Can’t think of a good title, so I’ll just call it “Six Peaks on the Hot Weekend”

vftt.org

Help Support vftt.org:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

adktyler

Active member
Joined
Nov 19, 2008
Messages
633
Reaction score
176
Location
Saranac Lake, NY
There is also too much information to write down and have anybody be even remotely interested in reading. So I’ll just highlight some of the more interesting events.

Arrived at the McKenzie trailhead on Friday at 10:30am. Had a late start of 11:00am, but the weather was warm (68+) and the sun was shining. After getting lost for about 30 minutes up high (not lost, just trying to find the trail), finally summited McKenzie a little before 2:00pm.

Hiking to Moose was a challenge, but managed to stay on trail for at least ½ the time. Lovely views from summit of Moose! Hike down to Loch Bonnie was very nice, yet staying on the trail to Two Brooks was a nightmare with all of the blowdown.

After a challenging crossing of Two Brooks made way back to the car (possibly doing some unintentional trespassing; sorry about that!). Total trip time was 7 ½ hours, mostly owing to the time spent trying to find the stupid trail!

Saturday morning awoke to a beautiful morning. Hiked into Cooper Kill Pond, punching through the snow a LOT (even with snowshoes, lots of water below the snow). Hike up to Wilmington was straight forward and very enjoyable. Reached the summit at 9:00am, 2 hours after leaving the car.

Backtracking to Morgan was easy-peasy, and was on the summit 5 minutes after leaving the trail! Gotta love the views from up there (NOT, haha). Arrived back at the car 45 minutes later, making it a 3 ¾ hour round trip in the morning cool.

Began hiking up the Whiteface memorial highway a few minutes later, arriving at unnamed brook shortly thereafter. Began bushwhack of northern face of Esther, which was a total blast! Thick trees part way up and steep ledges towards the summit. Arrived on top 1 ¾ hours after leaving the road.

Back at the car by 2:30pm, ready to head onto the last peak of the day. Very hot at 84 degrees, and blazing sun which made it feel even warmer. After a little bit of a drive and some roadway navigation errors arrived at the end of Old Mountain Rd. for the last hike.

Left car at 4:00pm hiking towards the ice climbing routes on Pitchoff. In 45 minutes arrive at unnamed brook and begin ascent of Slide. Through some trusting-the-GPS-too-much errors ended up hiking around to the north side and missing the top by a few hundred feet. Finally arrived on summit a wee bit before 6:30pm, still in shorts and a t-shirt.

Hike back down was quick and straightforward. Back on the main trail by 7:45pm, back at the car by 8:30pm, making it a total of a 13 ½ hour day!

Total tally: Friday – 2 ADK Hundred Highest (10 miles?)
Saturday – 3 ADK Hundred Highest, 1 High Peak for second round/bushwhack (16 miles?)

Wore snowshoes 95% of hiking time. Loved the hot weather! Loved the lack of bugs! Snow still very supportive above 3,000 ft, in spite of two unseasonably hot days; not supportive at all at lower elevations, and lots of exhausting punch-throughs. Brook crossings very challenging. Awesome time overall! Man, I love the Adirondacks!!

Link to more pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/adktyler/HotWeekendInTheAdirondacks#

Videos to come within the next 24 hours :)
 
Last edited:
A few pictures, from the link, in case you don't want to go to the link, and see the pictures, in which case you can just see the pictures here, in this reply. ;)

Hot%20Weather%20Weekend%20%285%29.JPG


Hot%20Weather%20Weekend%20%2813%29.JPG


Hot%20Weather%20Weekend%20%2822%29.JPG


Hot%20Weather%20Weekend%20%2833%29.JPG


Hot%20Weather%20Weekend%20%2837%29.JPG


Hot%20Weather%20Weekend%20%2842%29.JPG
 
Great pictures -- especially the "boot protection system"...

(What's with that? :) )

Haha, good question. Well, the snowshoe traps dig into the side of my boots and wear them down (where the metal contacts the boot material). I had a little bit of damage from the Dix traverse a few weekends ago, so I wanted to not have that happen again. So I cut a towel in half, cut a hole in each half, and strapped it onto my boots! It worked perfectly!!
 
The open ledge on Morgan is along the ridge at a bit lower elevation and offers great views which would have save you a trip to Esther as it's one of the best view of that mountain. Specially if like me you count a mountain as soon as you can see it!:D

That section of the McKenzie trail has made all of us go in circle for a while in the winter and so does the true summit of Slide. Slide summit area has numerous mini bumps and I am not sure whoever decided where the summit was is where it is.

Is crumbling lean-to still standing by the shore of Lake Bonnie?
 
Way to go Tyler! There are views on Morgan, BTW! You'll have to go back! :D

Ah ha! Figures. I should really hike these peaks with people who have done them before and know where to go :)

The open ledge on Morgan is along the ridge at a bit lower elevation and offers great views which would have save you a trip to Esther as it's one of the best view of that mountain. Specially if like me you count a mountain as soon as you can see it!:D

That section of the McKenzie trail has made all of us go in circle for a while in the winter and so does the true summit of Slide. Slide summit area has numerous mini bumps and I am not sure whoever decided where the summit was is where it is.

Is crumbling lean-to still standing by the shore of Lake Bonnie?

Ok, thanks for the info. It's a nice, easy little peak so it would be easy to go back and get it again.

Ahh, glad it's not just me! It's a tricky section up there for sure.
And at least the Slide summit is fairly open so it's not too hard to circle around.

Yes, it's still there, though I didn't go right up to it:
Hot%20Weather%20Weekend%20%2831%29.JPG
 
Awesome! Congrats on a successful weekend! I felt bad about canceling our plans in the Catskills but when I tried going on a local trail run on Saturday, I made it about a mile in when the knee and foot pain struck. :eek:
 
Thanks for the picture, Loch Bonnie is one of those magical place. I have not been there in a few years and the trees around the lean-to have really grown a lot. The pond is extremely shallow and in summer you can see the bedrock bottom clearly. Slighly larger but not by much Bartlett Pond pond who sits more below McKenzie has a beaten-up row boat sitting on the shore!
 
Awesome! Congrats on a successful weekend! I felt bad about canceling our plans in the Catskills but when I tried going on a local trail run on Saturday, I made it about a mile in when the knee and foot pain struck. :eek:

Thanks, man. Again, please don't feel bad about canceling. I am SO used to plans not following through, usually through uncontrollable circumstances (or communication breakdowns, like with my other hiking partner this weekend).

I'm really sorry to hear about your pain! A few other friends of mine are struggling with similar issues, and it's quite sad. I'm just waiting for my time to come. I hope your foot and knee heal up completely!

Thanks for the picture, Loch Bonnie is one of those magical place. I have not been there in a few years and the trees around the lean-to have really grown a lot. The pond is extremely shallow and in summer you can see the bedrock bottom clearly. Slighly larger but not by much Bartlett Pond pond who sits more below McKenzie has a beaten-up row boat sitting on the shore!

My pleasure! It looked like a beautiful place, and I would love to go back when the snow and ice are all gone. It looks so secluded as well, in spite of being so close to Placid. Thanks for the neat facts!
 
Excellent photos, Tyler!

Each time I see a marvelous Trip Report of yours (and others) for such fabulous spots in the Adirondacks, it kindles a "fire in the belly" to drive over there and spend a week or two hiking in "your" mountains. And yes, I realize that spending a week or two would only be merely scratching the surface of all that there is to do there. Ah well . . . so much to do, and so little time!
 
Nice stuff. I wish the Adirondacks were a little closer...I'd love to hike them.

I hear you, I have VERY similar thoughts about the Whites! Maybe we could just boot VT over and move the states a little closer? hahaha :)

Excellent photos, Tyler!

Each time I see a marvelous Trip Report of yours (and others) for such fabulous spots in the Adirondacks, it kindles a "fire in the belly" to drive over there and spend a week or two hiking in "your" mountains. And yes, I realize that spending a week or two would only be merely scratching the surface of all that there is to do there. Ah well . . . so much to do, and so little time!

Thanks, John! Yes, a week or two is just scratching the surface, I'm sure the same if I can to the Whites for a week or two! Time, time, time. I guess it's just making the days count! "Don't count every hour in the day, but make every hour count!"
 
Top