MIght as well go for a Soda!

The last hike of my summer/fall vacation and the tail end of leaf peeping season. I enlisted Ken as fellow leaf peeper and co-photographer. With two cameras you can get such classic shots as "photo of photographer taking photo of fall colors". We also tried "photo of fall colors with picture in picture of photo taken by other camera". Fingers crossed that the latter turns out well. I had hiked to Big Crow before but not the Nundago or Nun-da-ga-o or Soda Range. Ken had done the opposite. We started out the loop clockwise and added the short steep spur to Big Crow to sample the outstanding views. The colors are past peak but this is otherwise an outstanding view from an interesting angle. It was also overcast but neither of us were complaining. As there is a plethora of high peaks to see, we had some spirited name the peak debates. After an obvious ("rookie") mistake, Ken redeemed himself with an astute identification of Street mountain behind the notch between Cascade and Pitchoff!

This is really nice hike. It makes it's way across several bumps on ridge between Big Crow and Weston mountains before looping back to the Crow Clearing parking lot. It is soft underfoot like a herd path. You never go more than 15-20 minutes without scrambling out onto a rocky ledge with a slightly different view than the previous stop. We had initially thought of doing most of the loop and then hiking up and over Hurricane to route 9N. While this was a great idea, we never got that far what with all the picture taking and view gazing. No complaints as this was a day well spent on an awesome hiking trail!

More pics here (there are some nice cloud shots)

Part of the trail conversation was me remembering my first concert with Max Webster opening for Rush. Ah, for the good ole days when concert tickets cost $3.50!! As added nostalgia I offer the following video which is worth watching for the old school tv channel changer at about the 1 minute mark. Enjoy!

Rooster Comb on a cloudy day





I went for another leaf peeping hike up Rooster Comb. It was a cloudy day that was not good for photography but I enjoyed the hike nonetheless. The trail was often blanketed with leaves which were coming down as I hiked. I tried to take some pictures of this process but was not successful. I was treated to the king of all "tree growing on a rock". The colors of the Porter ridge as well as the Brothers were spectacular.

For more pics see here

Owl's Head, Baxter and Jay Range

On one glorious day of leaf peeping I hit two "shorties" with great views and then checked out the new trail to the Jay Range, another great hike with plenty of above treeline trail.

First stop of the day with the favorable early morning light was Owl's Head. It is a short jog of about 20 minutes up to this perch with a nice angle view of Porter, Cascade and Pitchoff. It is an open summit with views in all directions but the light favored the view to the west. For more pics see here .

Next stop was Baxter peak with it's "longer" trip of 30-40 minutes of switchbacks to some nice ledges looking south and west. Plenty of color in the valley and slopes of John's Brook valley. For more pics see here

Last but certainly not least was the Jay Range. I started out at 11:30. This hike has plenty of open ridges which is unusual for the elevation but welcomed indeed. An official trail was opened this year complete with parking lot with space for about 10 cars. I hiked this range with Ken several years ago and remember the initial part of the trail as being pretty steep. The new trail is the opposite. It is soft underfoot and switchbacks up the slopes of two hills before emerging on the open rock that I remembered. I found the switchbacks a bit annoying on the way up but welcomed them on the way down as it was an easy walk out when I was running out of gas. You can see most of the Adirondack High Peaks as you make your way up the open rock across many bumps to actual summit of Jay. I stopped about 2/3 of the way along as I was more interested in the views than the destination. It was a great spot to find a nice spot to sit and soak in the sun. This hike is a must for anyone who hasn't already done it. For more pics see here .