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Hiking Gray Peak and Mount Skylight
Happy fall! I celebrated the first weekend of fall by hiking, of course! My friend Jenna and I drove up to the ADK Loj to hike Gray Peak and Mount Skylight. We got an early start because it is a long hike! We left the Exit 9 Park and Ride at 4:35AM and got to the Loj around 7, and were on the trail by 7:15. We were at Marcy Dam by 8:05AM. We got the the Phelps/Marcy and Avalanche Lake junction and went right to take the Avalanche Lake trail. At 8:40 we got to the junction for Lake Arnold and took a left. We were going to go…
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The Santanoni Range
Saturday was a big hiking day. Brendan and I hiked the Santanoni range in the high peaks of the Adirondacks, Santanoni, Couchsachraga and Panther peaks. And FYI: Couch isn’t technically a high peak since it’s not 4,000 feet in elevation–but its still required to hike as part of the 46. The trailhead to this range is at the Upper Works in Newcomb. On the sign at the parking lot it said trailhead to Bradley Pond, with no mention of the Santanonis at all. We took exit 26 on the Northway and drove through Minerva to get there. The trailhead is at the start of an old dirt road. We couldn’t…
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On Top of New York – Hiking Mount Marcy
Yesterday was the day! It was time to tackle New York’s highest mountain, Mount Marcy! I took the day off from work so Jordan and I could hike together (he works weekends so he usually can’t hike with me then). We met Brendan at the park and ride at 5:30AM and off we went to the ADK Loj. The easiest and most popular trail to the summit of Marcy is the Van Hovenberg. This is the same trail to Phelps and Tabletop as well. The last time I was on this trail was January 2014 and it was zero degrees. Yesterday was a bit different with 80 degree temps in…
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Hiking Mount Colden via Avalanche Pass
Today I’m writing my trip report in a form of a Day in the Life Post-Enjoy! 3:50AM – Wake up before my 4AM alarm. I was convinced I was going to toss and turn all night but I slept fairly well and got a solid five hours. Get up, put in my contacts, and finish packing my hiking pack. Fill up my 3L platypus bladder with filtered water (I know from experience that putting filtered water vs. tap water makes ALL the difference in taste when your water sits in a bladder all day) and my 1L hydroflask. Make bagel and cream cheese to bring for breakfast and PBJ for…
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Hiking Lower Wolfjaw Mountain
I took the day off from work on Friday to hike with Christine. Since Brendan and I didn’t hike Lower Wolfjaw when he hiked Gothics, Armstrong and Upper Wolfjaw, we decided it would be an “easy” peak to tackle on its own. We left Albany around 7 and parked at the Ausable Club lot headed in via the White Trail at around 9am. The trail was soft and not rocky which was nice on the feet. However, it was steep! It was straight up for almost the entire trip up. Just a heads up, there were many random trails leading to nowhere during the hike–we made sure to pay attention…