Not bad for an Adirondack "starter" hike

May long weekend started out great with a sunny day hike up Ampersand but it dropped off quickly from there. Temperatures and rain on saturday and sunday were great for my newly seeded lawn but little else. It was even too cold to plant some new perenials and annuals. But enough with the zone 4 gardening report.

Ken and I wanted to get in another ADk "starter" hike to acclimitize the legs before subjecting them to something more strenuous like Allen or Couch. And besides there is still snow at higher elevations. We managed to avoid the school bus traffic in the busy towns of Malone and Lake Placid and headed down route 73 in good time headed for a sub-4000 trailhead. Ken spied a non-descript sign on the side of the road and on a whim we parked the car and headed up.

Other than the numerous times I managed to lose the trail, we were treated to s nice day. The trail was a gentle grade which usually means you are approaching a steep cliff. It was also mostly dirt and soft underfoot. The cool temps aided in making it an enjoyable hike. After an hour and half or so of hiking and exploring the local hydology we topped out after a short little steep rocky and muddy bit (a poor attempt at being tough by this peak). We were muttering "Is that all you got?" to each other as we emerged on the open rocks. We looked up and were silent for a second or two. "Nice view", said Ken. "Agreed!", I agreed. We spent an hour eating lunch and snapping a few pics before heading back down.

A short day for sure as we were back home in time to catch the NHL playoff action. This was a real nice day hike and in retrospect we really should have paid more attention to the location of the trailhead or the name of the peak. I'm sure we will make it back there someday even if just by coincidence. Oh and yes my grass seed is coming in nicely.

Ampersand is all mine

I took Friday off to extend the long weekend and to take advantage of the best looking weather day of the four. This turned out to be an excellant decision as it was a nice hiking day, sunny yet cool. Ampersand is a great hike to choose to start the season for several reasons. It has all the features of a longer Adirondack hike but is only 2.5 miles and 1750 elevation gain. The bald summit has great views, especially the up close perspective of the Sewards and Seymour. The added bonus, when driving from Ottawa, is the short drive of 2 1/2 hours.

Taking advantage of the shorter drive I left home at 7am and was at the trailhead by 9:45. One group signed in ahead of me and I met them about 3/4 of the way up. This hike starts with a nice walk in the woods. It gradually gets steeper and becomes rockier until it gets to some well built staircases. You definitely do get a workout but it is a fairly short climb and well worth it when you top out and have a south and east view of many of the high peaks. Seymour and Seward dominate the view to the soutn as they are just a few miles away. You can see parts of the Santanonni ridge behind Seymour. Off in the distance to the east is the MacIntyres and way to the east you can see Whiteface. To the north are the Saranac lakes. I had this vista all to myself for about an hour. Enough time to eat, have a short nap and snap a few dozen pics. On the way down I met five hikers and two dogs.

All in all a great start to the season. The black flies were out but not biting. My legs still work and do so at about the same pace as last season. My calfs seem in mid season form although knees were complaining after the hike. I highly recommend this hike!