Tough Dayhike Suggestions

[lumberzac]

One of my hiking goals for this year is to try and do the 34.7mile “Big Hike” that Bob Marshall did in 1932. As many of you know this hike starts at Johns Brook Lodge and ends at ADK Loj and goes over Big Slide, Lower Wolfjaw, Upper Wolfjaw, Armstrong, Gothics, Saddleback, Basin, Haystack, Marcy, Skylight, Iroquois, Algonquin, Wright, and Mount Jo. This will be by far the toughest dayhike I’ve ever done; the only dayhike I’ve done close is the 26mile Devil’s Path in the Catskills.

My plan is to attempt this hike on July 16 (weather permitting), the 75th anniversary of when Bob did it. This means I need to get my butt in gear to get my body in good condition for this. Since nothing gets you in better hiking shape, than hiking, I want to do some tough dayhikes and am looking for suggestions. While the main goals of these hikes are distance and elevation change, I’m also looking for quality hikes, i.e. natural beauty.

Some ideas I have so far are:
- Devil’s Path (this is becoming an annual event)
- Dix Range loop from the North Fork of the Boquet.
- The West Canada Lakes section of the Northville-Placid Trail, from Piseco to Wakely Dam
- From St. Huberts, up Sawteeth, down to Carry Trail, over Blake and Colvin, down to Elk Pass, over Nippletop and Dial, and back to St. Huberts.
- Great Range Traverse from Keene Valley

I definitely could use some more suggestions. (I’d generally like to keep these within New York; close to home)

 

[snowshoe]

You can do the Shawangunk ridge trail. Not much up and down but I think it is 37 miles or something like that. I have been thinking about atttempting this someday. It goes from High point Sp in NJ to just above Wutsboro NY if I remember correctly.

 

[MattC]

You can do the Shawangunk ridge trail. Not much up and down but I think it is 37 miles or something like that. I have been thinking about atttempting this someday. It goes from High point Sp in NJ to just above Wutsboro NY if I remember correctly.

Even if 'Zac never uses that suggestion, I might be interested at taking a crack at that one sometime, or at least a good chunk of it. Checking out that trail has been on my too-do list for a while now. I've never hiked in the Gunks south of Sams Point.

Matt

 

[Oldsmores]

...Since nothing gets you in better hiking shape, than hiking, I want to do some tough dayhikes and am looking for suggestions...

Taking this a step further, nothing will get you in better shape for your proposed route than your proposed route. It looks like you could easily break it into two long loops for day hikes (basically Great Range and Marcy - Mt. Jo). That way you will have not only covered a lot of ground, but you'll be very familiar with the route in advance

 

[AOC-1]

Here's one I've thought about but never done - a much harder variation of the Catskills classic Wittenberg-Cornell-Slide loop: Wittenberg, Cornell, Friday, Balsam Cap, Rocky, Lone, Table-Top, Slide and then return to Woodland Valley. The bushwhacking is tough in only a few spots. This might be a reasonable choice if you've hiked the ridgeline before.

I'm sure someone on this board must have done this hike.

 

[TCD]

A hike I like as a training hike for our annual Great Range:

From ADK Loj, Algonquin, descend into Avalanche Pass, up the Colden Trap Dike, down the 1990 Lake Arnold slide, up Marcy via Feldspar and out the Van H trail.

It's spectacular and fun, but you do have to be comfortable on semi-technical terrain.

Another one I have done, which is longer but not technical, is Rocky Peak Ridge and Giant from New Russia through to Chapel Pond, then run down the road to the Dix trail and do the all the Dixes, finish out to Elk Lake. That's the longest one I've done, it checks in at 35 mi, and about 10,500 feet. Of course you need a car at Elk Lake; and it's nice to spot some supplies at Rte. 73 so you can carry a very light pack over Rocky and Giant.

TCD