Last Sunday Wendy asked me when I want to go back out here. After a bit of time I came up with the correct answer: "When would you like me to go/When would be a good time for you to have me go?" She said that this coming weekend would work best! I didn't want to be gone too long, so I only planned Thursday and Friday:
Phelps Mountain on Thursday, and Mt. Donaldson, Mt. Emmons, and Seward Mountain on Friday.
It worked - yesterday I did Phelps Mountain! Today = Mt. Donaldson, Mt. Emmons, and Seward Mountain:
I'll get rid of the suspense right now - I SUCCEEDED, and did 17.8 miles in 9 hours 40 minutes, but MapMyWalk broke, so here's my path:
Up and at 'em - left the hotel at 7:30. REALLY BEAUTIFUL out here:
I stopped at the Hannaford on my way out of Lake Placid, and the checkout girl said "Nice breakfast":
Really nice dirt road on the way to the trailhead:
41° as I drive in to the trailhead.
Got to the trailhead at 8:43
looks like space for two dozen cars:
Said Hi to 3 girls who pulled in next to me, then I signed the Register at 8:54
It was a nice easy trail for the first section (0.8 mile), and also for the second section (0.7 mile). And then you pop out onto Calkins Brook Truck Trail (heading south/southwest), which is an old logging road:
In looking at the map, I thought it was going to be 3.5 miles to get to a cairn, with Calkins Brook Trail going off to the left/east - but I misread it. The "3.5" applied to another trail intersection farther down! I was surprised when I had gone about (only) 2 miles and HERE WAS THE CAIRN:
I continued down the "regular trail" for a little bit, but then I was going DOWN with a Major Brook on my left, which I figured must be "Calkins Brook". So I backtracked to the cairn, and headed up into the mountains
Calkins Brook Trail is a very nice trail, even though it is narrower than the one I had just been on:
You hike with Calkins Brook on your right - very lovely. At some point, I just went down to the brook to take some pictures, and there was a cairn and the trail on the other side! (So this is where I crossed) The Brook is beautiful at 10:20
Hiking in my LLBean boots yesterday worked out GREAT - so I'm wearing them again today:
I haven't needed them yet today, but JUST YOU WAIT!!!!
Five minutes later - another beautiful random stream:
Fun "Tree-on-Moss-on-Rock" picture:
This Calkins Brook Trail is a long hike, but since I expect that (from reading blogs), I just keep going, and going up. It is interesting how I am aware that the forest "changes" to "high mountain woods", but unfortunately I get that feeling and I am still at least 20 minutes below the trail's-end. A little after noon, I broke out and saw Seward Mountain to the east/northeast:
I had been on Calkins Brook Trail for a little less than 2 hours. I have to say that these trails in the Adirondacks seem to have been traveled by a lot of people; that means that "official trails" can seem almost worn-out/worn-down (especially when you add in the amount of moisture out here), but it also means that these "herd paths"/"unofficial trails" are actually quite nice and respectable hiking trails. This is opposed to my experience with "herd paths" in Maine, which can be barely-discernible rabbit paths through the woods.
I headed south on the ridge trail, because Mount Donaldson was supposed to be "right there". Well, I walked right by it (THERE ARE NO TRAIL SIGNS UP HERE!), so I just kept heading for Mount Emmons:
(and is that "Long Lake" beyond it?)
Hey, pretty nice day up here on the top of the world!
After going through some insanely wet bogs/areas, I reached the summit just after 1 PM:
I backtracked, and found the Mount Donaldson turnoff 45 minutes later:
Super views from Donaldson:
Back at the Calkins Brook Trail intersection, people had left their backpacks to do just the -out-and-back:
Smart idea.
A nice long hike (50 minutes) up to Seward Mountain, with a nice view back at Donaldson and Emmons:
Going up to Seward I crossed paths with 2 guys who I had passed over by Emmons, and also a girl with her dog. I also crossed paths with the 3 girls who had parked next to me! They had come up the back-side of Seward (which I was planning on going down) and they said it was kind-of gnarlly. JUST YOU WAIT!
I went down the backside/north-side of Seward, and fairly soon LOST THE TRAIL! I bushwacked around, and found the trail, so I headed DOWN. When I say "headed DOWN", I mean the "trail" went right down Ward Brook (hence its name - the "Ward Brook Trail"). Got a great view of Ampersand Lake:
You keep going down, alternating "being in the brook" versus "being right next to the brook". Very muddy on the sides, and at one point I smashed my right foot. Nothing broken, but it hurt, and I still had at least one mile down plus five miles back to the car.
I finished at 6:30
I was worried about anybody after me (they would have to come out with headlamps), but I see that the 3 girls were actually in there for an overnight.
16 down - 30 to go. What an Adventure!
I sent Wendy my selfie, and my "Up and down, safe and sound." text, and got in the car to drive home - 6 hours. Which means home at 12:30. Plus 30 minutes for misc. = 1 AM.
I had had a lot of water, and a power bar, and a couple of Snickers bars, so I was doing ok. I was driving in the dark listening to some great music, and made my way over to I-87 South, when Wendy sent me a text: "Think you'll spend the night?"
Right then I got kind-of tired, so that seemed like a good idea. After filling up with gas I checked into the Home2 Suites by Hilton in Malta, NY:
Yes, that was a good idea. - Thank you God for this Great Day!
Staying in one of my mp3 cds that I burned back in June 2000:
the Michael Stanley Band - Stagepass, 1977 double live album
the opening cut - "Midwest Midnight" - is an Excellent way to start the day!
The Supremes: Greatest Hits, 1967 double album
Greatest Hits includes fifteen Supremes singles, 10 of which went to number-one.
Van Halen - 1984, 1984
back-to-back songs "Jump" and "Panama" make a GREAT pair!
The Waitresses - I Could Rule the World If I Could Only Get the Parts, 1982 5-song EP
With "Christmas Wrapping" and "Square Pegs", pout-rock is alive and well
Yes - 90125, 1983
And then on my drive home Saturday morning:
Morning on the Mass Pike, I rolled up the windows and listened to "Zero History", cd 6:
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks, 1968
Van Morrison - His Band and the Street Choir, 1970
Jimmy Buffett - Barometer Soup, 1995
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