Adirondacks - Dial/Nippletop/Colvin/Blake

Sunday, July 25 / Monday, July 26, 2021 / Tuesday, July 27, 2021 - What can I say - I have no "Wendy is doing this-or-that" excuse - she just let's me go hiking in the Summer. (THANK YOU!) I think the weather will be nice, but I didn't even check until I got to the Super 8 in Ticonderoga. I left South Hamilton after Church, stopped at Market Basket for OJ and my sub-for-tomorrow, and had a lovely leisurely time going through Vermont:

Checked into the Super 8 in Ticonderoga around 5 PM - TV on = beautiful weather report for tomorrow, and then a "Special Feature":

Ordered my pizza, plus tomorrow night's dinner (I might get back after everything is closed). Nice talk with Wendy, Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN, and bed around 9. Thank you God for this wonderful driving day!

Today's driving music:

Santana - Caravanserai, 1972 fourth album:

The 5th song "Song of the Wind" always gives me chills and tears.

Sarah McLachlan - Afterglow Live, 2004:


Scarlet Haven - Now and Again, 1997 debut album:


Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns, 2008 fifth album:


Songs for a New World - Songs for a New World, 1995 theatre production:

There is only one song I like ("Stars and the Moon"), and it brings tears to my eyes every time.

Sophie B. Hawkins - Tongues and Tails, 1992 debut album:

Really good album. Her live version of Dylan's "I Want You" is EXCELLENT - although it was aired on Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary tribute concert held by Columbia Record in October 1992 (broadcast on PBS, I believe), the song never surfaced again! It was excluded from the DVD of the show, and was not included on the soundtrack/cd. It was a wonderful performance (I saw the PBS broadcast).

Steely Dan - Pretzel Logic, 1974 third album:


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Monday, July 26, 2021 HIKING - I have EIGHT peaks remaining in the Adirondacks!

Colden, Marcy, Skylight, and Gray in the west, and Dial, Nippletop, Colvin, and Blake in the east.

I knew that the 4 in the east (Dial, Nippletop, Colvin, and Blake) could be done as a single hike, but that it would be a long day. Since July-sunlight is longer than August-sunlight, I picked those 4 for today:

I had even figured out all my milages:

The AMR - Parking Area is open from 5 AM - 7 PM. I figured I had to be at the bottom of the Colvin-Blake trail by 5 PM. Given that Blake was 5 miles round-trip, I figured 3 hours for that, and that I would need to start there no-later-than 2 PM. Sounds Great!

Up around 5 AM, shower/shave/and shine, some coffee and breakfast, and left the Super 8 at 5:45

Got to the parking area just after 6:30 (my "reservation time"). I followed a young couple up from the parking lot:

Past the Ausable Club Golf Course:

and caught up with them as we signed into the Register at 6:58 AM

Walked up the road for 20 minutes, and reached the H.G. Leach Trail up to Dial and Nippletop - maybe the NICEST TRAIL in the Adirondacks:

Pretty going through an aspen/birch grove:

I made the summit of Dial right at 10 AM:

and this is where I'm going:

I thought it was "morning haze", but other hikers said it was smoke from the Oregon wildfires:

I love these high-mountain-trails that run along ridge-lines:

A LOT OF MOSS UP HERE:

At 11:16 I reached the clearing-for-Nippletop, and reached that summit at 11:30

Nice view up here:

I was feeling pretty good, and returned the 0.2 miles to the clearing, and the trail down - and that's where it got REALLY HARD:

I went down into Elk Pass, and around a couple of beautiful little ponds:

I reached the intersection with the Colvin-Blake Trail at 1 PM:

And left my extra water bottle:

At this point, I had hiked 9.4 miles in a little over 6 hours - the trail up to Dial was the nicest in the Adirondacks. I didn't know it at the time, but the next 5 miles (up-to-Blake-and-back) is POSSIBLY THE WORST TRAIL in the Adirondacks! Going up to Colvin was just "regular-bad/hard-Adirondack-hiking", and took me an hour to go 1.1 miles:

At least the air was clearing, and the view down to Lower Ausable Lake was wonderful:

Going over to Blake Peak (a "Peak", not a mountain - maybe because it was PUT ON THE 4000-foot list BY MISTAKE [elevation 3960 feet], and stays on the list because of "tradition") starts off nicely with a ridge-line walk, but then quickly DEGENERATES - awful going down to the col, then awful going up to the Peak. I don't remember if it was 2 ladders going down, and 1 going up, or vice-versa:

They need a lot more ladders!

I reached Blake an-hour-and-a-half after leaving Colvin - 1.3 miles in 90 minutes:

No view, and I hate when my pace is 60-minutes-per-mile, or LONGER.

Another hour-and-a-half to get my last BEAUTIFUL VIEW of Lower Ausable Lake (at 5 PM):

By now I had finished my water (should have brought one more little bottle) - 50 minutes to get back down to the trail-intersection, where I drank 1/2 my saved water bottle (still had enough left to finish the hike). For the next mile+ I was going alongside Gill Brook, which was great company. It even has a beautiful waterfall:

I then took a left down the "Cut-Off Trail" to get down to the road. After some time on the road (in a nice summer shower), I met Gill Brook again - I can't wait to get Wendy up here!

It is now 7 PM, and you are probably saying "WHAT ABOUT YOUR CAR!!!!!" - no worries, because up on Blake (me going up, he going down), a guy said not to worry about the "7 PM thing", that the gate has an electric eye and opens when a car gets near it to leave. Wow de wow de wow.

I signed the register about 7:30 (there were TWO FULL PAGES of names of people that hiked after me today!), and got back to my car at 7:50 PM = 19.94 miles in 13 hours 5 minutes:

Drove back to the Super 8 Ticonderoga - eating my Chicken Caesar Salad by 9 PM - Red Sox Baseball on ESPN, phone call with Wendy, and LIGHTS OUT (oh, after a hot bath). Certainly "Thank You God" for getting me up-and-down safely.

Um - that only leaves FOUR MORE MOUNTAINS in the Adirondacks! Maybe we'll get this done this year!

Hiking music today - um, I didn't bring the boom-cube-recharger-cable, but it lasted 12 HOURS!!!!:

Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, 1987:


Pink Floyd - Pulse [Live] (2 cds), double-live-album recorded 1994, released 1995:

WOW - Pink Floyd sounds GREAT while hiking!

Poco - Pickin' Up the Pieces, 1969 debut album:


Poco - Ultimate Collection - Poco, 1998:


Pops Staples - Peace to the Neighborhood, 1992:

Really cool version of Jackson Browne's "World in Motion", with Jackson singing in the chorus at the end.

R.E.M. - Murmur - Live Toronto 9/7/83, recorded 1983, released 2008:

disc two contains a previously unreleased live concert the band played at Larry's Hideaway, Toronto, Canada, on July 9, 1983.

R.E.M. - Document, 1987 fifth album:


R.E.M. - Green, 1988 sixth album:


R.E.M. - Out of Time, 1991 seventh album:


R.E.M. - Automatic for the People, 1992 eighth album:


R.E.M. - Live (2 cds), recorded 2005, released 2007:


Randy Newman - The Best Of Randy Newman, 2001 (21 songs):


And then an hour of quiet finishing the hike. Today's driving music:

Steely Dan - Gold, 1991:


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Tuesday, July 27, 2021 - Another beautiful day, driving home through Vermont:

With all the rain we have had this summer, the rivers and waterfalls should be great, so I stopped by Texas Falls off Route 125 in Vermont:

Home at 3:30 - Thank you God for these Great Adventures!!

Today's driving music - 6 albums by Joe Jackson:

Beat Crazy, 1980 third album:


Joe Jackson's Jumpin' Jive, 1981 fourth album:


Body and Soul, 1984 seventh album:


Laughter and Lust, 1991 eleventh album:

I think this was the best Album of the Year. I still remember listening to it driving to classes down at Salem State College.

Night and Day II, 2000 fifteenth album:


Afterlife (Live), recorded 2003, released 2004: