great day hikes Archives - Page 8 of 8

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.

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.

January 1, 2020March 30, 2022

Giant & Rocky Peak Ridge

October 13, 2019, Chapel Pond

Starry Skies at Chapel Pond

I arrived at the parking for Giant via the Ridge trail around 6 am. The Autumn days were rapidly growing shorter. And on arrival, I was treated to a clear sky full of stars. How beautiful! This was my second day-hike of Columbus Day Weekend, and my second high peaks adventure post-knee surgery. Lower Wolfjaw had gone well the day before. And so I decided to graduate to Giant and Rocky Peak Ridge.

December 30, 2019March 30, 2022

Rematch with Lower Wolfjaw

October 12, 2019, Rooster Comb Trailhead

A failed first attempt

14 months had passed since my attempt to traverse the Great Range during a late June heatwave. After five summits, I ran out of steam in the col between the two Wofjaws. I was exhausted, low on water, and lugging a full menagerie of camping equipment. I decided to bail before Lower Wolfjaw.

December 29, 2019October 11, 2020

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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