Chip
Well-known member
No, not THE 7 Summits, we're not delusional. But since I suckered you in with that teaser, you may as well read the report. There's a few decent pics, anyway.
2/11/10: Camp, Algonquin, Iroquois and Wright
Thursday night Puck and I left CT after work at 5:30pm. We got to the Adirondack Loj parking lot
at about 11pm and headed out for the 2 1/2 mile hike to the campsite on the MacIntyre Range Trail
below the brook. We set up the tent, unpacked and shared some Hermits and Apple Jack
.
We "slept" for about 5 hours. Paradox and KMAC met us at camp at about 7:30 and we headed up.
Algonquin was socked in, which was par for me as I've never had a view there. Soon it was off towards
Boundary and Iroquois. The cols on either side of Boundary are known to be difficult in any season.
This is Spruce Trap Season. It wasn't a matter of breaking trail, there was none. We needed to find a
route that would support us. Trial, error, full body Spruce Trap post holes, swearing and perseverance
finally led us across the cols and to Iroquois. By now the sky had started to clear and moods
(my mood anyway) improved dramatically. I'm really happy we got to Iroquois and back to Algonquin.
Off Algonquin, Paradox left us at the cut-off for Wright as he had Marshall on Saturday and did Wright
last year. Puck, KMAC and I headed up the .4 miles to the summit and experienced a bit of it's legendary wind.
We still had to break camp and pack out to the Loj. I think we were at Tmax and Topo's Jack Rabbit Hostel
by 4:30 or so. Great day (and then some).
Here's the link to the rest of the pics.
2/12/10: Nye, Street and Gathering
Saturday we met Rik, his wife, daLunartik and KMAC back at The Loj for Street and Nye. This was a nice,
pleasant hike with good company...until the half hour or so we spent on Nye. In my opinion Nye is the
abused step child of the Dacks who doesn't like sharing it's toys. Some clever route location by sight
and GPS by Rik and daLunartik helped us locate the summit. I helped locate the Spruce Traps
. This was getting old and I was happy to get back to the intersection and head towards Street. Street was
much more hospitable and we enjoyed the company at the summit.
Saturday night was the ADKHighpeaks Foundation gathering and fundraiser at The Ark Trail Inn.
An excellent cast of the usual suspects were in attendance. Food, drink, jocularity and fundraising ensued.
Thanks to Neil and the others for that great event.
Here's the link to the rest of those pics.
2/13/10: Cascade and Porter
Puck and I packed, ate and left Tmax and Topo's (A+ rated hospitality, company and showers) and
were at the trailhead for Cascade and Porter by 8:30 this morning. A relatively benign hike up the packed
trail was improved by the sight of a healthy, young Pine Martin combing the trail ahead, checking us out
briefly and then darting back into the hardwoods. At the intersection we headed towards Cascade and
stopped below the summit to gear up.
Each day one mountain would not give up it's summit easily and today it was Cascade.
While the summiting was not difficult (NO SPRUCE TRAPS !!!
), the wind was as fierce as any I've experienced. Puck and I communicated telepathically with a message that went something like
"F%*k the summit pic, we're outta here !".
Soon we were back at the intersection and off to Porter. Porter was nice, friendly and our seventh summit of an outstanding 3 1/2 days of hiking.
Back at the car by noon, we had time to stop and patronize, in an appreciative and non-patronizing manner,
The Mountaineer, which was sporting some interesting roof snow flowage. Great, great shop.
And here's the Cascade and Porter pics.
I look forward to the rest of the various participants additions. Great weekend with excellent company and mountains.
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