pics, took some video, and headed upwards to Gothics. We arrived on the summit alone around 10:30 and stayed for an hour without another soul. It was so awesome. While we were there we dried Amy's bag and had some snacks. The hour break was needed to help the sleeping bag situation, but it wasn't good for our intended route and the hours in a day.
The descent from Gothics was brutal for Amy with her blisters, and she was still not feeling so great. At the junction to OreBed, I pleaded in my big sister bossy manner to consider bailing to the Garden and hitching to heart lake, but Amy wasn't ready to give up our hope of Basin/Haystack. It's now 12:30. Onward to Saddleback, the day was just stellar, the views back to Gothics were just amazing. 1:15 brought us the summit of Saddleback. I told Amy that we had to eat and get off of there by 1:45 if we had a hope of getting over the next 2 mountains and into Panther Gorge by dark. The longer we sat, Amy got updates from people coming up the back side of Saddleback...new hikers..old hikers..everyone said it was 'Brutal' and 'Steep!'. Now I tell Amy, you need to decide what you SHOULD do, not what you WANT to do. Finally, she relents, "I don't want to go ahead".
At 2pm we backtrack to the Orebed junction and head down the trail all the way to the Garden. We arrived there around 5:45pm; still plenty of cars at the trailhead. It didn't take long until we found 4 guys (1 or more from Rochester) headed to heart lake to camp at a lean-to. They, not only were willing to drive us there, but they also offered us a ice cold beer.
So with Amy on my lap and 3 guys crammed into the back of a small car, our driver brought us safely to heart lake and back to my car.
We drove to Lake Placid and got a room at the same hotel we had reserved for Sunday night. (Northwoods Inn) After a hot shower and a hot dinner (while listening to a jazz group), Amy was feeling much better about her decision. We crashed for the night and woke early to more beautiful weather.
Sunday we decided to day hike. Amy took care to bandage her heel up well, and she wore thinner socks which she had in the car. We stopped at Stewarts for lunch snacks and water, and then headed towards the trailhead. As we're driving past the trailheads for Cascade/Porter, Amy says "HEY! It's Pete Hickey!". So we spun the car around and zoomed back up the road to say hello to him and Julie. They were headed to Cascade/Pitchoff. Back in the car, we arrived at the trailhead around 10AM. Giant was the destination and we could not have picked a better day. What an awesome mountain!
We arrived at the summit around 1PM and just lounged there for an hour before descending. We stopped at a stream on the descent to take off our boots and socks and plunge our feet in the icy water. During the ascent and descent we traded leads with a fellow from Virginia.
At 4:30 we checked the RoosterComb trailhead for the guys, but they weren't there yet, so we headed back to the room for our shower. We returned around 7PM and voila! there they were. It turns out that they did Algonquin (and the surrounding peaks) as well as the Trapdike and the SE slide descent. However, since the dike was so wet and a little disorientation at the bottom of the SE slide, they ran out of time and energy to do any other mountains. They scooted into Panther gorge after dark and crashed for the night. The next day they did Haystack, Basin, and Saddleback and then cried "MERCY!". They exited the same way we had the day before, out the Orebed to the Garden. As "punishment" for not hiking the entire range, they hiked out from the Garden to the RoosterComb parking lot (even tho we said we would check the garden)...oh well...men!
Back at the hotel room, the guys took turns with the shower...after Colby showered, and just as Mike was headed in he says, "Was it as good as we talked about?"...We laughed so hard about that, but it is so true...you think about the simplest lovely things like a hot shower when you are tired and dirty. After they cleaned up, it was a dinner and a few brews at the Lake Placid Brewery and then the drive home on Monday.
I think we all learned that no matter how long you've been going into the woods, you can't ever be SURE about what you will do and you always have to be ready to adapt.
We'll be back for Halloween!
Dory
p.s. Pictures!
The plan was for us gals to hike in the Ausable road and up the trail to Pyramid/Gothics to a nice little camping area about .5 mile inside the state land. Saturday we'd do Pyramid/Gothics/Saddleback/Basin/Haystack and crash at Panther Gorge. Sunday we were considering the Trapdike or Marcy and out to the car. The guys plan was to head in from heart lake, do Wright/Algonquin/Iroquois/Boundary/Colden Trapdike w/ descent SE slide/Marcy all on Saturday, meet us at Panther to camp, then Sunday hike out the great range.
We would pick them up late Sunday; showers, dinner, hotel with beds would follow and then the drive home Monday.
Ahhh, the best laid plans.
The guys did drop us at the Ausable Road. And a quick thanks to Pete, that really saved a lot of time versus hiking the trail. We started around 4:15 and arrived at our campsite around 6:30. Unfortunately (#1), As we were walking in, Amy realized she had forgotten to put her lunch food into the bear can. No problem, because I had brought some extra food. Unfortunately (#2), Amy had worn boots she wasn't used to and by the time we reached Rainbow Falls, she had a good blister on her heel. Unfortunately (#3) She was also feeling a bit under the weather. Regardless, we got to the site, we put up a tarp, cooked some mac and cheese and called it a night. Unfortunately (#4), I had miscalculated how much fuel for my stove, and realized I would not have enough to cook 2 more breakfasts plus another dinner. Never fear! We won't give in to Unfortunately... yet.
The next morning we knew the weather was to be nice which was exciting, BUT, Amy woke up and wondered why her feet were damp. Turns out Unfortunately (#5) her hydration bladder leaked all over the bottom of her down sleeping bag. Oy! So we broke camp around 8:15 and headed up. We summited Pyramid around 9:45 to just spectacular views. It is so cool to be above the clouds and see the blue sky above you. I loved the slides of Gothics and Basin from Pyramid. It is a very very cool peak. We snapped some pics, took some video, and headed upwards to Gothics. We arrived on the summit alone around 10:30 and stayed for an hour without another soul. It was so awesome. While we were there we dried Amy's bag and had some snacks. The hour break was needed to help the sleeping bag situation, but it wasn't good for our intended route and the hours in a day.
The descent from Gothics was brutal for Amy with her blisters, and she was still not feeling so great. At the junction to OreBed, I pleaded in my big sister bossy manner to consider bailing to the Garden and hitching to heart lake, but Amy wasn't ready to give up our hope of Basin/Haystack. It's now 12:30. Onward to Saddleback, the day was just stellar, the views back to Gothics were just amazing. 1:15 brought us the summit of Saddleback. I told Amy that we had to eat and get off of there by 1:45 if we had a hope of getting over the next 2 mountains and into Panther Gorge by dark. The longer we sat, Amy got updates from people coming up the back side of Saddleback...new hikers..old hikers..everyone said it was 'Brutal' and 'Steep!'. Now I tell Amy, you need to decide what you SHOULD do, not what you WANT to do. Finally, she relents, "I don't want to go ahead".
At 2pm we backtrack to the Orebed junction and head down the trail all the way to the Garden. We arrived there around 5:45pm; still plenty of cars at the trailhead. It didn't take long until we found 4 guys (1 or more from Rochester) headed to heart lake to camp at a lean-to. They, not only were willing to drive us there, but they also offered us a ice cold beer.
So with Amy on my lap and 3 guys crammed into the back of a small car, our driver brought us safely to heart lake and back to my car.
We drove to Lake Placid and got a room at the same hotel we had reserved for Sunday night. (Northwoods Inn) After a hot shower and a hot dinner (while listening to a jazz group), Amy was feeling much better about her decision. We crashed for the night and woke early to more beautiful weather.
Sunday we decided to day hike. Amy took care to bandage her heel up well, and she wore thinner socks which she had in the car. We stopped at Stewarts for lunch snacks and water, and then headed towards the trailhead. As we're driving past the trailheads for Cascade/Porter, Amy says "HEY! It's Pete Hickey!". So we spun the car around and zoomed back up the road to say hello to him and Julie. They were headed to Cascade/Pitchoff. Back in the car, we arrived at the trailhead around 10AM. Giant was the destination and we could not have picked a better day. What an awesome mountain!
We arrived at the summit around 1PM and just lounged there for an hour before descending. We stopped at a stream on the descent to take off our boots and socks and plunge our feet in the icy water. During the ascent and descent we traded leads with a fellow from Virginia.
At 4:30 we checked the RoosterComb trailhead for the guys, but they weren't there yet, so we headed back to the room for our shower. We returned around 7PM and voila! there they were. It turns out that they did Algonquin (and the surrounding peaks) as well as the Trapdike and the SE slide descent. However, since the dike was so wet and a little disorientation at the bottom of the SE slide, they ran out of time and energy to do any other mountains. They scooted into Panther gorge after dark and crashed for the night. The next day they did Haystack, Basin, and Saddleback and then cried "MERCY!". They exited the same way we had the day before, out the Orebed to the Garden. As "punishment" for not hiking the entire range, they hiked out from the Garden to the RoosterComb parking lot (even tho we said we would check the garden)...oh well...men!
Back at the hotel room, the guys took turns with the shower...after Colby showered, and just as Mike was headed in he says, "Was it as good as we talked about?"...We laughed so hard about that, but it is so true...you think about the simplest lovely things like a hot shower when you are tired and dirty. After they cleaned up, it was a dinner and a few brews at the Lake Placid Brewery and then the drive home on Monday.
I think we all learned that no matter how long you've been going into the woods, you can't ever be SURE about what you will do and you always have to be ready to adapt.
We'll be back for Halloween!
Dory
p.s. Pictures!
) and you had a great time!
