SherpaKroto
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I finally had the opportunity to spend a full week (ok, 6 1/2 days) in the High Peaks, and really made the most of it...
Pictures HERE - part 1
7/15 - Day 0: Left Boston AT 3:00 and sat in traffic, staring at my building for an hour, finally getting on the road at 4:02. I had gotten some excellent info on the best driving route and pulled in to Upper Works at 8:50. Not bad at all. Sat with Ed (ADK4487) in the parking lot through intermittent rain until Lyle (crazymama) showed up around 11:00. Man, that beer tasted great!
7/16 - Day 1: Swimming Marshall. Woke to a dreary day, with a forecast for rain. As we geared up, Carol (Daxs) drove in, and our merry band of walking wounded were ready to head out. We finally got on the trail at 7:40, joined quickly by the rain. The walk to Flowed Lands went quickly, and soon we were headed toward the herdpath for Marshall on Herbert Brook (11:25). This is one beautiful way to climb a mountain! The path mostly follows Herbert Brook in one long cascade for most of the route's length. I've never seen a cascade go so long and uninterrupted, and really enjoyed walking along it's length. Needless to say, we got a bit wet. Eventually we started to veer left toward the true summit, reaching it at 1:25. The only views to be had on this day was of 4 shivering backpackers. Needless to say, our stay was quite short. On the return, I commented that it looked like the brook had risen a bit, and we found this to be true. Not bad, but any pretense to stay dry soon ended. The descent went well despite the water, but Carol slipped once and I actually saw her bounce when she hit the rock. That's gonna leave a mark! We reached the start of the herdpath at 3:15 and decided that a quick stop at one of the Lake Colden leanto's would be a good spot to wring out our socks. We had quite an interesting set of feet - mine were dubbed Ghost Feet! Not much to say about the rest of the day. It was wet, we didn't stop much, and we finally settled in to our Feldspar leanto at 6:15 where we met up with Michel. Mike and Jim were also sharing the leanto with us, so it was full house at the inn. The worst section of trail was between Flowed Lands and Lake Colden, but was not too bad.
7/17 - Day 2: Gray Skylight over Marcy. Woke up feeling great. I decided that since Arm was coming in on Sunday and wanted to do Cliff/Redfield, I'd go back to my original plan to tackle Gray/Marcy and Skylight. Ed was most gracious and agreed to join me. Carol, Michel and Lyle were planning Cliff, and possibly Redfield, but we had heard that Redfield was extremely wet with all of the rain so it was PIBE (play it by ear). Warren came in as we were getting ready, having stopped at Uphill the night before, and was headed to Tabletop, returning to Feldspar to spend the evening with us. Ed and I headed off at 8:30. The trail is in excellent condition and a very moderate climb. We were soon at the Gray HerdPath at 10:10. It's easy to spot, at the outlet of Lake Tear, marked by a cairn in a large patch of moss. After a short break, we headed up the well trodden path and found that everything was still very wet. Soon we were again soaked, but the path is not long, and we reached the summit at 11:05. The clouds appeared to be lifting a bit, and we were blessed with some limited views. I was hoping that we'd get some from Marcy and Skylight! Ed scouted the bushwhack route to Marcy and decided that it was too darn wet to use it. We took a few summit shots, and then headed down, reaching 4 Corners at 12:19. Not much else to say about the Gray path - it's fun, rather direct, and a nice little change from the trail hiking on this day.
We soon set off for Marcy, and I was full of anticipation. The ankle was holding together, and Ed's herniated disk(!) did not seem to be slowing him down much. As we climbed, the clouds were lifting, and we were getting quite a few good views. Ed was great at helping me pick out the mountains that were so new to me. I was like a kid in a candy store - the more we climbed, the more the High Peaks showed themselves. We ran into Dave - the infamous VFTTer who recently climbed both Katahdin and Mt Washington on the same day. Quite a feat indeed. My guess is that he is an aspiring HighPointer since we now met him on Marcy. On the way up the final cone, we saw a group of 6 on Haystack. I remembered that Hillman was making his bid for 46er recognition on this day, and waved a hearty congratulations his way. I had previously decided that Haystack might be my 46th, and looking across, knew it was a great one to finish on. We reached the summit at 1:35, and found quite a few folks lounging around. We spotted a nice spot away from the crowds, and I looked in awe at the Great Range laid out before me. I am slowly getting better at recognizing the peaks from the pictures I've seen, but nothing can compare to seeing them all right in front of you. I commented to Ed that it looks like God just threw them up. They are so different from the Whites where I grew up. I was nearly salivating at the thought of climbing them all! Ed pointed out many sites that were apparent to his trained eye, but hidden to mine. I really enjoyed the time we spent sitting there. Unfortunately, thunder was soon heard, with a sheet of rain coming our way, so we looked at each other and knew that Skylight was calling. We passed the summit Steward who was anxiously looking at the seemingly unconcerned 27 other summitters, nodding as we passed. On the way down, I asked Ed if the little knob that we crossed had a name. Ed did not think it did, so I dubbed it "Sherpa Nubble" . I jokingly told him that I was going to petition the Governor for official status (Note: it is Schofield Nubble, but will always be Sherpa Nubble to me). We met a few more folks on the way down, but the backside of Marcy does not see nearly as many hikers as the Tourist route. As trails go, this one was a blast, and highly recommended. We were back at 4 Corners at 2:40, and immediately headed up to Skylight: weather was coming.
The trail to Skylight has little in the way of mystery: it goes up. It is nice to look over your shoulder as you climb, seeing Marcy rising behind you. I had been carrying a rock since we left Feldspar that morning, and finally convinced Ed to carry one also, reminding him that I still had 6 days left to hike, and needed good weather!. The higher we climbed, the more clouds we saw coming over Marcy. It seemed that they were mostly behind us, but as we crested we saw them gathering behind Skylight also. Our stay would be shortlived, and the anticipated weather was headed our way. A few hasty shots, and we were scurrying down off the summit. As we descended, we saw firsthand why Marcy/Tahawus is known as the Cloudsplitter. The storm was breaking neatly right around us, with the clouds parting to spare us it's worst. We had no sooner sunk below treeline when we heard the first of many thunderclaps on Skylight's summit. We also ran into quite a few people coming up the trail to the summit. One particular guy asked us what we thought about Gray, never waited for our answer, commented that it was a waste, and proceeded to tell us that he had climbed 18 of the High Peaks. Ed admirably kept his count to himself. As we were out of ear range, I said to Ed that Gray's big brothers and sisters wouldn't like those words. Sure enough, about 15 minutes later, just about when he should have been reaching the summit, we heard the loudest of the many thunderclaps that day. I suspect that Skylight was more memorable for him than Gray. We were back at 4 Corners at 4:00, and soon set off. For some odd reason, I got a second wind, and felt great. I had another great day, and actually thought I might have a chance at reaching the summits of all 10 High Peaks that I had planned for this trip! I reached the leanto at 5:10 with Ed shortly behind me, another great day in the books. We all compared notes and I was pleased to hear Carol and Lyle both say that Cliff is a much maligned summit, actually a lot of fun to climb.
...part 2 follows below...
Pictures HERE - part 1
7/15 - Day 0: Left Boston AT 3:00 and sat in traffic, staring at my building for an hour, finally getting on the road at 4:02. I had gotten some excellent info on the best driving route and pulled in to Upper Works at 8:50. Not bad at all. Sat with Ed (ADK4487) in the parking lot through intermittent rain until Lyle (crazymama) showed up around 11:00. Man, that beer tasted great!
7/16 - Day 1: Swimming Marshall. Woke to a dreary day, with a forecast for rain. As we geared up, Carol (Daxs) drove in, and our merry band of walking wounded were ready to head out. We finally got on the trail at 7:40, joined quickly by the rain. The walk to Flowed Lands went quickly, and soon we were headed toward the herdpath for Marshall on Herbert Brook (11:25). This is one beautiful way to climb a mountain! The path mostly follows Herbert Brook in one long cascade for most of the route's length. I've never seen a cascade go so long and uninterrupted, and really enjoyed walking along it's length. Needless to say, we got a bit wet. Eventually we started to veer left toward the true summit, reaching it at 1:25. The only views to be had on this day was of 4 shivering backpackers. Needless to say, our stay was quite short. On the return, I commented that it looked like the brook had risen a bit, and we found this to be true. Not bad, but any pretense to stay dry soon ended. The descent went well despite the water, but Carol slipped once and I actually saw her bounce when she hit the rock. That's gonna leave a mark! We reached the start of the herdpath at 3:15 and decided that a quick stop at one of the Lake Colden leanto's would be a good spot to wring out our socks. We had quite an interesting set of feet - mine were dubbed Ghost Feet! Not much to say about the rest of the day. It was wet, we didn't stop much, and we finally settled in to our Feldspar leanto at 6:15 where we met up with Michel. Mike and Jim were also sharing the leanto with us, so it was full house at the inn. The worst section of trail was between Flowed Lands and Lake Colden, but was not too bad.
7/17 - Day 2: Gray Skylight over Marcy. Woke up feeling great. I decided that since Arm was coming in on Sunday and wanted to do Cliff/Redfield, I'd go back to my original plan to tackle Gray/Marcy and Skylight. Ed was most gracious and agreed to join me. Carol, Michel and Lyle were planning Cliff, and possibly Redfield, but we had heard that Redfield was extremely wet with all of the rain so it was PIBE (play it by ear). Warren came in as we were getting ready, having stopped at Uphill the night before, and was headed to Tabletop, returning to Feldspar to spend the evening with us. Ed and I headed off at 8:30. The trail is in excellent condition and a very moderate climb. We were soon at the Gray HerdPath at 10:10. It's easy to spot, at the outlet of Lake Tear, marked by a cairn in a large patch of moss. After a short break, we headed up the well trodden path and found that everything was still very wet. Soon we were again soaked, but the path is not long, and we reached the summit at 11:05. The clouds appeared to be lifting a bit, and we were blessed with some limited views. I was hoping that we'd get some from Marcy and Skylight! Ed scouted the bushwhack route to Marcy and decided that it was too darn wet to use it. We took a few summit shots, and then headed down, reaching 4 Corners at 12:19. Not much else to say about the Gray path - it's fun, rather direct, and a nice little change from the trail hiking on this day.
We soon set off for Marcy, and I was full of anticipation. The ankle was holding together, and Ed's herniated disk(!) did not seem to be slowing him down much. As we climbed, the clouds were lifting, and we were getting quite a few good views. Ed was great at helping me pick out the mountains that were so new to me. I was like a kid in a candy store - the more we climbed, the more the High Peaks showed themselves. We ran into Dave - the infamous VFTTer who recently climbed both Katahdin and Mt Washington on the same day. Quite a feat indeed. My guess is that he is an aspiring HighPointer since we now met him on Marcy. On the way up the final cone, we saw a group of 6 on Haystack. I remembered that Hillman was making his bid for 46er recognition on this day, and waved a hearty congratulations his way. I had previously decided that Haystack might be my 46th, and looking across, knew it was a great one to finish on. We reached the summit at 1:35, and found quite a few folks lounging around. We spotted a nice spot away from the crowds, and I looked in awe at the Great Range laid out before me. I am slowly getting better at recognizing the peaks from the pictures I've seen, but nothing can compare to seeing them all right in front of you. I commented to Ed that it looks like God just threw them up. They are so different from the Whites where I grew up. I was nearly salivating at the thought of climbing them all! Ed pointed out many sites that were apparent to his trained eye, but hidden to mine. I really enjoyed the time we spent sitting there. Unfortunately, thunder was soon heard, with a sheet of rain coming our way, so we looked at each other and knew that Skylight was calling. We passed the summit Steward who was anxiously looking at the seemingly unconcerned 27 other summitters, nodding as we passed. On the way down, I asked Ed if the little knob that we crossed had a name. Ed did not think it did, so I dubbed it "Sherpa Nubble" . I jokingly told him that I was going to petition the Governor for official status (Note: it is Schofield Nubble, but will always be Sherpa Nubble to me). We met a few more folks on the way down, but the backside of Marcy does not see nearly as many hikers as the Tourist route. As trails go, this one was a blast, and highly recommended. We were back at 4 Corners at 2:40, and immediately headed up to Skylight: weather was coming.
The trail to Skylight has little in the way of mystery: it goes up. It is nice to look over your shoulder as you climb, seeing Marcy rising behind you. I had been carrying a rock since we left Feldspar that morning, and finally convinced Ed to carry one also, reminding him that I still had 6 days left to hike, and needed good weather!. The higher we climbed, the more clouds we saw coming over Marcy. It seemed that they were mostly behind us, but as we crested we saw them gathering behind Skylight also. Our stay would be shortlived, and the anticipated weather was headed our way. A few hasty shots, and we were scurrying down off the summit. As we descended, we saw firsthand why Marcy/Tahawus is known as the Cloudsplitter. The storm was breaking neatly right around us, with the clouds parting to spare us it's worst. We had no sooner sunk below treeline when we heard the first of many thunderclaps on Skylight's summit. We also ran into quite a few people coming up the trail to the summit. One particular guy asked us what we thought about Gray, never waited for our answer, commented that it was a waste, and proceeded to tell us that he had climbed 18 of the High Peaks. Ed admirably kept his count to himself. As we were out of ear range, I said to Ed that Gray's big brothers and sisters wouldn't like those words. Sure enough, about 15 minutes later, just about when he should have been reaching the summit, we heard the loudest of the many thunderclaps that day. I suspect that Skylight was more memorable for him than Gray. We were back at 4 Corners at 4:00, and soon set off. For some odd reason, I got a second wind, and felt great. I had another great day, and actually thought I might have a chance at reaching the summits of all 10 High Peaks that I had planned for this trip! I reached the leanto at 5:10 with Ed shortly behind me, another great day in the books. We all compared notes and I was pleased to hear Carol and Lyle both say that Cliff is a much maligned summit, actually a lot of fun to climb.
...part 2 follows below...
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. We ran into one gentleman who looked a bit ragged on the trail, commenting on how muddy his approach from Lake Arnold had been. We brightend his day by telling him truthfully that the mud lessened significantly in another 100 feet or so. He was headed to Skylight (which I believe was his 45th). We reached Lake Arnold at 10:22, and met 2 hikers who told us they were climbing Colden. They asked me how much longer to Lake Arnold, and Ed said they just passed it. They didn't appear to believe him, and continued on (I'm starting to think we don't look much like hikers!). A few minutes later we ran into the rest of their group who yelled to them and convinced them that they had missed the turn. Ed and I headed up, but were soon passed by this group. We were having a great time taking in the sights, and were in no real hurry to get anywhere. As we climbed, I'd ask Ed if that was the summit ahead and would get a "We'll see" for a response. It is an intreresting route, with many "we'll see's" along the way. We reached the false summit at 11:30, and were met with fantastic views of Avalanche pass, Wallface, and the McIntire Range. I asked Ed if that was the true summit to our left, and you know Ed's response 
