The method to my madness. First look at Strava, then photos, include or not. We were training for CO, the heat and humidity were on! September will be long, because… goals
Jul 2024: Indian Head and Rainbow Falls Loop AMR, Adirondacks. This was our 4th of July hike, pretty sweet as always. July included multiple other peaks for training but sticking to just this Indian Head Highlight
Aug 2024: Training included many peaks as we were prepping. I loved taking CK through Avalanche Pass. We went up ADK High Peak, Colden.
Sept 2024- I won’t repeat everything from the dedicated blog posts for these epic hikes. However, all the Lake City 14ers deserve a shining spotlight. I would reclimb all of these.
Redcloud and Sunshine:
Wetterhorn: Phenomenal hike, maybe my favorite class 3 in CO thus far.
Uncompahgre: What an amazing hike, looking forward to repeating as I was quite ill until the summit. Absolutely glorious!
Handies– The next time I visit the American Basin and climb Handies it will be during wildflower season. It was still dreamy, and we saved the easiest for last.
The timing and weather conditions were certainly in my favor as we returned home. The leaves were just beginning their evolution. My favorite hiking season, fall, included hitting up Rocky Peak Ridge via New Russia. Then, of course, there was the beautiful Indian Head.
Oct 2024
Sunrise Mt Jo: I had never climbed Mt. Jo, so I took a touristy day and walked around Heart Lake. It was easygoing but absolutely worth every moment,and the colors were popping! This was such a glorious trip.
Roostercomb/Snow:
So much beauty in this loop. Love it, definitely on a repeat list.
Bald Peak- For the first time, I was able to show Becky the beauty of this peak. On our first attempt together, we were weathered out of views. We went a bit beyond Bald, but not all the way to RPR. Love this trail!
Sleeping Beauty, Southern Adirondacks: The colors on this bluebird day hike may have been my favorite this fall. Even if the pictures don’t do it justice. Simply brilliant.
Nov 2024-Southern Tongue Range for Becky’s 12ster. Wow, the tornado damage was surreal. Amazing work by trail 46ers, but this area will need time and additional effort. A true obstacle hiking course.
Dec 2024
Hurricane Sunrise– I saw the weather forecast and trail conditions. I had the luxury of a 1/2 day on Friday. This enabled an early bedtime. I got up super early to catch this phenomenal winter sunrise delight. One of my favorite hikes of the year. The full moon lit my way as an additional guiding light in the darkness.
Snowy– The small goal I’m working on is the ADK 29er challenge. I have done most of the peaks through 46er and 29er challenges, but I have about 10 left. Laura and I had a fun day with the mountain all to ourselves. The butt slides on the very steep last section made me feel like a kid again.
We had a tremendous warm-up and melt of snow after our Snowy hike. I was left wondering what to do on New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately, the weather is way too windy. There’s no New Year’s Day hike today. I settled on one of my favorite little hikes this year,
Hopkins. This was my sixth time hiking this mountain this year. It’s short but has a nice elevation gain, the views are rewarding, and easy access from my house. The conditions were surreal for this time of year. A snowstorm is coming in, so hopefully we will be back to seasonal weather. Happy 2025 all! Hoping your year is healthy and happy- for me that will mean I’m hiking. Cheers!
While the weather outside is yucky for hiking, to my disappointment, I figured it’s a good time to blog. The next two posts will feature my favorite photos or moments. Part 1 will cover January to June of 2024. Part 2 will focus on July to December of 2024.
Mountains, the place I feel most at home, merging my favorite things together, hiking and photography. As I reflect on 2024, I feel grateful for my hiking adventures. I was able to take on the challenges before me physically and mentally. In order of month, here were some of my favorite experiences:
January 2024: New Year’s Day- Noonmark, Adirondacks, NY- It is such a great hike. I always get the most unique weather surprises on this peak. The cloud beauty is remarkable.
February: 1) Cascade Mountain, High Peak, Adirondacks, NY– Always a great high peak due to distance and dreamy views
2) Avalanche Lake and Colden Lake, Adirondacks, Lake Placid, NY
What a cool adventure! I’m hoping for the chance to do this again, c’mon back cold!
March 2024: Buck Mountain, Fort Ann, NY Southern Adirondacks- Closest mountain to me, and just beautiful views of Lake George.
April 2024: 1) Birthday Eclipse at Schroon Lake – Although we couldn’t hike on my birthday due to several factors, we had an amazing time without any traffic issues taking in totality at this location. Thanks to Cindy for the insider parking and providing a great home base with her camp.
2)Minnewaska State Park Reserve– First Hike back with Becky 🙂
Becky suffered a tibial plateau fracture just before Christmas 2023 and had been working super hard to recover. She has done phenomenally in her recovery!
There were multiple other hikes during these months, but these were my favorites.
May 2024: 1) Blue Ridge Mountains, NC- Rough Ridge Trail, Boone Fork Trail, Beacon Heights, Linville Gorge – Sunrise shots paint the sky the morning of the Aurora that night!
2) The sunrise hikes in the Blue Ridge reminded me of how much I love and enjoy these. I was blessed with the timing of a clear morning on Cascade, (again!) for an epic sunrise.
3) Bald Peak via New Russia- So much love for this trail- to Bald or RPR or traverse to Giant. Such great views.
Life gets in the way, it’s nice to have a moment to complete out the CO trip blog:
We had accomplished our goal. The weather was non-ideal for hiking for the next couple of days. So, we went through Silverthorne and met with the most lovely Erin for lunch. She’s the best. I’m so glad I got to see her again. We were slumming in hiking clothes, while the lovely Erin was draped in cashmere. 🫶
Although the time was short, we made the most of catching up and drove on to Steamboat. We drove down memory lane. Chris and I had driven this stretch of highway countless times when living in the area. We often went back and forth to the front range. We noted small changes, the desire to hike a mountain that may be possible with a rope that we’ve both had our eyes on for many years. Once we got to Rabbit Ears Pass, I felt a little teary-eyed. I thought about my sweet Tela. We enjoyed many snowshoes, mountain biking, and hiking adventures in this beautiful area. Amazing memories, and such a beautiful adventure. Photos below are grainy due to loss of original files!
We settled easily into the super awesome accommodation for two nights. Thank you again, Amy Brown, if you are reading! We managed to see some old friends and get just a taste of old stomping grounds. Our local friends noted some things had changed. Some changes were more significant than others. In life, you can find yourself in a small bubble. But it does seem Steamboat is becoming more like Vail. Unfortunately, this means I could never really fit in there again. Still a magical, beautiful place, and I’m happy it was once my home. It rained a bit. So, we took advantage of an opportunity to get massages. These were very needed due to the bed switches, travel, and some soreness from the 14ers we climbed. My therapist was tiny but mighty in power and skill. I jokingly asked her if I could take her home with me in my pocket.
We said farewell to Steamboat. We drove back to the Front Range. We spent a few days with friends before flying back. A glorious CO vacation indeed! See you again soon.
No foreshadowing, we did it! Day 3- Uncompahgre and Handies 14ers done! I was really feeling rough going up Uncompahgre. It is a beautiful peak, but I was so sick the entire time with stomach issues. TMI for the sensitive reader, but when I finally got some of whatever upset my stomach, it was green. Enough said. So, it was not the best time for CK, but I did my best. I turned the corner post-summit and started feeling stronger again. I look forward to redoing this one again, although the drive-up is a PITA. Very grateful for a Jeep and not being the driver.
I was so happy I felt better. I knew I would rather push it to Handies, even if I was catching something. There was a risk I would have no energy or face weather issues the following day. So we went for it. We ran back to the Airbnb. We ate rice for lunch for some extra carbs. Then we went on a Jeep drive to American Basin TH. We started Handies at 3:07 pm. Sunset was at 7:17. We needed to do this one as fast as possible to avoid driving that 20 4WD miles in the dark.
I think CK had his doubts, which considering my performance on Uncompahgre was understandable, but I was ready.
Our total elapsed time on Handies was 2 hours and 47 minutes. We had indeed saved the easiest for last. I can envision just how beautiful the wildflowers are in the American Basin. We had some odd encounters with hikers on the way.
Screenshot
The Strava stats say it all! Massive effort, complete with amazing moments, some mental and physical struggles, and overall, success and character building experiences.
Oddities on this hike with others included an older gentleman who had decided not to summit. He left his party and was waiting for them both at the alpine lake. Then he must have just gone back to his truck. He was driving back to the parking lot as we were leaving and asked if we had seen them. We advised of whom we saw and their descriptions but were pretty sure we had not seen who he described. Hopefully, they all reunited!
We were super stoked, and for a celebration went back to our favorite eatery, this time for yummy ribs. It was chilly outside, and dark, so we sat inside. Our waitress from the previous two days congratulated us on our completing our goal.
Looking back, I was amazed we were able to complete it in 3 days. We were very lucky to have been able to accomplish this goal. Next blog post our first return to Steamboat Springs in 6 years! Keep on keeping on, looking forward to getting outside for some NY ADK fall foilage tomorrow!
I was in a deep sleep. My body was likely exhausted from completing yesterday’s adventure on Redcloud and Sunshine.
I was awakened abruptly at 3am. At first, I was a little confused, like waking from a lucid dream and trying to remember where I am? Oh. Right. I’m in Lake City, in the Airbnb, where there is bear activity. Holy smokes, there is a bear in the garage behind the bed I am sleeping in. She is ravaging, looking for food. CK was sleeping in the downstairs bedroom. I quickly ran to him like some child waking a parent. I had never been that close to a bear on the hunt before. I remembered that everything I knew was to be loud and make noise to try to scare her away. I certainly was not counting on the bear not being tempted to barrel through the bedroom wall. So we flipped the lights into the garage and did some yelling. She finally left, and somehow, likely exhaustion, I fell back asleep before the alarm was set. I found out that she then visited outside the downstairs where CK was sleeping. Unfortunately, he was not well rested for our Friday 13th Day 2 14er, Wetterhorn Peak. However, he handled it like a champ. We headed out with happiness and relief that the bear bothered neither the rental car nor the Jeep. The Airbnb had a shed. The door was destroyed. I sent a message to the host. Off we went to Wetterhorn! We saw a few folks en route. We met an awesome couple who live in Superior, CO, Jackie, and Alan. We would complete most of the hike with them, including the technical parts, and walk out.
Wetterhorn was so much fun. The ADKs have their scrambles, but this type of exposure is not the same. We were playing a little leapfrog with Jackie and Alan on the trail. Then once we got to the class 3 section, we were all in together. It was super fun, the only part I wasn’t looking forward to was the downclimb. How was I going to manage some of those sections? I’ve always had a rule in hiking. That is to never go up when you aren’t willing to come down. Certain parts of this had me wondering. 🤔 . Up we went, around the Prow.
What an amazing day! On the downclimb, Alan and Jackie gave awesome beta. I only felt sketchy on one move. CK gave me a hand on that move. It was great hiking both the technical parts and non-technical parts of this hike with them. Small world, as Superior is super close to Louisville!
We went back to revisit our favorite eatery. We also chatted with the Airbnb host. The host was very relaxed about the bear incident. And that was 14er 3 complete. Two more to go to meet the goal. The weather was not looking promising on Sunday. Could we do Uncompahgre Peak and Handies on the same day? It would require a full day of hiking, and driving to different trailheads ( about an hour apart on 4WD roads.) I had started to feel slightly run down and tired, which was not super surprising as my sleep scores/body battery were quite low.
Due to other priorities, we vacationed in Colorado in Sep 2024 this year. The trip was dynamic. Plans were in place. However, life happens. Some friends could no longer join us for our big goal, which was to complete 5 14ers of Lake City, CO. https://lakecity.com/a-guide-to-hiking-lake-citys-five-14ers/. We didn’t get to visit with as many friends and family as we would have desired. But, we are very grateful to everyone who made an effort to connect. Even if the time was limited, it was special. Our greeting outside the airport was that I-36 to Boulder was closed with little warning. We later learned there was a shooting incident. We ended up the first couple of nights in a hotel. We were eating brunch on Sunday morning in Denver. We did so with special friends/family.
Before we traveled to Lake City, we went to check in on our property. We had some ‘adulting’ to do before our adventure could truly begin. We ate at our favorite Mexican place, and hiked Bear Peak as an acclimatization hike. Then we went to Casa Bonita! Finally! We had been in a queue for ‘tickets’ for a year. It worked out where Grace and Sky joined for the adventure. Super sweet and quite organized, we definitely enjoyed ourselves! (some perhaps a bit too much, if that’s a thing).
As we studied the weather, we decided it was time to drive to Lake City. There was a beautiful window of opportunity. The weather was nice the day we traveled, and we were only delayed by some minor road construction. We arrived at our Airbnb and chatted with the owner. They warned us that a mama bear was coming around with two cubs in the neighborhood. We enjoyed the evening, ate some pasta, and got ready for the next day, game time. Day 1- Redcloud and Sunshine. I had studied this route. It is a straightforward Class 2 climb up Redcloud. Then, lose elevation and gain Sunshine. Descend and regain Redcloud. Finally, descend back to the Grizzly Gulch trailhead. There were warnings and signs about the pathway, as some people can make a loop for RC and Sunshine. I was in no mood to potentially end up on cliffs on the first day descending. So we stuck to the trail on 14ers. This was to avoid issues with getting off trail and having to add on extra mileage. This was a marathon, not a sprint. It was a beautiful day. We met a contagiously happy and strong gentleman. I had seen him on social media working on his 14ers. Such energy and positivity! He was lifting weights when we arrived at the trailhead. He greeted Chris and me with hugs and high-fives. He was working his upper body strength. He told us “You guys are so fast.” Yet he was the one lifting weights in the parking lot. He explained it’s a total body package. He had worked his lower body, but not his upper on these two 14ers. Some amazing photos from Redcloud and Sunshine:
We departed and drove the easiest path to any of the trails in our rental car. We then headed into town. We ate at the restaurant of choice, the Packer Saloon and Cannibal Grill. They treated us with kindness and amazing food. Their hospitality truly fueled these 14ers. Afterward, we picked up a Jeep for the following day’s adventure. Up next, Friday the 13th, on Wetterhorn!
It’s been a while since I last wrote many things keeping me busy and still processing the loss of Tela. Of course, grief has its own way, and we learn to keep navigating life without those who were so much a part of our existence. Still miss and love you sweet Tela, so blessed.
We were able to go down to NC to the mountains for Mother’s Day and stay in the cabin where I went to grad school. That was a great deal of fun with beautiful sunrise hikes, unfortunately, rained out s’mores, connecting with old friends, and great family time. The weather was great for sneaking in some fantastic sunrise hikes.
I was glad to get some hikes in pretty steady training, and now things have changed in our original summer plans, doing the right thing by my employees, so Chris and I are targeting a new fitness goal of attempting 5 14ers in Lake City, CO in September. https://lakecity.com/a-guide-to-hiking-lake-citys-five-14ers/ We may end up adding on La Plata Peak or switching something of course dependent on weather, but training has begun, and I always do better when I have a goal to train for.
We went to Belmont non-remarkable, lol, not my thing, and had a team building training at work. I felt my strength finder matched my thoughts.
The first week of summer has been super miserable for any hiking with strong storms in the forecast and even being experienced here. We had to switch up mountains for running, and my body definitely told me this morning, ‘You haven’t used these muscles in this way recently.’. This is a good reminder that training for hiking by hiking to ensure you are getting some mileage and elevation, cross training, especially cardio training such as running is critical to regain cardio fitness before the trip as well. Some recent photos of hiking in the ADK, Jay Mountain, Buck, and Catkskills with Becky, hoping this summer turns out to be much drier than last, some photos include this magnificent solo sunrise and moonset hike up Cascade and Porter! Need to make more sunrise hikes a priority in life. Be well, happy adventuring!
Aha, here we are at the finale post of the ranking of the ADK 46er journey sans the Dix Range. I will not be applying stars to the Mountains ranked 21-41.
I don’t know if I ever really broke down the different ranges- so this particular post provides some context to the Adirondack Ranges Involved in this challenge.
Great Range:
–Upper Great Range: Consists of Haystack, Basin, Saddleback
-Lower Great Range: Sawteeth, Gothics, Armstrong, Upper and Lower Wolfjaw
Macintyre Range: Algonquin, Iroquois, Wright
Dix Range: (omitted in the ranking post due to extreme poor conditions and these mountains wouldn’t be ranked where they would fall.) Consists of Dix, Hough, Grace, S. Dix, Macomb
Seward Range: Consists of Sewards, Donaldson, Emmons, Seymour
Santaooni Range: Consists of Santanooni, Couchsachraga, Panther
To recap: The first 20 rankings are as follows from my bias:
Gothics (Cable Route)
Rocky Peak Ridge via New Russia
Algonquin
Saddleback Cliffs
Haystack
Skylight
Marcy
Giant
Armstrong
Big Slide
Cascade
Colden via Avalanche Pass
Wright
Whiteface
Nippletop
Sawteeth
Dial
Colvin
Iroquois
Phelps
21. Upper Wolfjaw– Hiking Partners: Becky, Tela Strava Stats 24.21 mi Elevation Gain-4,797 ft Elapsed Time 12:10:40 (Gothics->Armstrong->Upper and Lower Wolfjaw). This peak has some cool scrambles and views. This was part of the oops Gothics cable adventure with Tela, so my memory was more focused on her comfort at that moment as her paws were a bit tender/bloody. This is still a classic high peak and would repeat as we first intended with Upper and Lower WJ.
22. Basin: Hiking Partners, Becky, Laura, 46er finisher. (Some trail angels included on this one). Strava Stats (Haystack, Basin, Saddleback):17.75 mi8:32:235,502 ft-Elevation Gain 13:12:23 Elapsed Time
I overhyped the effort of Basin based on some photo someone posted online for the descent and some of the things I had read so was not really looking forward to this. It was a steep ascent but not horrible sketchy descent but worse than I had built up in my mind and I guess the angle of the photo online, but Basin of course gets a better rating for it’s breathtakingly beautiful summit views.
23. Seymour– Hiking Partner Becky, Strava Stats: 23.05 mi Elevation Gain 6,260 ft yup, Elapsed TIme 16:26:26 This started our adventure in the longest day in the Sewards range. I felt like we would never get out of this mountain range, and I am sorry, not sorry, you could not pay me to go back. The range is remote, 2.5 hours away from my house… Seymour itself was steep, typical ADK mud, with extra mustard, straight up steep, with rocks upon rocks , and sadly no views, but it did mark Becky’s half way point on the journey to 46.
24. Cliff: Hiking Partners: Becky, Laura: Strava Stats: 20.19 mi Elevation Gain 4,413 ft Elapsed Time 13:38:18 (Cliff and Redfield) Often spoke of as a semi-challenging scramble, I was looking forward to this one. Cliff was challenging but the main memory that only stands out in my mind was being stuck on one semi-solid foot hold while a chatty couple sitting down on Cliff engaged Laura in a conversation and me saying, “we have to move or I’m going to lose footing”. Ledges were fine, good work arounds as well.
25. Panther : Hiking Partners Becky and Laura: Strava Stats: (Panther, Santa, and Couchsachraga) 17.02 mi Elevation Gain 5,030 ft Elapsed Time 16:27:03.
Wild crazy weather hit just as we were summiting as we unfortunately saved this for last on our journey of the Santas, but in typical oops, we found we missed our turn and did the loop beginning with Panther instead of ending. Saw a gorgeous sunrise as we headed up, then starting singing Mr. Sun as we needed that vitamin D boost for this hike!
26. Lower WJ,– Hiking Partners: Becky, Tela Strava Stats 24.21 mi Elevation Gain-4,797 ft Elapsed Time 12:10:40 (Gothics->Armstrong->Upper and Lower Wolfjaw). I was pretty gassed by the time we hit Lower WJ that day. Thank goodness Becky encouraged me to keep going and not orphan the peak. Lesson learned- have quick sugar on hand! Lower WJ didn’t have as many views as upper of this magnificent range.
27. Tabletop, Hiking Partners: Becky, Tela: 19.74 mi Elevation Gain: 3,866 ft Elapsed Time 9:02:54
Tabletop is a great peak with a wooded summit bit of the initiation to the ADK mud! I definitely was so happy Tela did not get sucked into the mud.
28. Esther, Hiking Partners: First time, Becky, Second Time, Tela, Becky, Laura, Tela. 8.00 mi, Elevation Gain 3,205 ft Elapsed Time 5:15:38. Such pretty views of Whiteface, further than I remembered the second time as we grabbed whiteface first 🙂
29. Porter, Hiking Partners: Becky and Tela , Strava Stats: 8.42 mi Elevation Gain: 2,401 ft Elapsed Time 5:18:29
2nd High Peak hiked ever paired with Cascade. I would recommend doing this peak first if I were starting my 46 journey, then move on to Cascade. Cascade’s views are stellar, so good to start with Porter which I just recall many mud pits, but there were some views.
30/31- Street/Nye– Hiking Partners: Becky, Laura, Tela 9.91 mi Elevation Gain 2,877 ftElapsed Time 6:22:06 (Street and Nye)
Tough hike for one in my party that day, but we timed this one right with the snow. Crossing the Opalescent can yield adventure, so careful timing is required as conditions can become dangerous. For me this hike of Street and Nye were special as there was snowy but not frigid conditions and Tela was able to join in.
32. Allen Hiking Partners: Becky, Laura Strava Stats: 20.43 mi Elevation Gain 3,881 ft Elapsed Time 11:35:19
Well- Allen is much talked about as a high peak, as it is one single adventure to check off the list only 1 mountain clocking in at 20.43 miles for our hike is pretty daunting , unless you are truly a type IV adventurer. The first section is pretty flat and easy. The last mile or so to the summit is one heck of a challenge. The red slime was out in full force, and I likely dulled a pair of my microspikes but they made when we got slightly off route. I definitely recall feeling I had somehow underestimated this mountain. It felt good to put the puzzle piece in, and Allen does truly offer beautiful views. The upper part of the trail is just a bit undesirable for me, so I would not foresee me ever hiking this mountain again. I still raise my eyebrows in wonder of what happened to the two young gentlemen we met on the trail who seemed to come out of no where in cotton hoodies with no backpacks or water asking how much further to the summit. Never saw a rescue report on them, so hopefully they made it safe.
33. Redfield– Hiking Partners Becky and Laura, Strava Stats: Hiking Partners: Becky, Laura: Strava Stats: 20.19 mi Elevation Gain 4,413 ft Elapsed Time 13:38:18 (Cliff and Redfield)
Maybe I ranked this too low? I don’t know, reflecting on Redfield, I recall it being up and and up but beside a stream the entire way, so not horrid. It did go on forever and was definitely lots of up and rocks. We had a beautiful day with nice views.
34. Blake– Hiking Partner: Becky, Strava Stats: 24.76 mi Elevation Gain 6,389 ft Elapsed Time15:18:46 (Colvin->Blake->Colvin->Nippletop->Dial)
Hmm, well if you do Colvin->Blake the way we did it I feel fine with ranking it here. Blake isn’t as bad as chatter may make it seem. The col between Blake and Colvin is sketch, there’s no doubt, so I see the chatter, of all that to come to a rock that says Blake. Um, ok, cool, wait we have to retrace all those steps and go back up and over Colvin. Whew. Yeah, the views on the way to Blake are worthwhile, but, in fairness I have heard the alternate approach offers a better experience potentially.
35.Marshall- Hiking Partners: Becky, Tela: Strava Stats: 16.92 mi Elevation Gain3,215 ft Elapsed Time 9:22:16
Memory- Ugh, no sloptastic. LOL I would never do Marshall again. Granted, we hiked this in Summer 2023, on a day it was not raining but had been per typical trend in the summer of 2023 but rained alot days prior to the hike. We were able to take Tela Moose, but, we had 5 out and back river crossings and it wasn’t by any means unsafe, but it was tiring and wet. It was the first time on our 46er journey 40/46 that I had to change shirts at the summit. I was drenched from the water from the thick herd path trees.
36. Seward– Hiking Partner Becky, Strava Stats: 23.05 mi Elevation Gain 6,260 ft yup, Elapsed time 16:26:26 (Seward Range Seymour->Seward->Donaldson->Emmons). Ugh. I’m not even sure I have many photos of the trip up Seward because having a phone out was not really ideal. It is very steep with many scrambles required careful points of contact, but all the rocks were wet. I was extremely happy not to have to go down the mountain in this direction. I much rather climb up than down climb wet rock. This range is notorious for always being wet and muddy, (although we know some lucky souls who experienced it dry, which would be quite different. We were pretty mentally ready for the misty weather and steepness, but we were not really ready for the bogs we encountered.
One tried to eat Becky, which was really a scary moment. Like quicksand, except a hug bog of mud had trapped her leg! Thankfully, she able to escape undamaged minus being insanely muddy and changed her socks and on we continued. The ADK always trying to kill you, lol.
37. Santanooni- Hiking Partners: Becky, Laura: Strava Stats (Panther, Santa, and Couchsachraga) 17.02 mi Elevation Gain 5,030 ft Elapsed Time 16:27:03. We had some amazing views, from this adventure, but our feet were definitely squishy and we were getting tired physically and mentally from all the wet and mud. We made our 3rd summit, and then began our descent down the Santa Express., which had a cliff that was sketchy even to crab walk or butt slide down. There were two girls that waited for us and said, don’t go that way I fell. Um, yeah, while one partner was already half way down I think 2 of us threw our packs and crab walked down holding onto any friction on a slide.
38. Gray– Hiking Partner: Becky, Strava Stats: 19.24 mi Elevation Gain 5,367 ft Elapsed Time 13:10:05 (Marcy, Skylight, Gray)
After walking past the turn off to Gray and extending our hike while doing Marcy, Skylight, Gray on a Canadian wildfire impacted day, it kinda of set the tone for Gray. The trail itself invoked many curses and unpleasantries about this hike from Gray->back to the car and through Shrek’s swamp. Per my earlier rankings the other part of the hike, peaks Marcy and Skylight were amazing. It was also the first time on our journey that I pulled out the bug net as they were pretty bad at Lake Tear of the Clouds 41/-43/46. It probably does not help that we then descended through Shrek’s Swamp Bog, but we didn’t go swimming, so it was a win considering our conditions. I would absolutely not re-do Gray, but definitely Marcy and Skylight and then back and over Marcy on this trio.
39. Donaldson-HIking Partner: Becky, Strava Stats: 23.05 mi Elevation Gain 6,260 ft yup, Elapsed Time 16:26:26 (Seward Range) -The trip to Donaldson was a piece of a story of one of the more memorable moments that we met our mystery trail angel on the finisher who ran into the same. An elderly lady, then a granny 70s (?) coming up the back side of Seward, assuring us we were almost there giving me this false sense of what lie ahead. Bogs, mud, mud, mud pits, logs, and then yeah we reached it. Only to look out to see what type II fun was in front of us, then ridiculous realization of just how far we had to go to reach Emmons, and how getting out of this range was indeed going to be much much longer than “you’re almost there” haha.
40. Couch– Hiking Partners: Becky and Laura: Strava Stats: (Panther, Santa, and Couchsachraga) 17.02 mi Elevation Gain 5,030 ft Elapsed Time 16:27:03
Next in the ranking comes the long talked about journey to the summit of Couchsachraga Peak, which is the 46th-highest of the Adirondack High Peaks, with an elevation of 3,820 ft. This mountain is pronounced “Kook-sa-KRA-ga,” and is an ancient Algonquin name that means “Dismal Wilderness.” The Algonquin used this name for the Adirondacks. Today, people refer to it as “Couch Mountain” (Couchie, pronounced “Coochie” for short. Couchsachraga Peak is an un-trailed peak and is fully lined with trees. Couch is known for its bog and up and down in elevation. It also as referenced above isn’t actually 4,000 ft, which adds a little insult to injury. But you must do it to get all 46, so we did it! You could not turn without navigating water, mud so you just had to embrace it. I had extra socks but the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze to change them as this was nothing but sloptastic saturated conditions.
41. Emmons– Hiking Partner: Becky Strava Stats: 23.05 mi Elevation Gain 6,260 ft yup, Elapsed Time 16:26:26 (Seward Range) This was my 23/46 half way there peak. Well, that is the nicest thing I can say about Emmons. It takes current last place in my ranking of enjoying hikes because, no matter what anyone says, that last peak combined with the walk out adds into the overall memory of ‘that’ peak. For this one, the bogs were relentless, and then requiring us to navigate our way back up over Donaldson again before the long walk out, where we once again ran into Granny again on a crazy trail when you were miles from anything. What a spooky little adventure. This wrapped the Seward range up for us, and I can attest that doing all 4 peaks of this range in one day is pretty intense. Becky didn’t get home until 2am. I have no idea how she was able to drive.
Long blog post short. The journey to completion of the ADK 46 High Peaks was a significant accomplishment for me. I’m grateful for my hiking partners along the journey, and all the Adirondack wilderness has taught me. As James Appleton says, “The Mountains don’t Care About You”. So true. But I am glad the ADK hiking community is as active and caring for this Wilderness Park. Until the next adventure- be well.
As someone who fights challenges in many different ways, I would like to take the time to share my thoughts about my favorite peaks along the journey in order of preference from my experience, and what it really took for me to accomplish the ADK 46er journey. If you have read this blog over the past year and a half it is filled with stories of these summit goals, and I’m super grateful for my hiking partners and my own capability to find a way to accomplish this goal.
When I was on my previous MS medication, we were killing it in the Summer of 2022, I felt stronger physically and mentally than I had in a very long time (probably in my Sabbatical of 2018). As my job was really stressful at the time, I found the challenges, beauty and all the other challenges the ADK could bring, such as bogs, mud, black flies, just an ADK mile to go, to be exactly what my brain needed to push all of that other stuff out of my mind and focus on one foot in front of the other. In Nov 2022, when I had to switch MS therapies, I was worried for multiple reasons. I was starting all over again in disease modifying therapy, trying to find my body’s new normal and this was insanely challenging, and remains a challenge until this date. How was I going to be able to finish our remaining hikes when my schedule and body was on a 5:00am to 6:30pm work, eat, spend little time with my family then the body demanded bed. Thankfully through science, we have figured out some alternatives to help my energy levels, but everything is at least four times more difficult for me. Now to the journey….
When I look back at the person I was when Becky and I first completed Cascade and Porter, it’s almost laughable. The photo below is when I thought, yes, we can do this challenge as we hit four peaks (really I count it as five as you are required do Colvin->Blake->Regain that lost elevation to climb back up and over Colvin->Nippletop and Dial in the same day with long mileage and elevation and 14 hours outside in the ADK wilderness. Yes, we can! The challenge was on, and the adventures, the planning, the weather watching, the coordination of schedules, the middle of the night alarms, it was in full effect goal on.
As I have said many times, the journey to achieving the summit of all of the 46 ADK High Peaks is a challenge somewhat like nothing I had embarked on. I considered myself to be a knowledgeable intermediate-early advanced hiker. No, I had not completed any major accolades of long distance trails like the AT or PCT, or Rainer, Denali etc, but I had hiked plenty of different mountain ranges internationally in various conditions and knew my limits at that time (or so I thought). I also thought I knew mud intimately. After all, I did survive two Phish festivals that were more than mud (Coventry) and (IT)was pretty sloptastic as well!
The ADK takes those limits you are accustomed to associated with hiking and kinda threw out minus the 10 basics of leave no trace, typical hiking etiquette into another dimension moving towards a unique, challenge that I can say took major mental, physical, and at times physiological strength to achieve and overcome.
Let’s talk about mud and sludge. At the above referenced Coventry Phish festival, they had created make-shift boards to help people with the mud/sludge concert field->campsite navigation. As with all big crowds, people get impatient in the dark, things aren’t moving fast enough? No problem, they will just create their own pathway. Which is all well and good until they come face to face with an ATV gator who gets stuck in the mud/sludge and just proceeds to spin mud over and over in as if they are under attack. Ok, I digress. Thankfully I was just an observer in the tragic comedy above…. Now to the ADK. While I can say I am truly thankful we scheduled most of our hikes for the summer 2022 for many reasons, weather in the summer 2023 was one of them. We really lucked out with only one hot day, and pretty descent summer conditions. The Fall of 2022 wasn’t as kind to us, but the summer of 2023 was really a weather disaster for those 46 journey completion seekers. We ended up with only 5 trips during that time, doing Marshall in the wettest of non-raining weather I’ve ever hiked in, Marcy->Skylight->Gray, and me doing Colden via Avalanche Lake to try to get my views in. Our finisher on 23Sep2023 on Haystack, Basin and Saddleback brought this goal to completion. I have learned much about myself, my will, determination, when I need help to ask for it, and grateful for trustworthy companions to help me when I needed it.
I am going to do a peak by peak ranking with photos if possible. I will not include in the ranking the 5 peaks of the Dix range we hiked on what we hoped would be the fall hike of 2022- 09Oct2022. The weather was so miserable on the day we planned, and I can not in good ranking ethic count these peaks as I do believe they deserve their spot in the upper half, but since we had 5 ft of visibility most of the day, it was like moving through a fog with none of the beautiful views this range offers.
My Favorite 46 ADK High Peaks in Order Biased to Weather Conditions
(Sans Dix Range for inclusion due to weather)
Gothics– 05Jun2022- Hiking Partners: Becky, Tela Strava stats: 24.21 miles, Elevation Gains 4,797 ft Elapsed Time 12:10:40 – Oh man, there is just so much to love about this mountain, and I have only gone up the cable route twice. This hike going up the cable route offers the thrill of many things the ADK can offer. We took one trip up Gothics a bit by mistake from the Garden. Missing our turn for the Wolfjaws, we decided to go for it and see what happened as Tela was along for this adventure. We encountered a few guys in route, two discouraging our choice, and one highly encouraging as he said the other two guys were his friends and bailed, and we went for it. Between Becky’s efforts, Tela’s efforts and my efforts we were able to get Tela up the cables! Whew. The larger Tela challenge on that hike was the ladder descent from Armstrong. Tela pretty much wanted a piggyback ride down Becky’s back. Teamwork made the dream work and we had a return trip to Gothics up the cables sans Tela to truly enjoy another beautiful but warm day on 26Jun2022! (combining a bit of magic with bluebird skies and an unusually empty Rainbow Falls and trip to Indian Head and Sawteeth with Strava clocking 16.9 miles, Elevation Gains 4800ft, Elapsed time 11:18:06. Why is Gothics my favorite of the 46? It’s completely varied in its challenges, you get varied terrain, multiple routes to mix and play around with. The views, the cable route scramble gives nice exposure and you get some of the fine ADK ladder action. 5 stars.
2. Rocky Peak Ridge– Via New Russia Trail Hiking Partners: Laura
On the 27May2023, I had orphaned this peak which is usually paired with Giant which I did with Chris prior to a trip to CO for a warm up hike (excellent hike). Strava clocked this hike at 13.16 miles, total elapsed time 8:49 minutes, elevation gain: 5,312 ft. Well, what I can I say, we lucked out. This hike is truly one of my favorites from this approach. Yes, there is a ton of up and down in elevation, but you are greeting with stunning 360 views at times. Definitely a hike best saved for a clear day. The conditions have to be right to reach a ranking this high, and on this day, they were right on time. Becky and I attempted again in the fall but DNF due to poor weather and visibility.
Why do I love this hike? It actually is one of the more friendlier designed trails for an ADK high peak. Although there is a ton of elevation and ups and downs you go through splendid forests, an exposed Ridgeline, with 360 views. Again, must be done on the bluebird weather day. Bliss! In the right conditions 5.0 stars.
3. Algonquin-10Jul2022, Sträva: 11.16 miles, Total Elapsed Time: 9:47:46, Total Elevation: 4,629ft. Hiking Partners: Becky, Laura, Tela Due to scheduling conflicts for openings and we really had the itch to get things done, we tackled this mountain done typically paired as we did with Wright and Iroquois the Sunday weekend of my MS infusion. Pushing myself with these views and smiles made it a pleasant yet challenging day. The 46 teaching me new ways of adapting to challenges. This one you can also end at the hungry hiker, which meant ice cream for Tela and food for us all!
What do I love about Algonquin? It’s constant scrambles, amazing open summit where there’s views for days (also lucked out on the weather for this journey). The type of mountain that calls to me to embrace it even if I normally wouldn’t want to leave the house. 5.0 Stars although the knees do feel the impact on the descent.
Stay tuned for more recaps to come of my look back on ranking my favorite of 46 journey through this non-work season!
It’s been a week of poor air quality due to the wildfires in Canada, so since we all had this weekend open for hiking we were monitoring not only the normal conditions (weather, trail conditions/reports, YouTube research), but also the air quality. Thankfully, by Thursday afternoon the air quality was improving to good. Hmm.. Allen. When we embarked upon this journey this one definitely stuck out on paper as a beast of a hike for 1 mountain. While researching this hike, after completing quite a few of the 46, I felt maybe too much at ease with how demanding this mountain would be. A good reminder to never underestimate the potential effort mental or physical summiting a mountain would be. In the end, Strava recorded the hike as 20.43 miles, 3,881 ft of elevation vs. Garmin recording of 19.74 miles and 3,882 ft of elevation.
So all lights were a go, the weather was a crapshoot, but we decided the time had come. Becky Laura and I departed my casa in Saratoga Springs at 3am, and started our hiking adventure at 4:38 am. We signed into the register and were off with headlamps on. We knew weather may not provide views, but always we were heading in with optimism. Pictured below, the first water we came to on the trail, Lake Jimmy. We hoped to see some moose, but today was not that day.
The first five miles hiking in are relatively flat and not too rocky. This mentally was a boost, knowing that upon our decent on the way out, we at least would not be rock hopping while our body screamed more at us, “enough, what are you doing!?”. One of the major deciding factors of hiking this High Peak, is the Opalescent River crossing. All reports were in our favor, so when we got to the river crossing, we were able to rock hop across using poles to stabilize. I got my feet a bit wet, but this is the ADK, so mud and wet are par for the course.
We continued our ascent looking for that 8-9 mile distance, where we would meet the challenge of the notorious red algae slime on the upper slabs which are as slick as ice requiring microspikes to maneuver safely, gain our elevation, hopefully successfully reach our summit. The trail began to gain elevation, and we experienced typical ADK mud, roots, rock and reggae! The weather was holding for us, with peaks of sunshine and clouds. The little peaks of glorious sunlight and Vitamin D help give us a mental boost for what lay ahead.
We made it to the first section of slab which had water streaming over it, and I knew immediately when it was time to put spikes on when I felt like I was walking on marbles and ice. So around 2500 ft, the spikes went on. The red slime is indeed a real thing. The spikes helped tremendously with grip, and up we went. I had heard we needed to stay left, but it didn’t look good when we were first starting so we ended up a bit off trail as we were climbing the slab rather than being on trail for a few minutes. I gave Laura the nickname of “Bushwhack Laura” as she was a master of that on this hike. We made it back over to where the trail was, and continued the remainder of this beastly mountain. We were afforded the glory of these wonderful views as a great reward for our efforts.
We continued to push on, what felt like a never ending approach to the summit. We made it though, and had the summit completely to ourselves for about 10 minutes. My Garmin watch clocked 10.01 miles. We stopped for a much needed break, fueled ourselves, changed socks, and then lovely couple who were almost complete with their 46er journey joined us. They were kind enough to take our summit photo. We chatted briefly, ate and started descending. I was not playing with this descent and the weather, as it was forecast to rain, I didn’t want to chance descending the steep slabs in the rain.
We began the descent and I had some slowness to begin with due to some sharp pain in the glutes. As typical in the ADK, sometimes you have to contort your body around obstacles, down trees, branches that will stick out and grab you or pull your pack back, and in this case, I think at one point my left leg was stuck in an awkward position, crossing a huge tree, with my right leg extended. I was able to correct the situation, take some ibuprofen, and continued the descent. We could see the rain across the way, and were quite focused on getting down the algae before it likely came our way. Becky got this great photo as we were descending.
We were able to get down to the canopy of the forests when the rain started coming. We stopped took our packs off and put on our rain jackets. The rain thankfully was truly a shower, and not a downpour. It was also short lived, which was also a welcome factor. We were super blessed with being down lower at this point for the descent.
Upon our descent, we crossed paths with two very young guys who looked ill-prepared to be on this trail. They looked pretty rough and were clothed in cotton attire and shorts with no backpacks and no idea of where they were on the trail. I hope they made it out safely. I won’t go into a safety rant on unprepared hikers, but people need to know the 10 essentials https://americanhiking.org/resources/10essentials/ before embarking into a journey, especially a mountain as demanding as Allen or really any hike, but especially an ADK 20 mile high peak! You must do your homework and be prepared for whatever the mountain may throw your way obstacle wise.
So let’s talk about my overall readiness vs. execution on this adventure. I did my homework, but I was not quite all prepared for the challenges this mountain presented. Yes, we got a bit off trail right on the slab red algae slime but were able to easily recover, with a bushwhack, go Becky and Laura! Yes, one could argue minus the water crossing concern, to a point Allen is not as physically demanding as other high peaks due to the long flatter approach in, but this mountain was no joke for me. It demanded a lot mentally and physically as well as endurance wise with length but also with deliberate focus during the hike. When we reached the second time to cross the Opalescent River, Laura gave me a helping hand to ensure I didn’t slip and fall in. What a sweetheart. I’m am blessed to have Becky and Laura with me on this journey.
Would I ever recommend Allen if someone asked me for a ADK High peak possibility? Not bloody likely. Allen you do have have beautiful views, but I am positive this is the last time I will visit you. You fall 3rd place behind the Sewards and Santa ranges for least enjoyable.
This means Becky and I have 7 more peaks to go before we are 46ers! Laura is at 20/46, and I hope to have the time to repeat some of my favorites with her! Our plan is finish with Haystack, Basin and Saddleback. Peaks remaining: Marshall, Marcy, Skylight, Gray, Haystack, Basin, Saddleback. Happy trails all, and keep pushing yourself!
Adventures in this thing we call Life 