A Cold Bench

A cold bench on sunny winter afternoon beats a warm office every time!

Following the trench to Street and Nye

I started my "winter" hiking season on Saturday with a hike up Street and Nye mountains from the LOJ. I say "winter" because I only hike in the winter as the weather tends towards spring. Spring is certainly in evidence down low where the ice across the brooks is starting to melt and break up and in fact a lot of the fields along the roads on the drive down were snow free. However once you gained any elevation there was plenty of snow in and around the snow trench that is the herd path to Street and Nye. The is one of the "trail-less" hikes in the Adirondacks which means that there are no signs (except for the S and N carved into a tree at the col) pointing the way. Nevertheless the trail is obvious and easy to follow in summer and in winter, well there is the trench. Impossible to miss on the way up and like a luge run on the way down. Just sit down and let gravity have it's way with you (which I did)! Sadly, the bright sunny day with few clouds when I started out was replaced by a snow shower when I got the summit of Street so I missed the under-rated views from Street of the MacIntyres. A fine day that served to whet my appetite for more of the same!

Check out the impressive work by a local beaver near Indian Pass brook.


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Interesting place for some fine art

What's that saying, you can't see the forest for the trees? OK, so I admit that I'm not sure I what that means. Regardless, today while out on a Wolf Trail hike I did see the forest ON a tree. WTF?!

A nice day to be out and there is plenty of snow up there but there is still room for more!

Penguin picnic area

Currently, more suitable for penguins than picnics!

Have you seen ... the Gatineau Seal?

We are very lucky to have a place like Gatineau Park so close by. A great place in the summer for hiking, biking and cooling off in some beautiful lakes and in the winter a wide variety of ski and snowshoe trails: both on the parkways and in the woods. It is also home to a wide variety of wildlife. I myself have seen plenty of deer, all sorts of birds and a saw beaver couple frollicking in their pond. I know people who have crossed paths with bears. I believe that there are packs of coyotes as well as wolves and even a mountain lion was once spotted crossing the Fortune Lake parkway. Many of these animals are shy and prefer to avoid contact with the humans who visit their "neighborhood".

None, however is as reclusive and rarely seen as the Gatineau Seal. The Gatineau Seal is a solitary and slow moving creature. So slow in fact that you would swear it hadn't moved at all. It keeps a stony silence and you would not notice it unless you happen to be looking up at the right time and in the right direction. I have only ever seen one in the winter time so I don't know where it hides its snowy white coat in the summer months. It has a hypnotic stare and I have yet to stare long enough to see it blink. I first saw one a few winters ago near P16 and saw a slightly larger one on the parkway near P1.

If you are lucky you might see one next time you are out on the trails. Hey, Mr. Seal, You rock!

Hey Jo

Saturday was a beautiful day more suited to early fall than mid November. Temps were around 10C with clear sunny skies. There was just enough daylight to get a reasonable night's sleep, drive down to Lake Placid, hike Mt Jo and head back home. It turned out I was also able to take some roadside pics as well to take advantage of the clear weather and I made it back to the border before it started to get dark.

I took the "Short" trail up Mt Jo and descended via the "Long" trail. Since the longer of the two is about a mile and a half, neither of the names are really appropriate. Having said that, the Short trail was ice free while the Long trail was icy in spots and also wetter. It was quite windy up top but not too cold. The views from Mt Jo are great from Street in the west around to Cascade and Porter in the east. The main event of the view is of the MacIntyres, Colden and back to Mt Marcy. The best time of day to do this hike would be early morning or late afternoon to avoid looking into the su. I made it up for noon but enjoyed the half hour stay nonetheless.

On the way out I purchased the ADK calendar for 2012 (two thumbs up for this year's version) and stopped at a few spots off the road (Connery Pond) to take some photos in the clear conditions.

This is a great hike to take photos of the fall colors as it takes about a half hour to hike up and has an awesome view. OK, c'mon snow!!

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Mt Hale via Zealand Falls Hut

Saturday I was looking for some more color but also a hike away from the crowds so I headed up towards Zealand Falls hut after parking my car at the Hale Brook trail lot. There were a lot of people out including a group with a team of huskies that was heading up over Zealand mountain to camp. Wrong season if you ask me as the humans in the group could have had a free ride were there snow on the ground! The are several beaver ponds along the way that have interesting views along the valley formed by Zealand on one side and the Willey range on the other. I had been along here on a hut to hut hike several years ago. On that day it was a death march amidst a deluge and no interest in the passing scenery. I stopped in at the hut to check out the falls and the view from the hut as it is a couple hundred feet above the valley floor. On the way up I found a memory card that I handed in to the staff at the hut. It had more than 400 shots on it so I hope it gets back to its owner.

I had thought of hiking further down the trail to Thoreau Falls but it was so nice sitting in the warm sun on the deck outside the hut that I just lounged there and ate my lunch while chatting with some "locals". Instead of curling up for a nap I set off up the Lend a Hand trail for Hale mountain. This trail is reputed to wet but the extensive trailwork of bridges across swampy areas made it a joy to hike. I didn't see anyone until I got to the steep sections approaching the summit of Mt Hale. That summit is a small grassy meadow with a 6 foot cairn in the middle (no view). If you stand atop the pile you can just see the tops of various surrounding mountains. The Hale Brook trail is pretty steap, especially at the top. I ran into a lot of groups on their way up. I was a bit confused as Hale itself does not seem to me a good destination for a leap peeping hike. Nearer the bottom, I saw a windbreaker, and then a wicking shirt and lastly a nike hat on the side of the trail. Thankfully, there was no naked hiker further down!

This was my last visit to the WMNF until ski season but if the weather agrees I hope to get out to the Adirondacks before the snow flies!

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