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Hiking Mount Marshall
I can officially check off my first high peak of 2016 off the list, Mount Marshall! And this is the year. I’m planning on finishing hiking the 46 high peaks this summer. I met Jenna and one of her friends at Exit 9 Park and Ride at 5:30am on Saturday. The weather was going to be mild. It was supposed to be in the 50s up in Lake Placid. We arrived at the Upper Works trailhead in Newcomb at about 7:30 and were on the trail at about 7:45. We took the trail to Calamity lean-to. It’s about a 5.5 mile hike in. There are signs on the way in,…
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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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Recap of Summer Hiking
Summer 2015 was definitely the best summer for hiking I’ve had! It was incredible because I didn’t have a single bad weather day! Here’s a little recap. June Pyramid, Gothics, Armstrong & Upper Wolf Jaw Mountains This was my first big hike of the year. I hiked a few times before this just to get my legs in shape and tackled most of the lower great range with Brendan back in June. It was a long day, but had some great views. I felt strong and this hike convinced me that I wanted to take on a bunch of high peaks this summer. July Street and Nye Mountains This hike…
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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…