Best High Peaks Area Day Hike

What would you consider the best day hike (12 miles or under) in the High Peak reigon for view and a good time?

Best dayhike I can think of is through avalanche pass, and then over Algonquin. This might be longer then your criteria states, but you get a lot of pretty views. Anyone know the total mileage for this hike? I also like Pharoah for a shorter dayhike, if you don't care about 4king.

-percious

If you are not a gung-ho peak bagger like a lot of us here then I would suggest Indian Pass. Not too challenging but enough scrambling to make you feel like you've accomplished something.

My favorite is Giant and Rocky Peak ridge VIA the Rocky Peak Ridge trail, I like the grade of trail. I think noonmark is another excellent dayhike also. I have yet to do avalanche pass, I have heard many great things about it.

I am going to climb gothics on Saturday. I would like to do something on Sunday, if possible another of the 46.

Colden is a nice one.

I like my dayhike a couple years ago from Heart Lake to Avalanche Pass and the lake, up Colden and then back. I loved the views from Colden and enjoyed Avalanche Pass a lot. Plus I met a bunch of folks at the summit of Colden who fed me.

I even wandered onto the upper sections of the Trap Dike, by accident.

Jay

Best 'Dacks High Peak dayhike

I was really pleasantly surprised by my day hike over Cascade and Porter. I started at the Cascade trailhead, seeing alot of people on Cascade (great views) and continued on out through Blueberry Mtn. where I saw only a single hiker the rest of the way. And this was a gorguous summer weekend day. Way less miles then the 12 upper limit.

The Indian Pass route is also great, for more remoteness and a sense of wilderness. You can bag Marshall from that direction, via Iroquis Pass.

Happy Trails

Define best? Point is that it means many thigs to different people.

Distance of the Avalanche Pass option over Algonquin without Iroquois or Wright's would just be under 12 I think. (I did the three & it came out as 13.3) It seemed a lot harder than the 14 mile day I did in June thou over Ike, Pierce & Jackson in NH

Trip does provide great alpine summit & super views from Avalanche Lake shores & thru Avalanche Pass.

Porter & Cascade offer two peaks & not too hard of a day. The classic trip of Rocky Peak Ridge & Giant from 9N I think would be over 12, both can be done from 73 in under 12 miles but invovles climbng down & back thru the Giant/RPR col which is fairly deep.

A couple of other suggestions:
for a short trip, Hurricane (3,694 feet) offers a bare summit great views

The trip up Big Side over the Brothers offers a ton of views from the lower two Brothers ledges & from Big Slide. (I'm in the camp that thinks the view of Gothics from close by is better than the view from Gothics since you can't see the slides from the top)

A loop over Sawteeth & Gothics would fit the bill too. (might be a little longer when you factor in the road walk but those are easy miles.)

Colden I think is under 12 too & can be done as aloop past the lakes & thru Avalanche Pass also.

Just too many great hikes to choose from.

I think the biggest bang for your mileage buck is starting at the Loj, up Algonquin and down to Avalanche Lake and return to the Loj thru Av Pass. If peakbagging, get Wright and Iroquois too.

adk4life
I'm planning a travese of the Dix Range on Sunday (5 high peaks) if you are interested. This will be over your 12 mile distance.

My favorite relatively short high peak hike is a loop up Big Slide over the Brothers and down to Johns Brook and back to the Garden. You get views within the first mile and the almost continuous open rocks on the first two Brothers are great. It's especially nice at peak foliage.

Thats the one where the overhanging rock near the top makes a sort of cave, right? I came down that way from Porter 2 years ago and saw a lot of couples and families out for a day hike. I would say it definately is a nice hike. Some good scrambling on the rock and lots of interesting terrain.

My vote is a tie between The Algonquin/Avalanche Pass route and Gothics (via Pyramid) route. Both mountains offer spectacular views and Avalanche Pass is not to be missed.

For the Gothics Route go up the Weld trail and stop at Rainbow Falls.

Both routes can be completed in 8/9 hours or so, with plenty of summit/viewing time.

I'm with Mike on this one - For a short hike with lot's of views and fun, I'd shoot for Big Slide via the Brothers with a stop at Johns Brook and an easy 3 mile hike out. Or you coulld take the Southside trail out and add a little adventure by crossing/rockhopping Johns Brook as you get closer to the Garden.

It's not a loop, but...

if you can spot a car on Rt. 73, the hike over Rocky Peak ridge and Giant is a classic.
An often-overlooked hike is Noonmark: relatively short and easy, with great views and smaller crowds than the typical 46'er.

Noonmark, Jay Range, McKenzie, Giant, Pitchoff (entire ridge), Dix,
Gothics.

Wow, thats a long day!!!

Different options

Jumping in a little late, but..

You've gotten great advice so far. Great mountains all, but I'll add some other reasonable dayhike destinations for the "slightly more adventurous" (i.e. herd paths, or EASY bushwhacks)

• Macomb (by itself) - <9 miles (7-8 hours) - Great views, unique vantage, fun (but reasonable) slide climb and great summit area.
• Bennies Brook Slide (Lower WolfJaw) - ~8 miles (7-7.5 hours) - easy bushwhack to easy slide and a virtual lock for solitude. Mountain summit ain't great though.
• Seymour (by itself) - 13+ miles (8+ hours) - a little longer mile wise, but 10 of em' are over level terrain. This is a great vantage to one of the few UNSPOILED wild areas in the HP area (Cold River Valley (View back to Ampersand and Lower Saranac lake ain't bad either). Little mountain with a LOTTA view.
• Street & Nye - ~9 miles (6-7 hours) - If the weather ain't co-operating on hike day, this is a great alternative. As far as walks in the woods, this one is pretty good one.

Granted, none of these are Alpine Slopes or hugly popular destinations like Algonquin, Cascade, Big Slide and others, but each offers significantly less people, just a touch more remoteness and (for me) a little more of that Adirondack feel.

My pennies worth anyway..