Adirondack High Peaks

[bobpbx]

After last years false start, I had to climb Mount Marcy all the way. I worked out at the gym all year to do it right.

Columbus day weekend in the Adirondacks this year was a rare event. It was sunny 5 days in a row, and temperatures hovered around 67-70 degrees. It made for perfect climbing weather. I climbed Mount Marcy on Friday, drove up Whiteface Mountain on Saturday, and climbed Giant Mountain on Sunday.

Mount Marcy, at 5,340 feet, is a brutal, unforgiving one day hike. It is about 7 miles each way. Giant, at around 4,700 feet, is slightly less so. It is 3 miles each way, but you gain 3,000 feet going up, and its strenuous. Both are punishing on the knees when you come down as you often step down 12-18” on rock, over and over and over again.

My friend Mike Baker went with me. Climbing Marcy, here he is at Indian Falls, with Algonquin in the background.

Algonquin is number 2 in the Adirondacks in height at 5,100 feet. I want to do it next year. This is the rugged peak in all its tempting glory.

Going up higher, gaining in elevation

Rugged country here

Almost to the top of Marcy

This is a view from Marcy of the top of Mount Haystack, about 4,800 feet

Here is the Marcy summit, windy and cold, at maybe 50 degrees.

Such a clear day, we could see for maybe 50 miles

That night in celebration, we hit a bar in Lake Placid and I watched the Phillies beat the Dodgers while drinking microbrews. It just doesn’t get any better than that.

Driving up Whiteface the next day, this is a northeastern flank view. I could see windmills in the distance by the tip of Lake Champlain. They are making a huge wind farm up there.

When you park at the top, you have a rugged, long rock stairway to climb to get to the peak. It is not for those who exercise little. Three days earlier a 49 year old father of two girls died from a heart attack. Tragic.

At the top of Whiteface, looking East.

This is the summit

And the signboard that shows the high peaks area, where we climbed the day before.

A photo of the high peaks area. Marcy is, I believe left of center in the background

The next day we tackled Giant of the Valley, so named because it is so wide and imposing

The trail signboard

Parking area, where you can see Mike taking a shot

Chapel pond, across the highway

Across the pond I took this shot. 8:30 AM

Giant had awesome views, and I don’t often use that over-used word

Up, Up, Up

Up, Up, Up (many bald rock areas, which I really like)

Mike on top. A rest well-deserved.

Me too. There were many French Canadians climbing in the Adirondacks this weekend as well.

A most excellent Columbus Day weekend for me. Thanks for taking the time to view my photos, and thanks for the encouragement you all gave me last year to press on and up.

 

[whippoorbill]

Incredible, Bob. Just incredible. Congratulations on conquering Marcy; your year of preparation and hard work certainly paid off. (I've had a lifelong agenda to make it up a trail that stopped me as a whippersnapper, in the White Mountains; the Daniel Webster Scout Trail up Madison along the Presidential Range. I was only 14 when I had to turn back from the summit -- but if I tried it now, it would probably kill me). Great photos, too, Bob. And what a way to celebrate ... several cold ones while watching the Phils win a playoff game. Sounds like a great vacation.

 

[long-a-coming]

Tremendous trip Bob! I'd like to climb a high peak with you some day. Next year.

 

[bobpbx]

Incredible, Bob. Just incredible. Congratulations on conquering Marcy; your year of preparation and hard work certainly paid off. (I've had a lifelong agenda to make it up a trail that stopped me as a whippersnapper, in the White Mountains; the Daniel Webster Scout Trail up Madison along the Presidential Range. I was only 14 when I had to turn back from the summit -- but if I tried it now, it would probably kill me). Great photos, too, Bob. And what a way to celebrate ... several cold ones while watching the Phils win a playoff game. Sounds like a great vacation.

Thanks for your comments Bill. Mike often hikes in the White Mountains, and he was complaining about the brutally tough uphill slogs with no breaks or switchbacks. He said the Catskills and Adirondacks are better because you get a break once in awhile.

PS: I'm willing to try that Daniel Webster trail with you someday. Get ready!

Tom: Get ready for next year. We'll do Algonquin and Cascade. I'd love to have you come along.

 

[woodjin]

Wow!! That is great Bob! Thanks so much for sharing your adventure and those amazing photos with us. That photo of you "whiteface looking east" is a great shot. You should have that one blown up and framed. That was quite a feat for a flatlander

I have to admit, I'm really not surprised you reached your goal. I remember that time earlier this summer when you had trepidation about swimming across the lower mullica during that out going tide. Then when you went at it you swam across like Johney Weismiller (spelling?). Thanks again for the great report.

Jeff

 

[Teegate]

Great photo's Bob! From the parking area it looks like it was a busy day up there. Was that on the way back?

Guy

 

[grendel]

WOW! Thanks for sharing. I ran into a guy at REI in marlton lst week who was telling me about his canoe trips to the Adirondacks. It sounds like an incredible place. It is a great feeling to reap the rewards of all that hard work at the gym. Keeps you motivated.

 

[bobpbx]

Great photo's Bob! From the parking area it looks like it was a busy day up there. Was that on the way back? Guy

No, that was early in the morning on Sunday, getting ready to climb. Although the High Peaks area is over 300,000 acres in size, with 33 peaks over 4,000 feet, the parking areas are pitifully small. On a weekend such as that one, with every climber for 200 miles away wanting to get out there, they get can become overcrowded.

 

[bobpbx]

It is a great feeling to reap the rewards of all that hard work at the gym. Keeps you motivated.

Grendel, while we were on our way up, a young guy (maybe 22?) in a skin tight performance outfit and a heart moniter strapped to his arm "JOGGED" past us on the way up. It was an incredible sight to see, him hopping up, from rock to rock. His legs were long and extremely muscular, and he was obviously in fantastic shape. An hour and a half later, he was jogging back DOWN, even though we had like 2 hours to go to reach the summit!

I could not resist asking him about it. He very briefly stopped (balanced on on one foot on a rock) and said, after removing the Ipod earpiece, that, yes...he had been to the summit already. When I looked amazed, he told me he is in training for cross-country competition skiing. I asked him what his heart rate was. He said, "you don't want to know". I pressed him further, and he said 110, then bounded off down the trail, as light as a deer. I'm betting I'll recognize his face at the next winter olympics.

Being in shape like that (and like I am now--hope I can keep some of it up) makes you feel young and alive.

 

[grendel]

Grendel, while we were on our way up, a young guy (maybe 22?) in a skin tight performance outfit and a heart moniter strapped to his arm "JOGGED" past us on the way up. It was an incredible sight to see, him hopping up, from rock to rock. His legs were long and extremely muscular, and he was obviously in fantastic shape. An hour and a half later, he was jogging back DOWN, even though we had like 2 hours to go to reach the summit!

I could not resist asking him about it. He very briefly stopped (balanced on on one foot on a rock) and said, after removing the Ipod earpiece, that, yes...he had been to the summit already. When I looked amazed, he told me he is in training for cross-country competition skiing. I asked him what his heart rate was. He said, "you don't want to know". I pressed him further, and he said 110, then bounded off down the trail, as light as a deer. I'm betting I'll recognize his face at the next winter olympics.

Being in shape like that (and like I am now--hope I can keep some of it up) makes you feel young and alive.

I have also been spending alot more time working out in the last year. I hiked Old Rag mountain Friday with a 19 year old, we spent nearly 4 hours at the top climbing boulders. I did a few things that I could not have done a year ago.
It is a great feeling and I am really motivated to train even harder. You are only as old as you feel.
When I was in Alaska a few years ago I had hiked one of the local peaks where there is a pub at the trail head. I was hanging out with some friends the next day on the deck of the pub. A young lady parked her car in the lot and was changing her shoes. I started a conversation telling how I had hiked the peak the day before in only 5 hours. I asked her if she had ever done the trail before as she had no gear and I was wondering if she knew what she was doing.
She told me that she tried to run the trail twice a week and that she usually does it in less than two hours. What do you say after that?

 

[Boyd]

Very cool Bob, I'm impressed. Me... I was exhausted after a 500 foot climb in the Delaware Water Gap last summer. I really have to get in shape.

Photos are great also, makes me want to jump in the car and head right up there instead of going in to work, which I have to do in a few minutes. :cry:

 

[grendel]

Just admiring your pics again Bob, I have decided that a trip to the Adirondaks is going to have to happen next summer. Thanks again

 

[bobpbx]

Just admiring your pics again Bob, I have decided that a trip to the Adirondaks is going to have to happen next summer. Thanks again

You are welcome. Go for it! If you are in the area the next Columbus day in 2009, I just might be there. We'll go for Algonquin!

PS: I kept bugging my brother-in-law to climb Old Rag with me, but we never got round-to-it. He lived near Culpepper or Madison.

 

[grendel]

You are welcome. Go for it! If you are in the area the next Columbus day in 2009, I just might be there. We'll go for Algonquin!

PS: I kept bugging my brother-in-law to climb Old Rag with me, but we never got round-to-it. He lived near Culpepper or Madison.

Old Rag is a great hike,and the fall colors are just hitting peak.If you do it make it a weekday or you can stand in line for a long time waiting for the crowds to clear some of the rock scrambles.It is not the place to go for solitude. Let me know when, I am always ready for a hike.

 

[manumuskin]

Bob,
My wife and i went to the Adirondacks a few years ago and we also drove up whiteface but we took the lazy way to the top and went up the elevator.I also looked at mary from the hotel in lake placid and wanted so bad to climb it but the shape I"m in now it would definitely take me two days up and two days down.
what I"m really wanting to do up there is more manageable for me and thats a flatwater canoe trip and and back on the headwaters of the osewegatchie river in the western portion.one waterfall half way to portage around in both directions but the pictures I"ve seen of the stream are beautiful.That was what i was impressed with there even more then the beauty of the high peaks was the beauty of the streams.Dark tannic water like the barrens flowing around the most awesome boulders.The geology there is magnificent,almost like mini rockies in new york.
Al

 

[RednekF350]

She told me that she tried to run the trail twice a week and that she usually does it in less than two hours. What do you say after that?

More cheese fries please.

 

[james ungehajer]

Simply fantastic photos Bob, you btook me on a step by step climb with your pics. You ever think of trying Mt. Washington in New Hampshire ?

Jim

 

[BlueMoonMuskrat]

wow just wow

those photos are truely inspiring and i will definitely have to make a trip to that mountain sometime.

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Excellent report and pictures, Bob! Congrats for making it through.
What microbrews did you enjoy while watching the Phils dismantle L.A.?