Dennis Dixon is heading North!: Adirondacks July 2020

Monday, July 6, 2020 - Up to now I have done 16 of the 46 mountains (4000 footers) in the Adirondacks, and I want to do 3-mountains-in-3-days:

Rocky Peak Ridge on Monday, Table Top Mtn. on Tuesday, and Seymour Mtn. on Wednesday.

Today I'll do Rocky Peak Ridge:

It is 6.7 miles to the Summit, which equals 13.4 miles up-and-down. Other people have taken 9 1/2 hours, but I feel like I am in great shape, and should be able to bang it out Monday afternoon-and-evening.

I left home at 7 AM, returned a cd in Burlington, then up 93 into New Hampshire, northwest on 89 into Vermont, then over into New York State and Adirondack Park:

It was a beautiful day in Vermont:

At 11:30 I was able to look over into New York, and the Adirondack Park:

I was at the Post Office in New Russia, NY at 12:10

and at the trailhead 15 minutes later:

I knew that daylight lasted for another 8 hours, and I figured that I could do in that time what it took other people 9 hours 40 minutes.

I was wrong.

It starts off as a nice (upward) hike through the woods:

with occasional yellow markers on the trees:

It is nice in the woods on a hot July day, but the trail devolves into "regular Adirondack" - rocks, tree roots, and dirt:

You have to watch every step.

After 50 minutes, I was 1.6 miles into the hike, and up at the first viewpoint:

with a nice view through the branches:

20 minutes later I was up at Blueberry Cobbles:

with great views looking south:

and west:

(um, that high peak in the upper-right is where I'm heading)

After Blueberry Cobble, you go down and then up to Mason Mountain at about mile 3. I'm starting to get wiped out (first hike of the year), and this is just taking longer than I like - my splits were 31 minutes for mile 1, 32 minutes for mile 2, 34 minutes for mile 3, and 46 minutes for mile 4. After Mason Maountain, you go down into Hedgehog Notch at the base of Bald Mountain. To quote the "High Peaks Trails" book: "Now the trail begins to climb steeply ..."

After some hard climbing, you break-out onto bare rock (2 hours from the trailhead):

After 4 miles, and almost 2-1/2 hours of hiking/climbing, I felt like I was done for the day - but I was only at the top of Bald Mountain! Not even 2/3 of the way to the Rocky Peak Ridge summit!!

I had water (though not enough for the whole hike) and misc. snacks, so I figured I would go a little while longer.

And that's when you go a quarter-mile DOWN INTO Dickerson Notch!!

I hate "going down" when I'm climbing UP A MOUNTAIN (almost as much as I hate "going up" when I'm coming down!!)

After Dickerson Notch, I began a long slow climb up to the Ridge. After a while, I just sat down to rest for a few minutes (at 3:30 PM):

After breaking out of the forest, I looked back at Bald Peak:

Another 1/2 hour, another rest, another view:

Another 1/2 hour, and I had basically gone as far as I could:

That is the Rocky Peak Ridge summit in the upper-right.
No way I'm getting there today.

I started to continue to Marie Louise Pond, but as soon as I saw that it was "down to the pond", I turned around.

Some fun shots from Google Earth:

I saw a hawk soaring over the forest down below me:

and got a great final view off to the northwest:

It took me a little over 3 hours to get back down:

and that included using the cutoff to avoid going up-and-over Blueberry Cobble.

About a mile-and-a-half from the end, I lost the trail:

I didn't notice (meaning there was no sign) when the trail jagged to the right. I kept going straight, and suddenly there was No Trail. I was in nice open forest, and I knew to just keep heading east to hit the road (or the trail again). I hit a logging road, came out in a backyard, and walked up the driveway to the road. The front door opened and the guy asked "Can I help you?" - I said "Parking lot?", and he point to the right and said "A quarter-mile." I said "Excellent! Thanks!" and headed down the road (I don't think I was the first hiker to walk down his driveway.)

When all was said and done, I hiked 12.45 miles in 7 hours 23 minutes. I don't know if it was the hardest hike I have ever done, but I never had to rest as much, or as many times, as today. As I have written before: There's always another day.

44-minute drive and checked into the "Quality Inn on Lake Placid". 285.6 miles today.

A nice phone call with Wendy, and then Lights Out - Thank you God for this Great Day!

I like starting the morning off listening to books-on-tape. Neal Stephenson (a sci-fi author I really like) wrote one of his early novels Snow Crash in 1992, cd 1: