Author: Munier Salem

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High Rock (PNW)

August 12, 2018, Ashford Washington

In the summer of 2018, I ventured to the Pacific Northwest to take part in a guided climb of Mt Rainier. The day before the program began, another participant and I decided to stretch our legs, post-travel, with a quick day hike. The folks at the motel we were staying at had an unsurprisingly excellent knowledge of the region and its hikes. They warned us to avoid Rainier National Park, down the road.  They predicted an hour-plus line on this sunny Saturday afternoon in August—just to get through the gates!  Instead, they wrote down a list of turns to take via dirt logging roads to a nearby hike outside the park.  The hike was known as High Rock.  For anyone without the inside scoop, Google Maps can get you there just fine.

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The MacIntyre Range: Iroquois, Algonquin, and Wright

August 29, 2018 — Upper Works

The Iron Works

The day began around dawn with some rough dirt roadways. Blue Ridge Road cuts nine miles from NY 28 to the “Upper Works trailhead” along Tahawus Road.  Driving deeper into the forest, I considered just how isolated this corner of the Empire State truly is.

Isolated, and vast. Since the recent purchase of the Boreas Ponds Tract, the High Peaks Wilderness now boasts a contiguous land area larger than the City of Los Angeles. And surrounding the “wilderness” itself are miles of private and mixed-use forested lands devoid of connected, improved roads.

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The Dix Range

October 7, 2017, Round Pond

Elk Lake and the Dix Range

In the Fall of 2017, I undertook my second backpacking adventure in the Adirondack high peaks. The plan was to case the Dix Range, five peaks within the former Dix Mountain Wilderness area. (The area has since been absorbed into the High Peaks Wilderness).

The Elk Lake trailhead provides the most convenient approach to the Dix Range.  A private resort owns Elk Lake itself, providing trails exclusive to their overnight guests.  That said, they operate under a conservation easement that allows the public to hike across the land on select major trails. Even these trails close during big game hunting season from roughly mid-October to the end of November.  From Elk Lake, ambitious hikers can bag all five peaks in a single day.

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Cascade and Porter

October 6, 2017, Mt Van Hoevenberg Trailhead

Arrival

They say life is more about the journey than the destination, and that’s obviously true of the quest for 46 high peaks.  But as I push on to climbing more of the Adirondacks’ tallest mountains, I really am struck at all the weird places it’s brought me and all the interesting things I’ve seen.  My trip up Cascade and Porter certainly provides an example of that.

The “normal” trailhead for Cascade is right off route 73 just after the stunning drive towards Lake Placid along Upper and Lower Cascade Lakes.  And from that trailhead, it’s roughly 1.6 miles directly up the slopes of Cascade to its bare rock summit. This unusually easy access to a high peak with a gorgeous view makes Cascade one of the most popular hikes in the region.

To summarize: short trail from the roadside.  Gorgeous views. Crowded summit.

But my experience with Cascade and Porter would involve none of those things.

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Marcy, Skylight, Haystack, and Gray

July 21, 2017, Adirondak Loj

Out of my comfort zone

My very first Adirondack 46er adventure began around 7:00 am, in the parking lot at Heart Lake.  It would be a weekend of many firsts. Most obviously, it was my first pair of high peaks: Skylight and Marcy.  But beyond that, it would be my first time backpacking and backcountry camping. In fact, it would be my first time pitching a tent in the woods.  I’d been “car camping” exactly once before.

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