Gotta love the Couch

After today's hike I am a big fan of Couchsachraga (or Couch or Couchie), I think it gets a bad rap. People seem to complain about having to hike up over the Santanoni ridge and then down 800 ft and then back up to bag peak # 46 and they only do it to complete the list. I must say I really enjoyed hiking down the hill and said several times how much I liked the trail (Note that I only said it once on the way back up). The more I hike the long tough trailless 46er peaks, the more I find I enjoy them as much as the easier ones with killer views. I previously hiked the Santanoni range in 2007 but I didn't have time to get Couch that day. So, I returned on Thursday with my friend Mark with the goal of hiking only Couch. We knew we would have a clear sunny day and we hoped that the last few weeks of dry weather would mean clear sailing across the mud pits on the trail to Bradley Pond.

We arrived early to find one car and two tents in the parking lot. We were signed in and on the trail by 6:30. The gravel road was a nice way to warm up as the morning was somewhat brisk. After two mud-pit tap-dancing and rock hopping miles on the Bradley Pond trail we arrived at the Panther Brook herd path. You would think that after all the recent dry weather there would be less mud in the ADKs not so. There was plenty of mud, much more than the last time I hiked this trail. The herd path up Panther Brook is one of my favorites and by 10:30 we were at Herald Square. Some confusion ensued as we tried to follow a sketch of the area I had printed off the internet a while back. Eventually we followed the leftmost trail shown in the sketch and a minute later we were at Times Square. I guess the network of trails up there illustrates why the 46ers started to maintain herd paths so that there would be one clear path instead of many.

From Times Square it is clear which way to go and we were off with a right turn heading down the ridge to Couch. At first the trail is very closed in and you would be happy to have long sleeves and pants and some sort of eye protection. The grade is quite gentle for most of the way and the trail gets a bit wider as you descend. Having pictured some hellacious bushwack, I kept saying how this was quite a nice trail. It did get steeper especially just before it descended to a col before two false summits. The col featured a swamp that was real nasty and it was pretty hard to avoid getting wet there. There was one good viewing ledge on the way down that had a sweet view of the Seward Range and Seymour as well as Whiteface.

On the way back we opted to use the New/Old Santanoni trail and in doing so we bagged Santanoni by mistake, We missed the herd path and since it is so close to the summit we didn't realise the mistake until we saw the summit. The trail itself is a shortcut if you intend to hike Santanoni but I otherwise am not a fan. It is very steep and currently quite muddy and slick. We managed to get back to the gravel road as the remaining daylight was fading and had to use the headlight for the last mile.

My shoes got wet early on and I had some nasty hotspots to treat at the end of the day but all told it was a very long day but enjoyable hike. Gotta love the Couch!