Smoking brakes instead of sore knees

After two hiking days I gave my legs a rest and made my car do the work. I headed up the Mt Washington Auto Road. It hadn't occurred to me until the complimentary CD mentioned that some with a fear of heights may find parts of the road a bit uncomfortable. Anyhow it was well worth it on a clear sunny day with views to the horizon in all directions. They suggest stopping often on the way down to cool off your brakes and they provide spots to pull over with great vistas. At some of the lower parking areas my brakes were smoking when I stopped. Funny, but that is just how my knees feel when descending a mountain.

For a slightly faster version of the ascent check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BZh-7hkNe4

Mt. Adams Fire Tower, now with new railings

I was lucky to spend Saturday working on the restoration of the fire tower on Mt. Adams. The restoration is a project undertaken by the ADKHighPeaks hiking forum. I joined 3 forum members: Jack (ADKJack) and Rob (vieWseeker) from Syracuse and my hiking buddy Ken who is an engineer who studies masonry and concrete as building materials. I'm guessing Mt Adams has to be the best job site Ken has visited in a long while! We met Rob and Joe in the Allen parking lot at Upper Works at the civilized time of 8:30 and loaded up. Joe had brought some packs to borrow as we were carrying railings and posts for the fire tower stairs. I should add that is nice to arrive in the Allen lot without the sense of impending doom that comes with the 20 mile hike to Allen.

We set off in our various sandals or water shoes which were the footwear of choice because of the two water crossing that are at the beginning of the trail. To start, we waded across the Hudson river. There used to be a bridge but it was washed away by the runoff from huricane Irene last summer. Next came the "floating" bridge across Lake Jimmy. This engineering marvel has seen better days due to high water level but some recent maintenance work (thanks guys!) has left it passable. The iffy (or fun depending on how you look at things) part is that two of the early sections are loosely held together by some rope and they sink up to your knees as you walk on them. There is a tentative step from one to the second which is fine if you wait for the other side to sink before moving your second foot ahead. Of course one's fellow hikers look on with supposed care that you make the successful crossing but they also have cameras at the ready if it should all go wrong!

From the other side of the Lake Jimmy the trail to Mt Adams soon departs from the Allen trail and it starts up immediately. It is steep all the way but not too long and after an hour or so we arrived at the summit. The summit is wooded with just a small clearing around the tower. We first went up to check out the view. Wow! In all directions are glorious views from the Sewards, Santanonis to Skylight, Marcy and Redfield and all the way round to Wallface and MacNaughton. After some initial picture taking it was down to work. We installed posts and then railings on each flight of steps and attached chicken wire to provide something resembling walls to stop people who may slip from falling off the structure. At one point a dog arrived and appeared to want to join in but he didn't look like he had a firm grip on the tools so we suggested he "stay" down below! The sun came out later in the day which prompted another round of picture taking. It was a quick trip down the steeps and in no time we were crossing Lake Jimmy (no one fell in) and then perhaps the second highlight of the hike which was cooling off by floating in the Hudson!

It was great to be able to do something helpful for the High Peaks hiking community as well as enjoying the stellar views from Mt. Adams. As we packed up to leave, Jack was threatening that next time we would carrying up bags of concrete. I say bring it on!

See more pics

Sunny day at Wildcat

I have long had my eye on a hike of the Wildcats in the autumn to combine the fall colors with the stunning view of Mt Washington. But since I have walked to the top of many mountains it seemed appropriate to ride a chairlift for once! After all the recent cloud and rain, it was finally a warm sunny spring day and the temperatures were going up to a high of 50F. The views from Wildcat are truly spectacular. You look directly across the valley into the two bowls (Tuckerman and Huntington Ravines) and the summit of Mt Washington. To the right you have a good view of Mt Madison and Adams and to the far right you can see both Carter Dome and Mt Hight.

I stuck mainly to the beginner and intermediate runs and a lot of time gazing at the view instead of watching where I was going. Many stops to whip out the camera for yet another perfect shot! By mid afternoon the temperature was affecting the snow so that it would go from slick to sticky depending on the exposure to the sun. This was a great place to ski. The only ski hill I can compare it to in terms of view would be Lake Louise. I will be back to do this again for sure.

Note for back-country skiers there is a trail from the summit of Wildcat south to the town of Jackson. A vertical drop of almost 4000 feet (and a wild ride I bet)