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.
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!
Now, wait just a minute, I thought I was going to spend the rest of my days in Switzerland, Mom. I’m going to have to get on that airplane again in a crate, and we are moving to what state, NY? I don’t know anything about NY. There are two mountain ranges we can play in? Ok, I guess so.
Just before we departed Switzerland, Tela gave us a crazy scare with intestinal tumors, surgery, and thankfully she recovered pretty well, minus a set back of the healing of a growth on her paw. The timing was so close before our move from Switzerland to Saratoga Springs that Tela still wasn’t even able to run with me or hike with me during most of my sabbatical. It was a true bummer. You can’t ever explain to a look of excitement that you slowly see turn to despair and at times crying when she wasn’t coming along for the adventure.
Tela got integrated nicely into life in Saratoga, spending time hiking, walking and exploring. Once we purchased our home, we really settled in. It was the first time Tela has had such a huge fenced in back yard. It was new for a while, like what is this?… then she always enjoyed her perimeter patrols and squirrel chases along with other backyard shenanigans.
Ever the hiker, Tela completed the following ADK High Peak Summits:
Cascade
Porter
Big Slide
Phelps
Tabletop
Gothic (Cables Route)
Armstrong
Upper WJ
Lower WJ
Street
Nye
Marshall
Whiteface
Giant
Algonquin
Iroquois
Esther
She also hiked many of the Lake George 12ster challenge, but the stupid cancer had slowed her capabilities by that time, and it was indeed a long day for the Tongue Range, so the right call was made. She got to hike in the Catskills with Becky and once even with Jason. Becky and Laura were both such wonderful hiking partners with Tela. Special thanks to both of them for a couple of dicey situational help! (Armstrong Ladder/ Almost winter whiteface stairs). She loved being in front of our pack. And if you followed her, you were likely going the most direct route, until she got into her golden age. The best part about hiking with Tela, was she would go ahead at times, then turn around and give you this huge smile, like no matter what, you’ve got this! I have missed this for a few months, but I know I will continue to miss this about her on the trail. Our favorite place to be together. In her last years, she got to be a part of the Saratoga Dog Walkers, later Pink Pup Farm experience, but had to stop due to the cancer/vet orders.
Above is my favorite photo of Tela and Becky, it always brings such a smile as we were doing Algonquin, Iroquois (inclusive of Boundary) and then Wright for me and Becky, while Laura stayed with Tela.
Below is our last big hike with Tela up Whiteface and Esther. I can’t find the pic, but bless Laura for taking Tela down the stairs of Whiteface that day. The postholes were so bad on the trail we didn’t want to descend that way, so chose the stairs. They were their own type II adventure, and Laura took Tela.
The final days of Tela’s cancer battle were ugly, raw, and made me wonder if I had waited too long. Her last night was the worst, and I didn’t get my last planned walk with her. I think I’ll always regret that, but I had no idea things were going to take such a rapid turn. We were so blessed to have you in our lives, Tela.
I am not sure what I miss most, but I will certainly miss your smile and companionship. Your memory and funny personality will always be with me. I will look forward to traveling back to some key places you loved to spread your ashes. Love you always, the dog with so many nicknames, T, sweet T, T munch, T munchkin, well, all in all I can say I never thought I would feel greater hurt than when I lost Marley. Never say never indeed. Blessings.
So, where do we adventure next? Wait, mom, you want me to get on a plane and move to a foreign country where they just let cats roam freely but dogs are to be leashed? Oh, but they do provide cool access for dogs everywhere? And there are these mountains we can hike close by? I can go into restaurants? Oh, but still not the grocery store. Ok, I’m up for it.
So many adventures we had! Tela’s journey abroad began when she was picked up in Steamboat->Driven to Denver International->DEN->Frankfurt, held for about 12 hours, then took a flight from Frankfurt->Zurich where she stayed for 2 hours, then was transported to our home abroad in Luterbach. I can say I don’t know what happened on Tela’s journey to CH, but it definitely impacted how she felt about crates, which she previously loved and felt secure in. So I ditched the crate, and Tela adapted to life in Switzerland. On one of our first weekends, there together, we went on our first boat ride after visiting the beautiful St Beatus Caves. Tela had her first Swiss boat and train transport experience. It was funny as I’ll never forget she wasn’t so sure about this big boat (pictured below). A native Swiss German started chatting with me and her, and told her it was “all good”, then looked at me and said, “All dogs understand Swiss German, lol.”. She was relaxed for the remainder of the trip. I also just realized typing this blog and looking at these photos why Tela was so darn stubborn to drink water on the ADK trails she hiked. She was waiting for the running Swiss dog water drinking stations that are abundant.
Oh wow, this is surreal looking backl. Living abroad brought about many adventures, but not as many as we hoped as we dealt with the lockdowns of the pandemic during our three years there. But we so enjoyed every country, moment space in time, hiking all over Switzerland and beyond… it was magical. The fantasy land of hiking and beauty everywhere! We explored so much in a short time, ran all around Luterbach and Solothurn, hung out with amazing people. So happy my girl was able to live abroad and have that extra special adventure with us!
Special shout out to all my Swiss/US friends reading this that met Tela. It was a special time in our lives.
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.
16. Sawteeth: Hiking Partner: Becky, Strava Stats: 16.49 mi Elevation Gain 4,600 ft Elapsed Time 11:18:06 Although a very warm day, we made the most of only getting 1 High Peak into a long beautiful day. Sawteeth is a challenging ADK hike, pretty demanding but I was happy we picked the route we did. A Traverse from the garden where I parked, up Gothics cable route-> Pyramid Peak->Sawteeth-> Rainbow Falls->Indian Head then back out via Lake Road/AMR/ Roaring Creek to Becky’s car. I remember thinking Sawteeth was pretty tough when we were climbing it. That could have come from the warmth, the fact that we first repeated the best Gothics before doing it did it. It was hot that day, but again we got the combo factor of all the other rewards clear views, water falls, Indian Head. Good stuff to overcome the work to get up there! Sawteeth has those amazing views, as a part of this beautiful range of the Adirondacks. 4.7 out of 5 stars. Steep scrambles and climbing galore, and oh the loveliest views .
17. Dial: This peak is amazing in that it can be combined for so many unique adventures in this range. Choose your own adventure! It doesn’t get quite as many views as Nippletop, but it’s pretty amazing nonetheless. What diminishes this peak for me in stars is only the long walk back the parking lot which seems to go on forever :). Still give it 4.7/5 stars for the 46.
19Jun2022: Hiking Partner: Becky Strava Stats: Paired with Colvin->Blake->Colvin->Nippletop->Dial->Bear Den 24.76 mi Elevation Gain 6,389 ft Elapsed Time 15:18:46
30Sep2023: Indian Head, Nippletop and Dial Fall Beauty 15.41 mi Elevation Gain 4,715 ft Elapsed Time 9:10:03
18. Colvin Hiking Partner Becky- See Strava Stats above. Colvin was a beast to go up and then over to Blake then regain it again, but I have to give credit where credit is due, it’s a beautiful mountain with steep elevation, roots, rocks, and reggae that the ADK provides. Up, Up, Up you go! 4.6/5 stars only due to the painful double ascent from both sides if you want to get Blake. Tough but fun hike.
19. Iroquois– Sträva: 11.16 miles, Total Elapsed Time: 9:47:46, Total Elevation: 4,629ft. (Algonquin, Iroquois, Wright) Hiking Partners: Becky, Laura, Tela This saunter to Iroquois is such a unique hike. Iroquois is one of the High Peaks with rare and endangered alpine vegetation; please tread lightly and stay on bare rock. Iroquois is blessed with a 360 degree view from its bald summit with amazing views, as you can imagine, with the best views of Wallface. The geology on this entire trail is too cool for school. The approach from Boundary, which is not technically a 46er, but is above 4000 ft is narrow and unique. The summit of Iroquois is beautiful like all on this hike, and then the ADKs laugh at you as you are required to reclimb back up and over Algonquin. 4.7 stars for a cool out there peak with mostly solid rock.
20. Phelps– Hiking Partners (Becky and Tela) (Phelps and Tabletop)
Strava Stats- Seem Wonky-I don’t think it was this long in mileage:
19.74 mi Elevation Gain , 3,866 ft Elapsed Time 9:02:54
This was a joyous venture with Becky and Tela. We had perfect weather, but got quickly initiated into beginners ADK mud. My phone call home to Chris, “get the hose out”. Still so much fun, great views, mudtastic, roots, rock and reggae! 4.6/5 stars good, be ready for a little extra mustard mud.
Adventures in this thing we call Life 