Mid-March saw me return to the Adirondacks for a quick trip to bag a few more High Peaks. This trip happened a week later than originally planned – the Friday before my original planned date I noticed my oil life was very low and needed changing, so I opted to go the following weekend after getting my car serviced.
My plan was to complete a few more of the easier High Peaks on this trip, as the difficulty goes up considerably in the winter and some of the more difficult peaks I feel are better done in the fall. In addition, I was only planning to be there one night, so I wanted to do some hikes that are half to three quarters of a day long and are accessible from the same start point. Thus, Street & Nye as well as Tabletop & Phelps were logical choices.
Street & Nye are infamous for a potentially pesky water crossing which is practically impassable at certain times of the year. Nye is an interesting case as one of three ADK High Peaks that are NOT 4000 feet high or more – initially when surveyed it was believed to be higher but that was found to not be the case later on. Some maps even list it as being higher than 4000 feet. Tabletop and Phelps are two peaks fairly close to each other which are straightforward hikes. All four are accessible from Heart Lake / Adirondack Loj, which serves as a solid home base with many lodging/camping options.
For this trip, I opted to go for cold food the whole time rather than bring my camp stove. I had a surplus of avocados at home, and recently I’ve been in a wrap phase r.e. meals, so I made some pretty epic vegan wraps for the trip. Each wrap featured half an avocado, a few leaves of kale, some broccoli and a few tablespoons of red lentils. I also brought some of the hiking/camping staples – Clif bars, protein bars and trail mix.
I also took advantage of some end of winter season sales at MEC and Sail, where there were plenty of winter apparel items up to 50% off. I bought a bulkier puffy jacket with a hood (RAB Microlight Alpine) at Sail, and a nice hard shell jacket at MEC. I had also purchased a brand new pair of hybrid mountaineering boots (La Sportiva Trango) at MEC for an upcoming trip this summer (secret for now). In addition, I finally decided to step up my blister prevention game, by getting a couple more pairs of liner socks. My main hiking boots (Zamberlans) as well as the Trangos are fairly stiff, and I did not want to have a repeat of the last ADK trip, so my plan was to use moleskin AND liners.
Day 1
This trip was a quick one-nighter, which meant that to get the most bang for my buck, I would need to depart Toronto early on Saturday and return late on Sunday. The night before I packed all my gear into the car, split up nicely so my camping gear was in one grocery bin, my hiking gear in my 50L Alpinisto, and some extra stuff in another bin. This meant I could immediately start hiking upon arrival, and have all my camping gear organized and ready to set up after finishing my hike.
I got up bright and early at 4:50am and was on the road at 5:20am. I was a bit low on gas, so I stopped at the first ON Route in Port Hope for gas, coffee and a bagel from Tim Hortons. The trip was pretty smooth, other than an extremely rude, aggressive driver just after crossing the border, who had, of all things, ONTARIO plates. Why are the most aggressive drivers I encounter in New York from Canada?? I made it to the Heart Lake/Loj parking area in good time, around 11:45am, and discovered that the parking lot was jam-packed, with people hiking up the road a mile from the overflow parking. Yikes! This was the last official weekend of winter, so I suspect there were many people trying to pack in their last few ADK Winter 46 peaks. Luckily, I was able to check in at the Wilderness Campground early (check-in is normally at 3pm), so I was able to park at my campsite with no issues. The parking lot was extremely icy – when I first stepped out of my car I slipped and fell, with only slight embarrassment to show for it.
I strapped on my snowshoes, grabbed my pack and started my hike just before 12:20pm, and opted to go for Street and Nye first, as these two are a shorter hike as well as featuring less elevation gain. My goal was to finish and make camp before dark if ideal, so S&N were the logical choice. The trail was in superb shape – shoutouts to all the people who packed down the snow on the trail, creating an easy to follow trench. There is a rule in most areas of the High Peaks that you must wear snowshoes if the snow cover is 8 inches or deeper. This is to avoid what is called postholing, which is when your feet sink deep into the snow, creating a hole which can pose a safety hazard for others. Snowshoes spread your weight over a wider area, so it is significantly more difficult to posthole, and thus it is strongly frowned upon to “bareboot” or just use spikes on snow-covered trails. Not to mention it’s so much more fun to NOT sink in every step!
I eventually reached the infamous water crossing at Indian Pass Brook, which can make the trail virtually impassable at certain times of the year (such as springtime or after heavy rainfall). Winter can produce ice/snow bridges which make it possible to cross without getting one’s feet wet, and luckily there was a great spot just north of the main crossing area which had only a small slushy area which was solid. Not long after the water crossing, the incline started and I slowed down quite a bit. I had trucked out the first part of the trail and I really felt it here. I also foolishly did not employ the heel risers on my snowshoes which would have helped.
Eventually I reached the junction where the trail split between a short stretch leading to Nye and a longer section leading to Street. Here I met a couple close to my age from Ithaca who had just done Street and were headed up Nye, so I joined them. Super friendly people! We got some photos at a lookout just below the summit of Nye, great views of the MacIntyres! After descending back to the junction, I carried on up Street. Fairly straightforward from here. I met another couple at the top of Street who were in spikes, but I wasn’t really up for telling them they should use snowshoes as they were very friendly as well. I blew past them on the way down, which hopefully reinforced the fact that snowshoes are optimal!
The descent back to the Loj was fairly uneventful. I did encounter a gentleman who was hiking up with his arm in a sling, which was very impressive. I don’t think I’d be hiking if that was me, so props to him. In total, the hike was roughly 4 hours 40 minutes long, but I spent quite a bit of time chatting with the folks from Ithaca, so pretty good time overall. The bonus was that it was still daylight when I got back to my car!
At the campground I met a nice guy around my dad’s age from Vermont named Steve who was staying at a lean-to with his friends. He invited me over to join their campfire later on, which was definitely better than lying down in my tent in the cold and dark! I set up camp, which involved a bit of prep packing down the area my tent would be set up, but was able to get everything set up well before dark. This was a nice change from my previous visit to this site, where I was camping on ice and it was impossible to put my stakes in.
I decided to glam it up a bit and take a shower at the facilities before bed. Normally I wouldn’t do this as I’d be backcountry camping, but it’s so much more comfortable being clean while trying to sleep in a tent, so what the heck. I later joined Steven and his friends for a beer at their bonfire, super nice guys. At around 8pm I headed back to my tent and it was off to sleep.
Day 2
I woke up at 5am, after a fairly decent night’s sleep. The shower proved to be a very good call as I was not super sticky. I quickly packed up my gear under light of my headlamp, got in my car and drove a couple hundred meters to the parking lot near the visitor’s center. I paid for a full day of parking (was tempted to risk the half day knowing I’d be an hour or so later than the cutoff point), had a quick wrap for breakfast, got geared up, and started my hike at 6:15am.
It was a very cold morning, well below -10C, but I made good use of all the layers I brought and gradually removed some layers as I warmed up. I decided to go at a decently strong but not super hard pace to start, as I knew the days hike would be a little more strenuous than Street & Nye. It was a nice relatively flat packed down Van Hoevenberg trail which made for easy travel, and I made it to the junction where the turnoff for Phelps was in decent time. After a quick break (and seeing a couple guys who were heading to Marcy with skis/snowboards) I continued onwards over to Indian Falls, where the turnoff for Tabletop was.
I fueled up and began the climb. The trail was really easy to follow with no postholes, though it was a solid incline which made for a good workout! I’ve been keeping an eye on my heart rate and I noticed that I was able to get sustained effort if I kept it to below 150 bpm. Above 150 bpm, I noted that I needed to catch my breath much more frequently. As the tree line thinned out the temperature dropped considerably and further on, the trail was covered by snowdrifts. It was luckily visible enough that I was able to follow it onwards and finally made it to the summit, my 21st ADK High Peak! I later learned that this peak is particularly nasty in the summer as there is a bog on the summit and lots of bugs – glad I did it in the winter!
Upon arrival, I quickly donned my puffy jacket as it was quite windy and cold. My phone battery was nearly depleted as well, despite being in a chest pocket! I plugged it in to my power bank and luckily my digital camera was still functional so I was able to get some photos. I hunkered down and had a wrap – this truly was the most extreme hiking conditions I had been exposed to, aside from perhaps Colden this past November. After quickly refueling, I began my descent and was very glad to be back in the shelter of the trees. I met a few people on my way down, including a fellow Canadian named Guillaume, from Ottawa.
It was quick work getting back to the trailhead for Phelps and decided I was up for it, after all it was only a mile to the summit! Well…that one mile felt like three as it was a relentless ascent that seemed to never end. All the mileage from the last 24 hours was really starting to catch up with me! I saw quite a few people near the top and the views were a bit better, but still quite a bit of cloud cover. I could not find a summit sign (some of the High Peaks have them, some don’t, it turns out Phelps doesn’t after Googling afterward), but it was great to have my 22nd ADK High Peak under my belt. After a quick rest and snack at the top, I began my descent, which also felt a lot longer than a mile. I eventually made it back to the Van Hoevenberg trail and began the relatively flat trek back to the car.
I kept a fairly strong pace through to Marcy Dam, but my foot started hurting. I suspected it was due to tight boots and/or snowshoes, so I had to stop a couple times to adjust and even took off my boot at one point to completely reset. Luckily no lasting damage, this was likely a pressure point issue. I eventually made it back to the car after just over 7.5 hours of hiking. Definitely an interesting hike! I changed, bought a Gatorade at the visitor’s center to replenish my electrolytes, and bought patches for the peaks I had done that weekend. I was on the road by 2:45pm. Smooth sailing all the way, and made it home by 9pm, which included an absurdly long wait for food at an ON Route.
Overall, great weekend and bagged a few more peaks in the last official weekend of winter. With these, I’m almost halfway through the 46 and I’m super excited to finish the last batch off. I realistically think I will be done before the end of next winter; there are several peaks that I want to do in the winter as they are quite brutal in the summer with mud, bogs, rock hopping, and bugs. Hoping to get one last trip in the next couple weeks with winter-like conditions, fingers crossed!
Veg 'n' Alpine 