Weekend in the DAX - Where was everyone?

[Tom Rankin]

We spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday up in the Adirondacks. Aside from the very well attended 46R dinner, the village of Lake Placid and the surrounding trail heads were almost deserted. I know the weather wasn't perfect, and it even hailed on us briefly Saturday, but overall, the weather was nice, and there was little wind at the summits. Must have been a little too cool / damp for most people's tastes.

We did 5 peaks over the weekend:

1. Adams, nice views of the Southern DAX, Upper Works, Allen, etc. Somewhat rickety firetower, 1800' of climb, pretty steep the last mile.

2. Belfry, nice views of Lake Champlain, Eastern DAX. Nice fire tower. Only .2 miles walk, 200' of gain. Yup, it counts!

3/4. Rooster Comb / Snow. Nice 7 mile loop. 2000' of gain. Nice views from both. Awesome cliffs up on Rooster Comb.

5. Mt. Jo, nice views of Heart Lake, Marcy, Colden, etc. About 700' of gain over about 1 mile(?) This is a tough little bugger! Met Pete Fish and Mavs at the LOJ. Pete has now climbed Mt. Marcy 570 times!!!!!

Speaking of Marcy, it still has snow at the top!

 

[ALGonquin Bob]

"the village of Lake Placid and the surrounding trail heads were almost deserted."
-Isn't that a good thing?

As much as I wanted to, I wasn't able to hike last weekend. My wife and I drove up for the dinner, and went home on Monday. I'll be back on the trail sometime in July.

 

[Sara]

Wasn't it fantastic!

ADacKr and I spent Fri. - Mon. in the Seward region and saw about 4 people. We had lean-to's to ourselves, summit of Seymour to ourselves, and spent days without seeing a soul. It was great. We had feared to worst as far as people, bugs and weather (in that order!) We were pleasantly surprised by each!

 

[rhihn]

My wife and I did trail work on Saturday with the 46er trail crew.

 

[Peakbagr]

Spent Monday bushwacking an ADK100 peak in the Indian Lake area with peak_bgr and bushwacker. It had it all: nice woods on the bottom, lots of cliffs to play with or skirt, and a wooded but easy summit area. Even had a few views peeking around...The the company was fine.

 

[Tom Rankin]

We had feared to worst as far as ... bugs ...

I agree. Almost 0 bugs. If you stood still near a body of water, you might get a few...

 

[rhihn]

Plenty of swarming bugs on the trail to Indian Pass on Saturday, though few were biting. Only when we stopped to work were they an issue at all, and even then it seemed to go in spurts, with some places having relatively few bugs. I didn't use a headnet, though some did. They seemed to improve as the day went on, and the place where we were least bothered by them was at a stream at lunchtime.

 

[Neil]

Myself, son Dominic, Rik and Charlene hiked Donaldson and Emmons via Calkins brook on Saturday. Very calm, mostly sunny day. A group of 12 from the ADK Albany chapter was just ahead of us led by Skip (can't remember his last name). Bugs negligible.

 

[mike1889]

Skip Young led the Albany Chapter group to the Sewards. I always wanted to visit the area around the Warden's Camp near the Upper Ausable Lake. It was one of the last trailed areas on the High Peaks map that I hadn't visited. Well, I went there yesterday. After climbing Sawteeth via the Scenic Trail, I descended trail #57 to the Warden's Camp. Trail #57 is very pretty with almost no erosion and obviously very little use. It's real obvious when a trail doesn't get much use when you get to a trail that does get used a lot. It is a nice, soft foot path with almost no rocks or mud. Near the bottom it crosses the very attractive Shanty Brook and then reaches the Warden's Camp. The camp is real nice and it would be a blast to spend some time there. The reason of course that most "regular" hikers don't go here is because you can't camp anywhere and the only way back to your car is either over Sawteeth or Colvin. I did see a few people hanging around the Warden's Camp but they were AMR members or guests who can take boats in on the Lower Ausable Lake. When I reached the Colvin-Blake col and turned right toward Blake, it was painfully obvious what the masses are doing to the normal routes to the 46. The trail is many feet wide and eroding badly. I almost felt guilty for being there. Here is a photo of Shanty Brook and the Warden's Camp.

 

[mavs00]

We hiked in the McKenzie wilderness on Sat. and did not see a soul. Hiked TR on Sun. and we passed probably 25-30 others in the whole 8 miles of trail walking we did up to Indian Falls, which honestly felt like hundreds. Then again, in the last 11 hikes, I've seen a total of less than 10 others (outside my group). It's been glorious.

We did run into a Ranger at Marcy Dam, who said that usage was down, and he attributed it to the really poor forecast on Thursday (which is the time many tourists make the "go" or "nogo" call before heading out. It made sense to me.

I did run into Tom in the LOJ hiker lot at the end of the day, along with Pete Fish in the canteen.

 

[Rick]

Spent the weekend at our cottage on Keuka Lake and did a lot of hiking on the Finger Lakes Trail. I also found a neat little fire tower (Sugar Hill) thatr I didn't know existed. It was surrounded by horsemen and horsewoman, which I didn't mind, excpet I wish they practiced LNT, or "pack it in, pack it out"

 

[NYBRAD]

We would have loved to do some more hiking, but due to my wife’s family being with us, we were limited. I fished every morning on the Ausable. We drove the family up Whiteface, there's still some snow up there as well, walked back to the base of Roaring Brook, had a picnic at Cascade Lakes, and ate like kings in Lake Placid all weekend. It must be the only time that I have actually gained weight after a trip to the mountains. It was nice to see everyone at the dinner and I'm sure we'll be seeing more of each other in the near future. Again, congratulations to everyone who finished their 46 this season. CLIMB ON FOLKS!




"It's easier to become a 46er than to be one"

 

[Tom Rankin]

We would have loved to do some more hiking, but due to my wife’s family being with us, we were limited. I fished every morning on the Ausable. We drove the family up Whiteface, there's still some snow up there as well, walked back to the base of Roaring Brook, had a picnic at Cascade Lakes, and ate like kings in Lake Placid all weekend. It must be the only time that I have actually gained weight after a trip to the mountains. It was nice to see everyone at the dinner and I'm sure we'll be seeing more of each other in the near future. Again, congratulations to everyone who finished their 46 this season. CLIMB ON FOLKS!

I always gain weight when I hike! I load up on carbs the night before, and then after the *views*, go out *and* have another big meal with a few *brews*. A few days later, I'm usually back to where I started.

 

[Rick]

Mike,
I had always thought that those camps were only reached by boat (or snowmobile in the winter), but that sure as heck looks like a driveway at the Warden's camp - Any thoughts on this?
Thanks
Rick