My favorite pics from Whiteface 6/20 - Ben

6 and 7 of 46 - Cascade Mountain and Porter Mountain

It is advised that hikers not hike the high peaks until June as the sensitive alpine vegetation is particularly fragile in early/late Spring and our winter was pretty long.  So now that it's June, we were raring to go.

Cascade and Porter were the obvious choice for our first High Peak trek of the season.  Last year we started off with Big Slide which was a particularly difficult hike for two beginners.  After a long off-season with minimal training, I thought we could use an easy break-in hike.

This hike is somewhere around 6 miles round trip and you get two peaks in that distance, so it's really not too bad. The weather forecast was showing around 70 as a high in nearby Keene Valley, so we were expecting a decent warm day.  Fortunately, we brought along our jackets and some clothing, just in case.

It was a little chilly at the base so we started with our jackets on, though we quickly removed them as we were sweating quickly in an early steep ascent.  The climb is pretty consistent on the way to the fork in the road, but we made pretty good time, stopping only rarely to catch our breath.  We actually gained on some hikers in front of us, which is not all that typical for us.  Later, we passed them, well before the fork.  Many of the descending hikers looked wet.

A couple guys coming down from the top stopped for a second to chat with us.  They gave us tips about finding the mostly unmarked summit of Porter.  Then they expressed some concern for our clothing.  We had taken off our jackets and I was wearing shorts.  They said the peak of Cascade was getting hail and it was very cold and windy.  We assured them that we were properly equipped and marched on.  They advised that we hit Porter first and then double back for Cascade, which was my plan to begin with.

When we got to the fork, we branched off to Porter, only 0.7 miles according to this sign.  You go right to Porter and left to Cascade.

First you go downhill for a bit, then come back up as you climb to the summit.  Between that sign and the summit a very cold chill settled on us and I quickly put my jacket on.  It was very cold and I put my hands in my jacket pocket for a bit as I was gloveless.  As advised, the summit is unmarked. You come to a sign that tells you how far it is to the next major point of interest and that's really it.  There isn't much of a view on a normal day, but on our cloudy day it was really nothing, so we immediately doubled back.

We stopped again at the fork and had a quick snack.  If it was still hailing on the summit of Cascade, we wouldn't be able to stop and snack there, so this was our best bet.  As we snacked, the two hikers that we passed finally arrived at the fork.  We really beat these guys if we had already taken on one high peak and they just got there.  We advised them how cold it was at Porter's summit and they trekked on.

This time we went left, and it's only 0.3 miles to Cascade's summit, according to the sign. This is probably more accurate as it felt like no time at all.  About halfway, you arrive at open rock face.  This is pretty common in the Adirondacks as there is a lot of bedrock and lots of rock faces.  In this case, though, I wish it was more sheltered.  We were right in the clouds and it was very windy as soon as we were out in the open.  The moist cold cloud air was rushing around and very cold.  We could see a decent distance ahead though and it was all open rock.  This was the steepest section and the rock was a little slippery.

However, in what seemed like no time at all, we were at the summit.  I found this guy for proof:

These markers are found on most of the high peaks.  While it wasn't hailing at the summit, it was very cold and the air was so wet (because we were in clouds) that my hair was dripping and my jacket covered in beads of water.  It was also extremely windy.  At one point I almost fell down while climbing into the wind.  I would guess the gusts were over 50 miles per hour, but that's a very uneducated guess in this case.  While I thought that Porter was cold, Cascade was much, much colder.

Again we quickly got the heck out of there.  We got down the rockface in record time as were both very cold and couldn't wait to get back to the shelter of the trees.  Here's a picture of where the rocks meet the trees.

On the way back down, the clouds were clearing up just a little bit and I happened to get one picture with a slight view.  This is the best view we got all day.

You can't see much, but there is a lake down in that valley, and the sun shining through the clouds off in the distance.  We got off the mountain in decent time.  All in all the hike took about 4 hours, which isn't bad but isn't great.  My shirt was absolutely soaking wet when we got back and I don't have any idea how much was from sweat and how much was from the occasional rain we experienced.  I didn't think I'd be too sore because I never felt rough on the hike, but I'm feeling it quite a bit today.  That's really the consequence of taking all winter off.  We had two preparation hikes to get back to the High Peaks, but it only gets MUCH harder from here and I expect to hurt a lot more after the next couple.

It was very exciting to get two peaks to start the season in such an easy fashion, but I can't wait to get back up and get some more!  Next up: nothing easy.

Katie- 2014! Buck Mountain

OMG we did a non-high peak. Why you ask? Because we are only mildly crazy! Current conditions on Big Slide (which we did last year) 4-5 FEET of snow. Legally you are required to wear snowshoes in that much snow. Although we do have snow shoes, they are difficult and more tiring. I am also afraid of rock climbing sections with ice on them. Little did I know we were still winter hiking this weekend.
     This was a trip weeks in the making in order to get a shared day off without a little munchkin. We thought we might be deterred again when our friend who lives in the Adirondacks mentioned that the road to the mountain was closed due to mudslides! However there is a second entrance and trail that is actually better (longer). I almost made us switch to a mountain with less of a climb but I stuck it out. I layered up well - rain coat(windproof layer), sweatshirt, long sleeve wicking shirt. We finally got to use our new water backpacks. And I broke in my new boots with real waterproofing!
   Driving into town we realized there was more snow in the area then by our house. So we get to the parking lot and it was busy. As soon as we register we can see snow along the trail. Walking along flat, packed snow is no problem. Walking on ice up a hill is a bigger problem, hiking up a river bed with snow breaking apart is even worse. Rocky sections were actually appreciated as they have traction. We were being followed by some girls- one in shorts and sneakers! When we reached a deep stream I expected them to turn back. They actually caught up to us at the top. Overall, it was a pretty average hike. Flatter sections of slush and then climbing sections where you slip back so much it feels like twice the effort! Our GPS watch was so so so wrong. You pass a 2.1 miles to the top sign and after a mile Ben said wow only 1 mile left! However it was woefully undercounting our miles. At the top it said we went 4.6 miles. After fewer than usual, but still too many, false peak sightings we were there. Kind of. Technically we didn't go all the way to the top oops. Some guys coming back down in shorts said that they were up to their knees. We got to bald summit and took photos and relaxed.
The way down was different and um interesting in the beginning. I think I got about 5 steps without falling. I would love to say I fell gracefully but no. Once on the ground I just slid a little bit further. Of course this happened about 20 more times in the next 20 minutes. Thankfully I have appropriate waterproof pants! I only hit my hip bone once and hurt my arm once. I did avoid falling on to rocks or sliding off the mountain so I will say I did okay! Ben did fall at least twice! Amazingly, after we got further down I stopped falling. I will guess it is because it got less deep. After the falling down section it was actually very easy to get down. Each step isn't as far because the incline has been evened out by snow. Snow has more give than rocks so it absorbs more. 2 hours later we were back down. It felt really slow considering the distance wasn't that long. But as the first hike of the year, I will say we did good!

Back in the saddle - Buck Mountain

Katie and I have been anxiously awaiting Spring so we can finally get hiking.  We have been using the gym and working out as often as we can (Katie much more than me) to stay/get in hiking shape.  Since the temperature has been hovering in the high 40s low 50s for about two weeks now and we haven't seen any new snow in a little longer, we thought we could get moving.

Of course, we jumped the gun a little bit.  The high peaks, where we really want to hike, still has up to 3 feet of snow according to the snow pack chart I checked out online.  They are experiencing mid-winter conditions.  So really, we've got at least another month, maybe more, before we can head up that way.  So we decided to get some practice in our own backyard.  

Lake George is about 40 minutes from our house and the mountains here are part of the Southern Adirondacks.  A friend of mine lives right down the road from this mountain and told me earlier in the week that the rear access road was closed off due to a mudslide, so we took an alternate route to a hiking path that was listed as a 6.7 mile hike with a little less than 2000' feet of climbing.  We weren't sure what the weather was going to be like so we prepared for everything.

Here's a picture of Katie right as we got started.  Isn't she cute all bundled up for winter conditions?

Of course, it was around or a little over 50 degrees out and we were moving pretty fast so that didn't last long.  Here is a picture of Katie shortly thereafter.

No hat, no jacket, sweaty forehead.  Anyway, look at all the snow!  The first picture is right at the starting area and there isn't much but the higher we get, the more there is.  Near the peak there was 1-2 feet in most places.  The trail we took was pretty stamped down but sometimes I'd go a little off trail and my foot would sink in up to my knee.  It was also very slushy and very slippery.  This made for fairly tough climbing and after a whole winter off, we really didn't make great time.

I also was wearing a GPS watch that Katie gave me last year to measure the distance so we could know when we were getting close to the summit and, while it recorded the data very accurately, it misreported as we were going along.  On a 6.7 mile hike I expect to be at the summit at 3.35 miles, but we didn't get there until around 5 miles.  We were quite sure we had been misled about the mileage, but after I uploaded the data to my computer, 6.7 seems to be right.  But it was also disappointing to believe we were so close when my watch said 3.3 miles and to be so far away.

The summit area was very sunny and very warm.  Here's how Katie celebrated!

That's right.  Sweater off!  I, too, was rocking just a polo most of the day as I had worn only a very light windbreaker style jacket and was too hot to continue wearing it about 10 minutes into the hike.  We lingered up on the summit taking in the view and the warmth for 20+ minutes before heading back down.  I was surprised that Lake George was still 100% frozen, but on the way back home we drove by it and the shoreline is starting to melt up quite a bit, you just can't tell from 2800' feet up.

The downhill portion of the hike was slippery and treacherous and Katie had a few falls, but I mostly stayed up.  There were also quite a few stream crossings and we were both very happy to have bought waterproof boots.  Bottom line: it feels great to be hiking again, even if we are hiking in the snow.  I wish we had spikes for our boots, but we haven't bought those yet.  I really can't wait to hit the High Peaks again, but we've definitely got some waiting to do.  Bear with us, we'll have more to come!