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

Spring break

First two days of spring break vacation:

• A hike up into a warm-ish cloud of snow on Esther mountain and
• a short hike up Mt Van Hoevenberg on a sunny but bitterly cold day.

Sore knees and more hikes to come!

Perfect sunny day for a Luskville stroll.

Blues skies and soft snow on the trail today. Not what I was expecting after plenty of rain on Friday. I should have brought the red sliding device today as conditions were perfect.

Pics

Pine Road ski/hike

I took advantage of a snowy day to "traverse" from P16 to P15. Bryan and his buddy Rick were hiking in from P15 and I decided to ski from P16. We met in the middle at Herridge cabin. The fire was stoked when we got inside and with a couple of logs added there was an inferno that quickly toasted our foil wrapped sandwiches. Toasted a little too much but who's complaining. Nothing like relaxing by a roaring fire in one of many cabins in Gatineau Park. We would have sent a pic of the refreshments and the fire to those who "could not make it due to work" but the cell phone tower was out of range. After a hearty lunch, we hiked back to P15. Somehow, I managed to go mostly uphill on both the ski AND the hike.

I hope this is the first of many traverse outings in 2014. There are several great ones I have in mind:

• AMR to Elk Lake via Pinnacle Ridge
• Route 73 to Elk Lake via Great Slide and Macomb Slide
• Zealand to Lincoln Woods via the Bonds.

More pics here

Short cut to McKinstry cabin

I took advantage of a gap in the "Polar Vortex" to go for a hike/ski to McKinstry cabin via Luskville Falls. It was the perfect temperature at a balmy -10 with a light snow falling! I wanted to try winter hiking in my xc ski boots and McKinstry is just far enough from the fire tower to be a good turnaround spot after the hike and then a short ski. The usual ski to McKinstry is at least 10 K one way and is a bit of a roller coaster of hills along the way. My "short cut" was easier and the 2.5 K ski was great for my first time on xc skis this winter. The Luskville trail is sheer ice below the trail split but the footing got better as there was more fresh snow the higher you got and it was snowing all day. I only saw two hikers on the Luskville trail but it was packed at the cabin which was toasty warm with the woodstove cranked! I forgot to bring a lunch and was envious of those who had their foil wrapped sandwiches toasting away on the stove. The return trip was a breeze other than some slipping and sliding near the bottom.

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Yet another Luskville stroll

Saturday was a good day to head up the Fire Tower trail (again). It was pretty cold and windy out to start but you warm up with the constant uphill and it is always warmer in the shelter of the woods. I was sluggish to start due to a recent cold but felt better once I got up to the Pontiac lookout. A lone skier made the Fire Tower turnaround just as I was taking some photos up there. On the way back down it was much warmer and the sun had come out. I'm glad I went out and earned my spot on the couch on one of the better sports days of the year!

Cold bench, nice hike!

 

 

There were no views to be had today from the awesome bench on the Wolf Trail and it had a thin coating of ice on it. Still, I enjoyed the hike up on a nice hard packed trail of snow past trees coated in snow and ice. Quite the winter wonderland. I sat for about 5 minutes before turning around and returning home to a warmer indoor bench! There is plenty of snow in the park but more would always be welcomed!

 



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Winter arrives on time

Two weeks later and on the winter solstice no less, I headed back up the Luskville Fire Tower trail. It looks a whole lot different after two recent dumps of snow. I opted for microspikes although snowshoes probably would have been a better choice. On the way up I followed the tracks (and trench) of some snowshoers (thanks) to the right at the trail split. There is ankle to knee deep snow up there to enjoy. I didn't linger at the tower and headed straight back down. I did my part breaking trail taking the other side of the loop. I am glad I was heading downhill when breaking trail!

If this winter is to be judged by it's first day, I say this winter will be top notch!

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Spring before Winter at the Luskville Fire Tower

I went for a hike to the Luskville Fire Tower yesterday. Strange that we have already had a decent snowfall and then melt before winter has even officially started. Plenty of local out on the trails (see above). I guess they welcome any opportunity to chow down without having to dig through snow and ice. More snow please!

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Snow-vember on the Wolf Trail!

 

 

I went for a counter-clockwise hike on the Wolf trail today. As per usual, there is a lot more snow in Gatineau Park than I thought there would be. I brought my spikes but did not need them. The sky was overcast but there were some interesting colors in the sky at the horizon line and where the sun was visible through the clouds.

 

 

Here's hoping that this early snow means an extra long snow season this year!!

Cascade and Porter with Lucky (the dog)

OK, so winter is not quite done yet. I took advantage of a sunny day to hike Cascade and Porter yet again. Trails were icy in the early morning and both my knees and I agreed that this hike was preferrable to other options I had been considering. On the way up I encountered two groups coming down with no traction aids. They were having a few "stability issues". It was a perfect day for microspikes. At the summit I met a couple of hikers and their dog. It turns out that the dog had been rescued from an abusive owner and was then adopted by one of the hikers. Now, she is in a good home and has a hiking partner to go exploring with.

Happy trails, Lucky!

More pics from the perfect day.

Note that the dog's name my or may not actually be "Lucky" :-)

Another White Mountains spring break

I just spent a week snowshoeing and hiking around the White Mountains. Last year at around this time there was a tropical warm spell in March that was too "spring-like" and the trails were soft. Temps this time were more winter-like as it was above 0 the first day I was there and well under the rest of the week. Low temps are fine as long as the sun is out and the trails were nice and hard making microspikes the selected mode of transport.

• On an overcast and warm day I hiked Mt Starr King and Waumbek to make another dent in the NH 4000 footers. No views to be had but there was plenty of cool rime coating of evergreen trees near the summits
• On a much colder but sunny day I hiked up Mt Willard. Views were awesome and surprisingly I had it to myself for about a half hour.
• Mt Crawford should have had the best views of all the hikes but there were overcast skies. I caught a few glimpses of what should have been but this will have to be hiked again on a clear day.
• A quick trip up to Lonesome Lake was a great idea on a bluebird day. This is a magical spot and especially so when you can walk across the lake!
• Some of the tourist centric spots along the Kancamaugus Highway are really quiet in the winter. Rocky Gorge, especially, was a real relaxing spot to sit and watch the Swift river flow by!
• Shopping as always was cheap and tax free! 

Fire tower first tracks

Looking for a hike to do on New Year's Day, I headed to the Luskville Falls trail. I decided to avoid the vortex on the Wolf trail that keeps sucking hikers to another dimension (and the parking lots along Meech lake are now closed). There is plenty of snow on the west side of the escarpment too and although it was a cold day it was not too bad once in the shelter of the woods. I was lucky enough to see a young deer at the first lookout enjoying the view (pic above). There is some damage in the forest on the upper parts of the trail but nothing that can't be avoided and in fact all the snow and ice in the trees looks real pretty. It was a fun ride down on my mini sled which used the hiker's trench like a luge run.

More snow please! And more pics

Wolf trail winter wonderland!!

All I wanted for Christmas was plenty of snow. Before Christmas we got plenty of wet heavy snow that I struggled to shovel from my driveway due to a bad cold. On the 27th we got an equal load of light fluffy stuff! So today I took the day off to sample the "white gold" on the Wolf trail. There is a mess of downed trees in Gatineau Park due to the earlier snowfall and apparently some hikers had trouble on this trail on Thursday. Today, I managed to stay on the trail by following the trench and although it didn't look familiar I would say that this is the best conditions up there in a long time. The snow and ice in the trees is really cool. Some trees look like chandeliers and others are just strange shapes all coated in snow. I went as far as the bench that looks south over the park and stopped there to soak in the view.

Is it asking too much to get some more of this white stuff in 2012?

More pics!

Icy wolf trail

We've had a little snow but not enough for my liking. Seeing a sunny day forecast for Saturday I went for a loop on the Wolf trail. It was coated in a white substance which was closer to ice than snow. Most of the trail was passable in bare boots but mixed in were ice flows that would have been better suited to skates. Bring spikes if you have them as it will make for a more pleasurable hike.

Please Santa, all I want for christmas is a fresh and steady supply of snow!

Strolling up the Whiteface Memorial Highway

I had originally planned to do this a few weeks back when it was still somewhat "wintery". There was still a few patches of snow on the road, mostly about 50 yards or so and not too deep. For the most part it was down to the concrete with a fast moving stream in the ditch and torrents draing off the slopes wherever there was a brook. About a third of the way up a couple of guys in a truck with chains on the tires came up behid. It seems that they were seeing how far up they could go. I guess they gave up after the second section of deepish snow altough that was the worst of it and they could have easily made it all the way up. I'm glad that they tried as they plowed a wide swath for me through the only deep snow on the trail.

Other than the random snow on the road and in the woods this was like a mid summer day. It was bright and hot at the top, the view was hazy and there was not a lot of snow in the surrounding area. Seems strange to be able to count such a day towards the winter patch but no complaints from me!

More pics.

A short hike to Mt Tecumseh

I got a late start on my hike up Mt Tecumseh. It was a long drive and I was stiff and sore from hiking Mt Moriah the previous day. It was really warm, warm enough to hike in a toque and one layer of fleece. This trail consists of a walk through open forest, a drop to cross a brook and then a long gently graded ramp to the summit ridge. Microspikes did the trick for the entire hike. The best views (of the Tripyramids) were courtesy of a short side trail to the Waterville Valley ski area. From the summit you can see Mt Washington framed between the two Osceolas as well as the view across the valley to the Tripyramids.

The afore mentioned ramp made for a quick descent (although not a quick as the kid on downhill skis who passed me). This is yet another example of well designed hiking trails in New Hampshire.

Spring break on the Carter-Moriah trail

Mt Moriah is not a big mountain (4049 feet) but due to the low elevation of the trailhead (a short walk from my motel) this hike gains 3400 feet from it's start at the end of Bangor Road in Gorham. I started out with just my boots and switched over to snowshoes when I stopped to enjoy the views from Mt Surprise. From there to Moriah it was steady up with occasional flat spots, dips and short steep pitches. Just as I was almost out of gas I looked down (plenty of snow depth on this trail) and saw the sign for the spur path to the summit which was a large rock in the midst of the woods. Shortly after arriving a large group who had come up the Stoney Brook trail joined me.

A perfect spring day with bluebird skies and great conditions. The local ski hills are likely not happy with the unusual warm weather but it makes spring hikes a real pleasure. Early morning conditions were a firm crust but by mid afternoon things had softened considerably. I made good use of my red rocket personal sliding device and had a nice afternoon nap at Mt Surprise.

A Cold Bench

A cold bench on sunny winter afternoon beats a warm office every time!

Following the trench to Street and Nye

I started my "winter" hiking season on Saturday with a hike up Street and Nye mountains from the LOJ. I say "winter" because I only hike in the winter as the weather tends towards spring. Spring is certainly in evidence down low where the ice across the brooks is starting to melt and break up and in fact a lot of the fields along the roads on the drive down were snow free. However once you gained any elevation there was plenty of snow in and around the snow trench that is the herd path to Street and Nye. The is one of the "trail-less" hikes in the Adirondacks which means that there are no signs (except for the S and N carved into a tree at the col) pointing the way. Nevertheless the trail is obvious and easy to follow in summer and in winter, well there is the trench. Impossible to miss on the way up and like a luge run on the way down. Just sit down and let gravity have it's way with you (which I did)! Sadly, the bright sunny day with few clouds when I started out was replaced by a snow shower when I got the summit of Street so I missed the under-rated views from Street of the MacIntyres. A fine day that served to whet my appetite for more of the same!

Check out the impressive work by a local beaver near Indian Pass brook.


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