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!