Mountaintop adventures
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.
Continue reading “Slide, Cornell and Wittenberg (Catskills)”
March 15, 2020, Atmospheric Sciences Research Center
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.
Continue reading “Esther and Whiteface via Marble Mountain”
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.
Continue reading “Cliff and Redfield via Lake Arnold”
February 23, 2020, Rhus Ridge trailhead
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.
Continue reading “Black Mountain via Rhus Ridge”
January 25, 2020, Bradley Pond Trailhead
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.
Continue reading “The Santanonis”
August 14, 2018, Paradise WA
In summer 2018 I signed up for a guided mountaineering seminar on Mt Rainier, in the gorgeous Cascade Range in Washington. My first trip to Washington, four years earlier, was to visit a friend getting her Ph.D. from U Washington in nearby Seattle. While roaming around town, I caught my first glance of Rainier, towering over the landscape. It was unlike any mountain I had seen before, clearly taller and more isolated than anything in the Rockies, let alone the Northeast. I asked my friend if we could hike it. She looked at me like I had three heads and said “What?! No! You need to like, train for that. And acclimate. It’s like a real mountain.” I decided then and there that the next time I was in Washington, I was climbing Mt Rainier.
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.
June 30, 2018
The “Great Range” spans a number of beloved high peaks in the central Adirondacks. The official definition of the range varies. But it typically includes Skylight, Marcy, Haystack, Basin, Saddleback, Gothics, Armstrong, and Upper and Lower Wolfjaw.
Continue reading “The Great Range of the Adirondacks”
June 29, 2018, The Garden trailhead
I arrived at the Garden Trailhead around 5 am. A heatwave had reached the Adirondacks and this June Friday would prove super hot and humid. The small and sought-after Garden trailhead has gained a bit of infamy. But I was relieved to discover a few free spots when I arrived.
Continue reading “Big Slide (and Yard Mountain)”