Neil
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-PICTURES FIRST-
Inspired by Richard Strauss.
Night.
I pulled into the vast acreage of the Gore Mtn. ski area’s parking lot at exactly 4:30 onlt to find Peak_Bagr’s car parked there. Whatever the hell he was doing in that neck of the woods I hope to find out soon. As I peered through Spence’s windows I heard a low whistle and looked up to see my hiking partner walking towards me.
Dunbar had parked in the lower lot and had seen me pull in.
At 5:30 we commenced our hike after coolly eying many a potentially suicidal deer on the Kings Flow road. Steve was on the GPS and we traveled by instrument to about the half-way point between Kings Flow and Puffer Pond. Still in total darkness we crossed the brook and established a bearing to the summit of Puffer and the adventure began.
We both sported high-power headlamps and had no difficulty picking a route through the open South-Central Adirondack hardwood forest. Gradually the light intensified and we put the lamps away.
Morning.
Part way up Puffer we stopped and turned around to behold one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen and I will be sure and post a picture soon. We got to the summit and after a snack wandered over to the east side, directly into the sun. We inched our way out to the top of a massive cliff face and there we were met with views of the Great Range and of course Gore. Our entire route lay beneath our feet but it was difficult to discern every ridge and valley. And many a ridge and valley lay between us and Gore. We would be crossing the wilderness zone against the grain, so to speak.
The entire east face of Puffer is one gigantic series of cliffs and we skirted them by walking northwards until we saw a cut. There was the definite risk of getting half-way down and being boxed in and having to climb back out but we decided to go for it and as is usually the case we were able to zig-zag our way down to flat ground. I doubt we saved any time or energy compared to doing a wide end run around the cliffs but it made for an interesting descent.
The GPS had been “put away” on the summit and the goal was to get to Gore consulting only its altimeter.
It was a gorgeous fall day and half the leaves were down and the other half were still on the trees. The leaves were backlit and appeared to be on fire. It was as if we were floating through a rich and yellowish aqueous environment.
The first major checkpoint was Buck Meadow Flow but prior to arriving there we crossed a few ancient beaver dams that had become grassy clearings. The ponds were still intact and had surrounding slopes of blazing colors for background. The crossing of Buck Meadow Flow was a piece of cake and we ascended the steep Hemlock covered slopes north of Pine Mtn., passing between two lesser peaks.
Afternoon
Our next checkpoint was the East Branch of the Sacandaga River. We picked up the trail and followed it north for a mile until we has passed below and beyond Durant Mtn. When we first arrived at the Sac the water was gurgling gently and audibly over a rocky bottom. Higher upstream there was total silence and the flow’s still waters ran deep. There was no sense in hunting for an easy crossing. We stripped down to our underwear, raised our packs up over our heads and waded across in chest deep, cleansing water.
I predicted that we would arrive at Second Pond at 4 PM.
We climbed moderate slopes, ever eastwards, and I noted the continuous change in position of our shadows as the day progressed. We were nearing what I thought should be the top of the slope to the North of Durant Mtn but we kept on climbing and climbing. Dunbar looked at the map and said, doesn’t it climb until this point?
We made Second Pond Brook after a long descent and here I made a mistake without knowing it. Rather than climb directly east toward the Northwest corner of Second Pond I led us up Second Pond’s drainage, which entailed a dog-leg to the SE and then nearly straight North. All the data suggested we were on the right track until we stumbled onto a heavily flowing creek that could only be fed by the Lake. This added a good 30-45 minutes onto our itinerary but also provided us with a wonderful walk alongside a wide-open and sun-drenched fen.
Evening
Second Lake turned out to be very pretty and we had great views of Gore, all lit up in the early evening sunshine. The downside was the blowdown and forest litter that lay directly across out path and downsloped towards the shore. It took us an hour to go around it but finally; at 5PM we began our final ascent of the day to Gore.
It took us more than 2 hours to climb those very steep and slabby slopes and it was impressive to turn around and watch the sun slowly set over Puffer, the same mountain we had climbed while it rose. Second Pond came into view and we watched the play of light both on the Pond and over Puffer off in the distance, as it bled through the spectrum of orange to red to deepest purple.
Night
Upslope it was getting dark so we put the headlamps on and shifted back over to “instrument navigation”. The forest got very thick and in addition to the steep incline we had to deal with blowdown and a dense spruce-fir forest. Whenever I switched my lamp off and looked up all I could see were treetops silhouetted against the night sky seemingly straight above me.
Dunbar did a fantastic job of keeping us on course for the transmission tower. I kept veering to the right where the better openings were but he kept saying to go left. I took a look at the screen and immediately saw why. I would have led us 200 yards to the south of the summit, which appeared to be quite flat. It was easy to surmise that that flat exposed summit was perpetually blasted by the wind and would be a horrible mess of blowdown and with young balsams springing up between.
Just when it looked like we were condemned to spend the rest of our lives on Gore’s western flank Dunbar saw the full moon. This was cheerful news because it meant we were on top. And, as anticipated it was a mess of broken treetops and blowdown. Under the full moon we slowly and carefully picked out way over and under it to the nearest tower. All of those broken trees stood out under the moonlight and made for an eerie sight.
Once at the tower we found an maintenance road and followed it to what we took for the summit.
It was 7:15 and we had a new problem to solve: how to get down. Between the map, Tom’s advice and the GPS this turned out to be a simple problem and we began the long and easy descent of a run named Cloud right to the parking lot. Our knees and quads were on fire most of the way down.
It felt good to encase ourselves in Steve’s car. I realized then that I had hiked 27 hours in 2 days on very little sleep.
Inspired by Richard Strauss.
Night.
I pulled into the vast acreage of the Gore Mtn. ski area’s parking lot at exactly 4:30 onlt to find Peak_Bagr’s car parked there. Whatever the hell he was doing in that neck of the woods I hope to find out soon. As I peered through Spence’s windows I heard a low whistle and looked up to see my hiking partner walking towards me.
Dunbar had parked in the lower lot and had seen me pull in.
At 5:30 we commenced our hike after coolly eying many a potentially suicidal deer on the Kings Flow road. Steve was on the GPS and we traveled by instrument to about the half-way point between Kings Flow and Puffer Pond. Still in total darkness we crossed the brook and established a bearing to the summit of Puffer and the adventure began.
We both sported high-power headlamps and had no difficulty picking a route through the open South-Central Adirondack hardwood forest. Gradually the light intensified and we put the lamps away.
Morning.
Part way up Puffer we stopped and turned around to behold one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen and I will be sure and post a picture soon. We got to the summit and after a snack wandered over to the east side, directly into the sun. We inched our way out to the top of a massive cliff face and there we were met with views of the Great Range and of course Gore. Our entire route lay beneath our feet but it was difficult to discern every ridge and valley. And many a ridge and valley lay between us and Gore. We would be crossing the wilderness zone against the grain, so to speak.
The entire east face of Puffer is one gigantic series of cliffs and we skirted them by walking northwards until we saw a cut. There was the definite risk of getting half-way down and being boxed in and having to climb back out but we decided to go for it and as is usually the case we were able to zig-zag our way down to flat ground. I doubt we saved any time or energy compared to doing a wide end run around the cliffs but it made for an interesting descent.
The GPS had been “put away” on the summit and the goal was to get to Gore consulting only its altimeter.
It was a gorgeous fall day and half the leaves were down and the other half were still on the trees. The leaves were backlit and appeared to be on fire. It was as if we were floating through a rich and yellowish aqueous environment.
The first major checkpoint was Buck Meadow Flow but prior to arriving there we crossed a few ancient beaver dams that had become grassy clearings. The ponds were still intact and had surrounding slopes of blazing colors for background. The crossing of Buck Meadow Flow was a piece of cake and we ascended the steep Hemlock covered slopes north of Pine Mtn., passing between two lesser peaks.
Afternoon
Our next checkpoint was the East Branch of the Sacandaga River. We picked up the trail and followed it north for a mile until we has passed below and beyond Durant Mtn. When we first arrived at the Sac the water was gurgling gently and audibly over a rocky bottom. Higher upstream there was total silence and the flow’s still waters ran deep. There was no sense in hunting for an easy crossing. We stripped down to our underwear, raised our packs up over our heads and waded across in chest deep, cleansing water.
I predicted that we would arrive at Second Pond at 4 PM.
We climbed moderate slopes, ever eastwards, and I noted the continuous change in position of our shadows as the day progressed. We were nearing what I thought should be the top of the slope to the North of Durant Mtn but we kept on climbing and climbing. Dunbar looked at the map and said, doesn’t it climb until this point?
We made Second Pond Brook after a long descent and here I made a mistake without knowing it. Rather than climb directly east toward the Northwest corner of Second Pond I led us up Second Pond’s drainage, which entailed a dog-leg to the SE and then nearly straight North. All the data suggested we were on the right track until we stumbled onto a heavily flowing creek that could only be fed by the Lake. This added a good 30-45 minutes onto our itinerary but also provided us with a wonderful walk alongside a wide-open and sun-drenched fen.
Evening
Second Lake turned out to be very pretty and we had great views of Gore, all lit up in the early evening sunshine. The downside was the blowdown and forest litter that lay directly across out path and downsloped towards the shore. It took us an hour to go around it but finally; at 5PM we began our final ascent of the day to Gore.
It took us more than 2 hours to climb those very steep and slabby slopes and it was impressive to turn around and watch the sun slowly set over Puffer, the same mountain we had climbed while it rose. Second Pond came into view and we watched the play of light both on the Pond and over Puffer off in the distance, as it bled through the spectrum of orange to red to deepest purple.
Night
Upslope it was getting dark so we put the headlamps on and shifted back over to “instrument navigation”. The forest got very thick and in addition to the steep incline we had to deal with blowdown and a dense spruce-fir forest. Whenever I switched my lamp off and looked up all I could see were treetops silhouetted against the night sky seemingly straight above me.
Dunbar did a fantastic job of keeping us on course for the transmission tower. I kept veering to the right where the better openings were but he kept saying to go left. I took a look at the screen and immediately saw why. I would have led us 200 yards to the south of the summit, which appeared to be quite flat. It was easy to surmise that that flat exposed summit was perpetually blasted by the wind and would be a horrible mess of blowdown and with young balsams springing up between.
Just when it looked like we were condemned to spend the rest of our lives on Gore’s western flank Dunbar saw the full moon. This was cheerful news because it meant we were on top. And, as anticipated it was a mess of broken treetops and blowdown. Under the full moon we slowly and carefully picked out way over and under it to the nearest tower. All of those broken trees stood out under the moonlight and made for an eerie sight.
Once at the tower we found an maintenance road and followed it to what we took for the summit.
It was 7:15 and we had a new problem to solve: how to get down. Between the map, Tom’s advice and the GPS this turned out to be a simple problem and we began the long and easy descent of a run named Cloud right to the parking lot. Our knees and quads were on fire most of the way down.
It felt good to encase ourselves in Steve’s car. I realized then that I had hiked 27 hours in 2 days on very little sleep.
