4 down, 7 out of 46 to go.
I got up to Keene Valley at about 10am on Saturday, rented one of those bear cannisters at The Mountaineer, then drove back S to the Elk Lake Preserve to hike Macomb. A nice flat trail, wet, and then the slide started. It wasn’t a pure rock slide, it was all sand and football sized chunks of rock. Only twisted the ankle once, but fell multiple times… only bled twice.
The trip back to the car was uneventful, and on the drive back to KV, I saw a moose! First time seeing one in the Adirondacks, believe it or not.
Saturday night I was reacquainted with the joys of hostel living, as 4 French Canadians rolled in at about 1130, and THEN thought it would be a good idea to look for where they kept their clothes, toothbrushes, etc.
Woke Sunday at 5, on the trail by 6. Did:
- Roostercomb
- Hedgehog
- Lower Wolfjaw
- Upper Wolfjaw
- Armstrong
- Gothics
- Pyramid
- Sawteeth
- Indian Head
Then finally camped near Gill Brook outside the AMR land. My Topo! software says that was about 11 miles, but adding up trail signs and a bit of reckoning puts it more at 15. A brutal day, I don’t recall being this tired in a long time. Topo claims this was 6984′ up and 5776′ down. It kicked my ass, whatever it was. 12 hours to do somewhere like 15 miles + 7000 of vertical isn’t too bad, I suppose.
Slept 9 hours, and woke up to the beautiful sounds of Gill Brook and its feeder streams in my own private campsite – really May is a great time to hit the mountains. You’re right between the worst of the mud and the bugs, and there’s nobody there.
Slogged up the trail with a daypack to do Colvin and Blake, supposedly an “easy” trail. Either I was tired, or the 40-something asthmatic woman who told me that it was easy is more badass than I gave her credit for, or both. It was not easy, AND, Blake had a crap summit. Colvin was nice though, great views. Then it was back down, pack up the camp, and an actually easy hike down the Lake Road cutoff trail, and then the road itself. Beautiful hiking, saw a couple of deer, nice flowers everywhere, and HUGE trees. That area must not have been logged in a long time.
Here’s the pictures.