dismal wilderness

June 9, 2020March 10, 2022

Quandary Peak (Colorado)

May 5, 2020, Quandary Peak trailhead

Rocky Mountain High

The day began with a pre-dawn drive under the continental divide along I-70 (11,000′) from my hotel just above Golden, CO (7,200′). I sped past the Dillon Reservoir, shimmering in the day’s first direct light. From there, I pulled off the highway and headed south through the resort town of Breckenridge, at 9,600′. After Breck, the road climbed even higher, back towards 11,000′ and the trailhead for Quandary Peak.

June 5, 2020March 10, 2022

Mount Sniktau from Loveland Pass

Low, afternoon sunlight accentuates a melting cornice along Mount Sniktau's summit ridge.

May 4, 2020, Loveland Pass

Kanorado

My day began two states over from this hike’s trailhead, in Kansas City, Missouri. I would spend the week slowly making my way across the continent, from New York to California en route to a new job in the Bay Area. Along the way I’d pass through a nation largely under a pandemic-induced lockdown. A few days of empty highways and empty hotels later, I arrived at the midpoint of that journey. With no open bars or restaurants for thousands of miles, the only thing left to do was to take a hike.

June 3, 2020March 10, 2022

Slide, Cornell and Wittenberg (Catskills)

April 1, 2020, Slide Mountain trailhead

I arrived at an empty trailhead around 7 am on this weekday at the start of April. The sun already shone brightly on what would be a gorgeous, mild spring day. After signing in at the trail register, the hike began with a quick crossing of a broad but shallow brook.

May 31, 2020March 30, 2022

Esther and Whiteface via Marble Mountain

The herd path between Esther and Whiteface on a sunny day in mid March 2020.

March 15, 2020, Atmospheric Sciences Research Center

Arrival

I pulled into the Marble Mountain trailhead to Esther and Whiteface around dawn. This Sunday, the Ides of March, would mark the completion of my 3.5-year journey to become an Adirondack 46er. I didn’t know much about the forty-six high peaks when I began this adventure. But I always knew Whiteface would be last.

May 26, 2020March 30, 2022

Cliff and Redfield via Lake Arnold

Ice and snow atop Cliff and Redfield in mid March

March 14, 2020, Adirondak Loj

I got an early start from Heart Lake en route to Cliff and Redfield. These peaks lie roughly equidistant from both the Loj and Upper Works trailheads—annoyingly remote either way. The plan involved a traverse to the Uphill Lean-to via Lake Arnold, making fast work of the hike in and gradual ascent. From there I’d tackle my last two summits in the High Peaks Wilderness in height order.

May 26, 2020March 10, 2022

Mount Marshall (nearly twice)

Mount Marshall from a false summit just north of the peak.

March 7, 2020, Adirondak Loj

Arrival

The journey to Mount Marshall began on a largely ordinary weekend in early March of 2020. It was likely the last ordinary weekend of 2020. The novel coronavirus had already begun to increasingly dominate the news cycle. But that was hardly evident on this sunny, beautiful Saturday. Alpine and nordic skiers, snowshoers, and post-holers had already filled the parking lots of Heart Lake. Between the rows of cars, excited conversations took place in both French and English in equal measure. There’s usually one (maybe two) weekends in March where the bright sunshine of nearly-spring and the thick snowpack of a full winter collide. This was that weekend.

May 17, 2020July 20, 2020

Black Mountain via Rhus Ridge

The meadows of the Rancho San Antonio preserve, as seen from the the trail up Rhus Ridge, with Black Mountain in the background.

February 23, 2020, Rhus Ridge trailhead

A big change of scenery

Deep snow and wintry landscapes have dominated most of my early 2020 adventures. But this hike would prove quite the opposite. Just hours earlier I had arrived at SFO for a job interview in Silicon Valley. It was a Sunday afternoon and I had time to kill before the next day’s interrogations. My original plan was to wander around San Francisco, but I missed the CalTrain, and the next departure was a shocking 90 minutes later. After wandering around the Mountain View farmer’s market and grabbing a couple of tacos, I decided to load up All Trails and find myself a good hike.

March 26, 2020March 10, 2022

Allen Mountain

February 1, 2020, Fire Tower Trailhead

Allen Mountain and 46er Procrastination

Putting off Allen for the bitter end is one of the time-honored traditions of High Peaking. According to the Adirondack Mountain Club’s official roster of 46ers, Allen spent decades as, far and away, the most popular last ascent. Only after the 1980 Winter Olympics did Whiteface replace Allen as a more pleasant (and ceremonial) finish. To understand why folks are keen to procrastinate in bagging Allen, one need only look at the stats. Allen requires an 18-mile round trip through brush and bog to bag just one lonely, tree-covered summit. No other peak requires such an enormous minimum amount of mileage.

February 29, 2020March 10, 2022

The Santanonis

Stunning views from the summit of Santanoni

January 25, 2020, Bradley Pond Trailhead

Into the night

The “day” began around 3:30 am, when my alarm when off at the Owl’s Head Lodge in Newcomb New York, smack dab in the center of the Adirondack Park. As a winter day hike, the Santanoni’s would become the single-longest day to date in my 46er adventures.

January 21, 2020March 30, 2022

Sawteeth Mountain

January 5, 2020, St Hubert’s

Fresh tracks up Lake Road

I embarked from St Hubert’s at 6 am sharp on this snowy Sunday in early January. I headed up the road past the Ausable Club in what was still, essentially pitch darkness. The goal was a swift summit of Sawteeth Mountain, with ample time left in the day to get back to Brooklyn by a decent hour.