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Big big thanks to everybody for the valuable info. You guys rock, as always. :) Happy trails -- Uncle Butch

Pardon another bonehead question, but they're kinda my trademark. Wondering if there's anyplace in the High Peaks (like the Loj) or on the perimeter (Lake Placid, Keene Valley) where one could grab a shower for just a nominal charge after hiking out from a few days of camping/climbing. I know...

Nye's summit, at least as of last October, is noted by a red trail marker with "Nye Mt" inked onto it, about eight feet up a tree. I didn't see anything marking the Street summit that same day, but the mist was pretty thick. I asked about that later somewhere else on this forum, and someone...

YellowDog, great story and great pooch you've got there. My big mutt's the best friend and best hiking companion I've ever had -- and I've got some great friends and had some great hiking companions. Wish I'd gotten him started earlier, 'cause he really loves the woods and the trails and...

Absolutely gorgeous August day heading up Wright Peak, warm and sunny, hardly a cloud in the sky. We arrive with the summit all to ourselves, drink in the view, then sit down around that little natural amphitheatre at the top for a leisurely lunch. Three opt to just lounge there for a bit...

Actually, did have a bear (or bears) pull down a bag and devour our stuff overnight, at a campsite off the Ward Brook Trail while we were working on a Seymour-Sewards trip -- although that was about twenty years ago. Still, can't say it's never happened. Aren't the bear-canister regs now in...

Outrageous, infuriating stuff -- speaking from irrelevant experience (had my car broken into and my wife's stolen, but both times in the big city). Question: is there a pattern of this happening at ADK trailheads as well, or just in the Whites? Happy trails -- Uncle Butch (feeling only...

There was a very good thread here about Esther maybe a year and a half ago, pre-crash. http://www.adirondackjourney.com has an excellent photo-guide to this and most other summits. My dog & I did just Esther in September '03. We somewhat deliberately took pretty much the whole day to do...

Adam, that's kind of what I was imagining in post #13. We'll have that as a back-up plan. Thanks once again to everyone who's contributed. The visuals, advisories, cautions, and good wishes are all hugely appreciated. Happy trails -- Uncle Butch

Don't know if you've tried this brand, but my guy (90 pounds) has one by an outfit called Granite Gear. We picked it up at an Eastern Mountain store about five years ago. A bit pricey, but not too tricky to adjust (with just a little practise), fits him fine and seems pretty durable. Happy...

I had one turn agate brown, despite a great-fitting pair of boots that never gave me so much as a blister in many years of hiking, after finishing the Northville-Placid Trail about twenty years ago. It dropped off after a month or two and didn't try growing back until several months after that...

An afterthought: another rewarding approach is from Lake Colden / Flowed Lands. The flume along the Opalescent is worth seeing, and at least in my often unreliable memory, that whole route to Grey and Skylight is a nice easy grade. Only potential obstacle is the crossing of Feldspar Brook to...

Mavs, thanks, that's much more reassuring than your previous post (#7), which was the thing that got me thinking the Armstrong ladder might be an impassable obstacle in the first place. You had me picturing 40 feet of plumb vertical, which is a tough geometry problem when you plug 135 pounds of...

Sorry to sound like a hand-wringing nuisance about this, but just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on that very last item in the preceding post -- the 20-foot ladder on Armstrong. Again, is there a decent way around this without spending an hour swimming through cripplebrush and...

My dog & I did Nye & Street last October. Piece of cake (well, two pieces), as the herd paths were as easy to follow as (officially) maintained trails. We took about nine hours, but I hike like a snail, and as we were in no rush and had fine weather, that included about four half-hour breaks...

I will brook no complaining about the drive from anyone who can get to the 'Dacks or the Whites in less than eight hours... ;) Happy trails -- Uncle Butch

More good advice, all welcome and much appreciated. Already exchanged e-mails with The Mountaineer re: bear canisters ($7. per 3-day rental, if anyone else is interested; no reservations, but supposedly plenty in stock). Reservations on area lean-tos removes those as any back-up plan, but...

Great insights and advice. I knew I could count on you guys. My topo map (shoot, I thought it was current) shows an untrailed gap between the Garden road and the bend at the east end of the northside trail where it switches back to head west over the Brothers, thus my confusion. Glad to know...

Hi, haven't posted here in quite a while, but I wonder if the fine folks here might help out a backwoods vet with some rookie-level questions. Normally I wouldn't bother with any meticulous planning in advance if this were just a dayhike or if it was just me or just my dog & I, but there's a...

My interest in entomology is generally negligible... until I'm in the High Peaks. I always seem to encounter something bizarre and fascinating, and when I get home I can never find find anything quite like it in any number of Field Guides to North American Creepycrawlies that I consult...