46er

Algonquin and Wright Peak

~ randyaa ~ Leave a comment

algonquin-summit

We’re on a roll.  With the long weekend last week we headed up to camp and hit another of the 46 High Peaks.  This time around our goal was Algonquin Peak, but like many of the High Peaks, hiking Algonquin gets you close to several others.  We made our attempt at those as well.

Starting out up Algonquin we were once again in the rain, but we knew it was going to break before noon and that we’d have great weather at the summit(s) and after.  Sure enough about halfway up the weather turned and we got our first glimpse of blue sky.  Unfortunately this was just before we made it into the clouds.  That’s right, we were above the cloud cover.  Although the hike was exhilarating and we experienced some fine views on the way up, we ate lunch at the top in the clouds and without a view.

wright-summit

After a short stay on the top we started our descent so we could begin our climb up Wright Peak.  About halfway down to the Y in the trail the cloud coverage broke and the sky opened up.  It was beautiful.  One of the best views from any mountain we’ve climbed.  Since we didn’t know how long the view would last, we just sat and enjoyed it for a while.  Then as it seemed like it would last we continued the hike.

After summiting Wright Peak, the view and the weather only got better.  We had 360 degree beautiful clear sky the rest of the day.  Wright peak is a hard rock summit with views in all directions.  You can see many of the other 46 from the top and we were able to pick out our next goal, Mount Colden.

We did miss Iriquois Peak, a 3rd peak just a short hike (through a valley) past Algonquin, but we were already tired and concerned we might not be able to complete Wright so we left it off this time around.

The hike down was equally pleasant.  What an amazing day/hike!


GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com

http://www.instamapper.com/trk?key=88194205658677607&width=500&height=350&type=roadmap

<br />

2 of 46ers – Cascade and Porter

~ randyaa ~ 1 Comment

Cascade Mountain SummitThere’s 2 more people on the Trek to becoming 46ers.  We’ve only just begun but we’re in it for the long haul.

We were spending the weekend in Lake Placid due to a great deal on the High Peaks Resort.  We booked the trip a few weeks ago and while the weather was great Friday and Sunday, rain was expected for Saturday afternoon.  Despite that we decided to hike up some of the 46 High Peaks anyway.  After all, we were staying at the High Peaks resort.

To start our journey on the 46er goal we climbed two peaks.  We’ve climbed mountains before, Hunter mountain was the highest so far with an elevation of 4,040ft and that was last summer.  We’ve now successfully summited 2 of the Adirondack High Peaks, increasing our highest mountain’s elevation to 4,098ft.

We took the Cascade/Porter mountain trail up from route 73 just east of the mt van hoevenburg recreation area and just west of the Cascade lakes (in case you’re trying to find it).

Porter Mountain Summit

The trail goes steadily up for about 1.8miles where it Y’s.  From there it’s .3 miles to the summit of Cascade with an ascent of a 292ft and .7 miles to the summit of Porter with an ascent of 270ft.  While the rest of the Cascade trail was relatively easy, only a few hundred feet to summit Porter is a bit missleading.  First you descend several hundred feet through what can only be considered a mud slide, then you cross a valley and travel back up the hundreds of feet you descended plus the original 270ft.

The top of Cascade Mountain felt more like the top of Mount Washingtain than the top of one of the smaller Adirondack High Peaks.  Winds were constant at easily over 60mph with gusts probably topping 80mph. The wind caused the slight rain coming down to feel like your skin was getting sand blasted.  Porter Mountain wasn’t quite as bad since it wasn’t as open, but the wind was still incredibly strong.

This isn’t the first mountain we’ve climbed and it won’t be the last, but it is the first one we’ve hiked up and down in the rain.  Having the right gear is vital for hiking and we made use of some new equipment, our new Eddie Bauer RipPac jackets, for the first time this trip and it made our experience enjoyable despite the bad weather.  They will certainly remain a staple in our hiking packs.


GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com

The High Peaks Resort

~ randyaa ~ 4 Comments

I’ve been meaning to climb some of the Adirondack High Peaks for a few years.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have any grand illusions of becoming a 46er (Although, as a side note, that would be awesome).  I simply enjoy climbing the occasional mountain.  Climbing some of the highest peaks in New York State seems like a good goal.

highpeakshotelroomWith my parents recent purchase of a camp in South Colton, NY I figured I’d use that as a base camp.  I still probably will, although in a few weeks I’ll get to use the High Peaks Resort.  A short time ago they started running the Elevate Your Rate promotion which is basically a deal for 75% (+) off.  They’re featuring one of the High Peaks for 46 minutes for 46 days.  During that time the promotional rate will be the same as the elevation of that featured peak.  For example, our peak was Mount Emmons which has an elevation of  4,020′ which turned out to be a daily price of $40.20 which is pretty darn good.

My experience thus far has been via Twitter and I’m thoroughly Impressed.  There has been a great amount of communication from them and I’ve felt they’re really going the extra mile.  We didn’t get the dates we really wanted (due to availability) and I let them know.  They promptly look into it and got back to me within an hour with an explanation why those dates were blocked out.  They tried to see if there was any room available but unfortunately there was not.  That’s OK, the dates we got work fine anyway, and now we get to go with my friend Anthony and his wife Meg!  I really didn’t expect that kind of service at $40.20/night, and that’s just through twitter.  I’m excited to see what kind of service they offer in person.

We’re definitely looking forward to the trip.