ADK Hiker
New member
Took some time and headed up to the high peaks for a few days. We hiked into the JBL on Saturday evening. Got up bright and early Sunday and headed out for Marcy, Skylight, and Gray. The trails were covered in water from the rain the evening before. All the usual water crossings were higher, making it a little challenging. When we reached the summit of Marcy, we were engulfed in a huge white cloud. No views were to be seen. The wind was blowing something fierce, so we quickly took photos and made our way to the four corners. Started our climb up to skylight and the sun began to shine a little more. Once on top, we took some photos and ate a little food. That appeared to be just the thing to do. We soon got some great views of Marcy, and the range. After capturing all these we made our decent, seeing a group of four girls heading up. We stop to chat a little with them, but soon pressed on to our final summit of the day, Gray. Got to Lake Tear of the Cloud and noticed the rock cairn, marking the trail to Gray. The hike up to Gray was pretty easy and we were feeling good. The trail were no different than all day, with lots of water and mud. Reached the summit and got great views from a rock near the summit. Marcy looked spectacular with the sun shining on it. Took our photos, enjoyed the views, and just real happy with such a great day so far. The Feldspar Brook (swamp) was pretty awful, but there was alot of things to walk on. Remainder of our hike out was uneventful. All and all a great day in the High Peaks.
Tuesday-We hiked into Marcy Dam and started straight for Colden. Got to Lake Arnold junction and the trail was real muddy. There were alot of spots to step on, but some tricky ones as well. The sun was shining beautiful and there were good views all along the trail up. When we reached the false summit, we enjoyed the view of Colden. Continued on and reached the summit of Colden and had breathtaking views of Marcy, Algonquin, and Avalanche pass. There were other great views from here as well. Took our photos and ate some lunch. Spent alot of time just sitting and enjoying the great views. I relished in the thought, that it does not get any better than this. Our decent down was uneventful and we were done and back at the register in 7.5 hours.
Thursday-Nippletop, Dial- Made it to the parking lot and it was raining hard, along with some big thunder. Decided we would go ahead anyway. We signed the register, took our AMR photos, and headed out. Shortly there after the rain stopped and we were at the trail for Nippletop/Colvin in no time. The Gill Brook falls was really roaring as we passed. We took a moment to snap a photo and then continued on. Trails were good, until we reached Elk Pass. Then there was alot of water and way more mud. Above, Elk Pass the climb to Nippletop junction was long and steady. Once at junction the climb to Nippletop was easy, as well as the decent and climb to Dial. As we reached the summit we saw a group of approximately eight boys. They exclaimed that they had just done Allen on Monday. The views from here were spectacular. You could see the whole range beautifully. This lifted our spirits, even though we knew we had Bear Den and the shoulder of Noomark to go. Ate our lunch and just took in the the views. The climb up Bear Den and shoulder of Noonmark were a bit difficult near the end of the day, but not too bad. There was some good views from shoulder of Noonmark as well. Made our decent and were back at the register and signed out in 8 hours round trip, with plenty of time spent on Dial enjoying the views.
This was a great hiking excursion. Looking forward to more
Tuesday-We hiked into Marcy Dam and started straight for Colden. Got to Lake Arnold junction and the trail was real muddy. There were alot of spots to step on, but some tricky ones as well. The sun was shining beautiful and there were good views all along the trail up. When we reached the false summit, we enjoyed the view of Colden. Continued on and reached the summit of Colden and had breathtaking views of Marcy, Algonquin, and Avalanche pass. There were other great views from here as well. Took our photos and ate some lunch. Spent alot of time just sitting and enjoying the great views. I relished in the thought, that it does not get any better than this. Our decent down was uneventful and we were done and back at the register in 7.5 hours.
Thursday-Nippletop, Dial- Made it to the parking lot and it was raining hard, along with some big thunder. Decided we would go ahead anyway. We signed the register, took our AMR photos, and headed out. Shortly there after the rain stopped and we were at the trail for Nippletop/Colvin in no time. The Gill Brook falls was really roaring as we passed. We took a moment to snap a photo and then continued on. Trails were good, until we reached Elk Pass. Then there was alot of water and way more mud. Above, Elk Pass the climb to Nippletop junction was long and steady. Once at junction the climb to Nippletop was easy, as well as the decent and climb to Dial. As we reached the summit we saw a group of approximately eight boys. They exclaimed that they had just done Allen on Monday. The views from here were spectacular. You could see the whole range beautifully. This lifted our spirits, even though we knew we had Bear Den and the shoulder of Noomark to go. Ate our lunch and just took in the the views. The climb up Bear Den and shoulder of Noonmark were a bit difficult near the end of the day, but not too bad. There was some good views from shoulder of Noonmark as well. Made our decent and were back at the register and signed out in 8 hours round trip, with plenty of time spent on Dial enjoying the views.
This was a great hiking excursion. Looking forward to more
