Rocky Peak Ridge (+ Giant) from New Russia.

I took some pictures. (Hit F11 after opening the link for proper viewing)

This was my 4th time on Rocky Peak Ridge. Once from Giant in winter, once as a horrendous bushwhack from Split Rock Falls over Holcomb mountain and this, the 2nd time from New Russia.

After the Adams firetower recon I was planning on heading home early on Sunday. But then Jack kept saying that with the great weather he was going to hike something. My mind did a quick Google search of itself for the following:

Great hike AND "south facing trail" AND "something new for Jack"

I got 2 hits: Hopkins and RPR from New Russia. I refined my search to include: 5000 plus feet of elly gain and RPR was all that was left.

At 7:50am off we went. At 4:10PM we were done.

8 hours to get to Jack's car at the Giant trailhead, 10 minutes to get back to mine at New Russia where we met up with Barb Harris, Gary Koch and a gang of rowdy youngsters.

We took snowshoes and we used them, but could easily have survived the ordeal without. Micro-spikes were the best tool for adhering to the monorail/snow spine. There is still 2-3 feet of snow up high. There was none at all on Bald. It started on the south side of Rocky at about 3300 feet.

This was a fantastic hike and I rank it in the top 5 ADK hikes.

The Eagle slide and its neighbors are in season. Right now.

Bald only?

Neil,

If available time or effort are less than the full hike to RPR, is it a satisfying shorter hike to go only to the Bald Mountain summit? Are views of Rocky Peak Ridge itself good from Bald? Thanks.

adkayaker said:

Neil,

If available time or effort are less than the full hike to RPR, is it a satisfying shorter hike to go only to the Bald Mountain summit? Are views of Rocky Peak Ridge itself good from Bald? Thanks.

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Bald on its own is definitely a worthwhile hike. (my guess would be 4-5 leisurely hours round trip) While only at 3050 feet elevation it's trailhead is at 650 feet and the mountain itself stands alone. The final 500 feet of elevation gain are across open rock, interspersed with light forest cover.

Neil said:

This was a fantastic hike and I rank it in the top 5 ADK hikes.

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This hike definitely has it all...mud, trees, rocks, streams, views...dirt, vegetation, stones, rivers, vistas...the list goes on and on.

Oh, and having that Google search hardwired right to your frontal lobe is really paying off, ha?

ferrisjrf said:

This hike definitely has it all...mud, trees, rocks, streams, views...dirt, vegetation, stones, rivers, vistas...the list goes on and on.

Oh, and having that Google search hardwired right to your frontal lobe is really paying off, ha?

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What I really enjoyed about this hike was the fact that it is in a designated Wilderness Zone. Pretty interesting when you think that cell phones, SPOT devices, PLB's AND hand held GPS-R's will be phased out of Adirondack Wilderness Zones within this century.

And you bet, that new Neuro-Google app is a killer. Dowload it today for $2.99.

slide season you say? fantastic.

i've been meaning to get to rocky peak ridge for some time now. i was going to save it for my 46th but since i gave up hiking.. i'll probably hit it up this summer.

leaf said:

slide season you say? fantastic.

i've been meaning to get to rocky peak ridge for some time now. i was going to save it for my 46th but since i gave up hiking.. i'll probably hit it up this summer.

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Instead of doing Rocky come and do a Giant Mtn. slide climbing extravaganza.

Minimal bushwhacking, maximum open slabs.

Neil said:

Instead of doing Rocky come and do a Giant Mtn. slide climbing extravaganza.

Minimal bushwhacking, maximum open slabs.

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Ooh! Ooh! When?

Tom Rankin said:

Ooh! Ooh! When?

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Loading gear into car right now, see you in the morning. 5am sharp.

Haha just kidding.

I was thinking of dropping down the Finger Slide, going up the Eagle (2 minute whack in open woods) then heading down the trail to RPR and cutting over to the base of the Bat Slide and doing multiple ups and downs thereupon.

Would also like to do the slide on the North side of Giant one of these days. That involves a lot more whacking I suspect but you could start with that one and then do the Finger descent etc. etc. Would require a pre-dawn start and an extra peanut butter and jelly sandwich for sure.

Neil said:

I was thinking of dropping down the Finger Slide, going up the Eagle (2 minute whack in open woods) then heading down the trail to RPR and cutting over to the base of the Bat Slide and doing multiple ups and downs thereupon.

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let me know when you are thinking of doing this. i'm available mid-may. i'll even sacrifice a day of rock climbing to walk up these slides. in exchange for your guiding services, i'll take you climbing somewhere the next day. bring your helmet.

leaf said:

let me know when you are thinking of doing this. i'm available mid-may. i'll even sacrifice a day of rock climbing to walk up these slides. in exchange for your guiding services, i'll take you climbing somewhere the next day. bring your helmet.

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I've always wanted to do the Eigerwand. Can we go there? (I have a football helmet with a crack in it)

if you think mental google is cool...

This guy has an ipod.....in his mind!!!

Neil said:

I've always wanted to do the Eigerwand. Can we go there? (I have a football helmet with a crack in it)

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I already climbed that peak with a group of guys. The Trip Report is here:
http://www.climbing.ie/exped/eiger/eiger.html
There's no mention of me because I asked to be left out of it. I took all the pictures though.. no digital back then, so the quality is a bit poor. I can go back again and take you, but there's a $45,000 fee for that. You sure you just don't want to climb at Chapel Pond Canyon?