Sunny day on Mt Colden

I'm not sure if we are into Indian Summer yet but it certainly was a beautiful sunny day on Thursday as I headed out for a hike up the Lake Arnold route to Mt Colden. As I passed Marcy Dam there was a work crew starting the process of taking apart the remnants of the dam. It will be interesting to see how the area above the dam changes as time goes forward. The Lake Arnold trail was as usual rocky and steep. It is clear that trail crews have done a lot of work on the Morgan Porter trail. It starts out wet and muddy in the area around Lake Arnold but there are numerous sections where bog bridging has been installed as well as a few staircases. The north summit is a great spot to take photos of either Marcy and the Great range in one direction and Algonquin and the MacIntyre range in the other. On the trail over to the actual (south) summit there are yet more bog bridges and one big staircase. Back on the north summit enjoying a sub for lunch a hiker arrived saying he had hiked up via the Trap Dike. I think he would be the first person I have encountered on a summit who was smoking a cigarette.

It was a spectacular day to be out hiking for mid September. A big thank you to the trail crew for all the work done on Mt Colden!

Springbreaking, ADK style

I "had to" use up some vacation days at work so a couple of long weekends in March hiking the ADKs seemed like a great plan. A long cold winter and steady snowfall since mid-January made for great snow conditions. I managed to get out on some cold but bluebird sunny days as well as  a couple of somewhat cloudy days for some great hikes and views. The quick trip up Mt Jo found the clearest views I have yet had up there. The hike up Round mountain was highlighted by the animal tracks evident in the thin layer of fresh snow. The most enjoyed of the hikes was to Mt Colden via the trail from Lake Arnold which brought my number of winter 46ers (all done in March) to 10. Although a mostly cloudy day, the winter views from Mt. Colden, of Mt. Marcy in one direction and the McIntyre range in the other, are spectacular!

Pics:

• Random St Huberts peak
• Round Mountain
• Mt Jo
• Mt Colden