PA Ridgerunner
Active member
After an amazing hike of the Santanoni Range on Saturday, we took a well-deserved day off Sunday to paddle around Lincoln Pond a bit. Monday, on our way home, we stopped off at Elk Lake to go for a short walk. This was our first time hiking from this trailhead...interesting how the sides of the roadway are groomed as you approach the lodge. Still can't decide whether or not I like it. Reminded me of a place we visited several years ago in the Smokies. But I digress...
The forecast for Monday was partly cloudy, with highs in the low 70s -- another perfect day for hiking. Left the parking lot at 7am under a cloudy sky which did not clear until nearly 11 a.m., long after we had ascended the Macomb slide and spent time on that summit. The herd path at Slide Brook is very easy to find, with a huge cairn directly on the north side of the bridge. Ran into some nice folks at the campsite at the start of the path who were packing up to hike out and head over to hike Giant. They were concerned about the weather, but told them the forecast and assured them this was just mountain morning stuff. Thoroughly enjoyed the trail from there to the slide; beautiful woods and a very pleasant path. Someone had been through there recently and had trimmed back the balsams on that lower section. Thanks!
Got to the slide, which I had been a bit concerned about due to my moderate fear of heights and exposure. I needn't have worried. It was a gas!! Things were pretty dry, in spite of the cloud banks coming in and out all the way up. Enjoyed eyeballing the slide and choosing my route to the next cairn. Got a few glimpses of Elk Lake on the way up, but the clouds were pretty thick...also enjoyed looking back down the slide, often not realizing how steep a section was until I looked back down. Before I knew it I was at the headwall and was surprised at how quickly I got there, and a little disappointed to be leaving the slide. Sat down and waited for Fran to catch up (she was taking pictures), hoping that the clouds would lift, but it wasn't in the cards. We made the final push up to the summit and got completely soaked by the wet balsams. Changed shirts and dried off before putting on a wind break and going out on to the summit for the usual photo ops. Unfortunately it didn't clear, but we were having too much fun to care.
Enjoyed the herd path down to the col; very easy to follow, nothing very tricky to climb down, and caught the occasional glimpse of the south face of Carson through the trees as the sun was starting to peek through. Easily spotted the cairn marking the southern access to the Lillian Brook herd path, which we would be using later for our descent. The climb up to Carson was a blast! Very grippy rock, views presenting themselves as you go up...great stuff! Achieved the summit and met a young woman who had left the TH while we were stretching and getting ready to go. Weren't at all surprised that she had already been out to Grace.
She was a runner, about 5 ft., 15 inches tall. She was doing the entire range and was now on her way over to Pough & Hough.
By this time the sun had come out and we had a great little woods walk over to Grace. We're so grateful to the 46rs and whomever else may done all the work on these paths, brushing out the bad ones, clearing blow downs, etc. After reading Adirondackjourney.com, which I realize is dated, we wondered whether we would get out alive. As it is now, the paths are very easy to follow.
Just before the last climb up to Grace we noticed a cairn, with a path to the left. Does this access one of the slides?
The summit of Grace was a wonderful place for lunch. We took off our boots and socks, relaxed and hung out for about 45 minutes. What a beautiful summit with so many interesting viewpoints. Didn't have a map that showed much of anything to the south, so we were doing a lot of guessing. Reluctantly we packed up and headed back over to Carson to begin our descent. We still had close to 4 hours of hiking left, then nearly a 5 hour drive home. Now that the sun was out, we spent a little time playing on Carson and taking pictures, then set off for the L.B. herd path.
This was another fantastic herd path. The upper section requires some care, however, as there are numerous holes along the way that would swallow up a leg in a hurry. Had fun descending the steep sections along the brook, eventually coming to the junction with the path that comes down from the Hough-Pough col. That mostly flat middle section along the brook was just delightful in the afternoon sun. The lower section that connects with the Dix trail is quite a bit more muddy, has substantially more (and bigger) blow downs, and near the very bottom has a lot of little hardwood saplings that were a bit tiresome, but a small price to pay for an outstanding walk down off the mountain!
The walk out on the Dix trail was very pleasant. Nobody at the lean-to or any of the camping sites on a Monday afternoon. Back to the car by 5pm. The runner's car was gone...no surprise. Participated in a survey being done by a student from the College of Forestry (hey, we got free lemonade!), then on the road and home in McLean at 10:30.
What a fantastic weekend in the high peaks! We started this journey on Labor Day weekend 2007 and have now completed 33 of the 46 peaks. Yeehaa!!! We're so blessed to have this beautiful place so close to home. Enjoyed meeting new and old friends alike. Had a great time at dinner Sunday with the gang, congratulating Judy on her 46...woohoo!!! And congrats to Bill and Judy on their anniversary. That's the good stuff.
Photo album: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/574562792YYusmS
Slide show: http://outdoors.webshots.com/slideshow/574562792YYusmS
__________________
The forecast for Monday was partly cloudy, with highs in the low 70s -- another perfect day for hiking. Left the parking lot at 7am under a cloudy sky which did not clear until nearly 11 a.m., long after we had ascended the Macomb slide and spent time on that summit. The herd path at Slide Brook is very easy to find, with a huge cairn directly on the north side of the bridge. Ran into some nice folks at the campsite at the start of the path who were packing up to hike out and head over to hike Giant. They were concerned about the weather, but told them the forecast and assured them this was just mountain morning stuff. Thoroughly enjoyed the trail from there to the slide; beautiful woods and a very pleasant path. Someone had been through there recently and had trimmed back the balsams on that lower section. Thanks!
Got to the slide, which I had been a bit concerned about due to my moderate fear of heights and exposure. I needn't have worried. It was a gas!! Things were pretty dry, in spite of the cloud banks coming in and out all the way up. Enjoyed eyeballing the slide and choosing my route to the next cairn. Got a few glimpses of Elk Lake on the way up, but the clouds were pretty thick...also enjoyed looking back down the slide, often not realizing how steep a section was until I looked back down. Before I knew it I was at the headwall and was surprised at how quickly I got there, and a little disappointed to be leaving the slide. Sat down and waited for Fran to catch up (she was taking pictures), hoping that the clouds would lift, but it wasn't in the cards. We made the final push up to the summit and got completely soaked by the wet balsams. Changed shirts and dried off before putting on a wind break and going out on to the summit for the usual photo ops. Unfortunately it didn't clear, but we were having too much fun to care.
Enjoyed the herd path down to the col; very easy to follow, nothing very tricky to climb down, and caught the occasional glimpse of the south face of Carson through the trees as the sun was starting to peek through. Easily spotted the cairn marking the southern access to the Lillian Brook herd path, which we would be using later for our descent. The climb up to Carson was a blast! Very grippy rock, views presenting themselves as you go up...great stuff! Achieved the summit and met a young woman who had left the TH while we were stretching and getting ready to go. Weren't at all surprised that she had already been out to Grace.
She was a runner, about 5 ft., 15 inches tall. She was doing the entire range and was now on her way over to Pough & Hough.By this time the sun had come out and we had a great little woods walk over to Grace. We're so grateful to the 46rs and whomever else may done all the work on these paths, brushing out the bad ones, clearing blow downs, etc. After reading Adirondackjourney.com, which I realize is dated, we wondered whether we would get out alive. As it is now, the paths are very easy to follow.
Just before the last climb up to Grace we noticed a cairn, with a path to the left. Does this access one of the slides?
The summit of Grace was a wonderful place for lunch. We took off our boots and socks, relaxed and hung out for about 45 minutes. What a beautiful summit with so many interesting viewpoints. Didn't have a map that showed much of anything to the south, so we were doing a lot of guessing. Reluctantly we packed up and headed back over to Carson to begin our descent. We still had close to 4 hours of hiking left, then nearly a 5 hour drive home. Now that the sun was out, we spent a little time playing on Carson and taking pictures, then set off for the L.B. herd path.
This was another fantastic herd path. The upper section requires some care, however, as there are numerous holes along the way that would swallow up a leg in a hurry. Had fun descending the steep sections along the brook, eventually coming to the junction with the path that comes down from the Hough-Pough col. That mostly flat middle section along the brook was just delightful in the afternoon sun. The lower section that connects with the Dix trail is quite a bit more muddy, has substantially more (and bigger) blow downs, and near the very bottom has a lot of little hardwood saplings that were a bit tiresome, but a small price to pay for an outstanding walk down off the mountain!
The walk out on the Dix trail was very pleasant. Nobody at the lean-to or any of the camping sites on a Monday afternoon. Back to the car by 5pm. The runner's car was gone...no surprise. Participated in a survey being done by a student from the College of Forestry (hey, we got free lemonade!), then on the road and home in McLean at 10:30.
What a fantastic weekend in the high peaks! We started this journey on Labor Day weekend 2007 and have now completed 33 of the 46 peaks. Yeehaa!!! We're so blessed to have this beautiful place so close to home. Enjoyed meeting new and old friends alike. Had a great time at dinner Sunday with the gang, congratulating Judy on her 46...woohoo!!! And congrats to Bill and Judy on their anniversary. That's the good stuff.
Photo album: http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/574562792YYusmS
Slide show: http://outdoors.webshots.com/slideshow/574562792YYusmS
__________________
