Hurricane Mountain

Trip Report:  Great Views Atop Hurricane Mountain

After yesterday's hike of Algonquin with Andy and Gordon, we (Rick & Mike) decided to take another crack at taking in some High Peaks views by hiking Hurricane Mountain.  Once again, Teena and Elizabeth hung out in Lake Placid with Gordon, Andy, and Sue (and Andy Jr.).  Teena plans to test her hiking feet in October.
After a 1.5 hour hike up, Rick & Mike reached the summit.  The weather started out chilly and windy with beautiful sunny skies.  However, by the time the summit was reached, a new blanket of clouds arrived and shrouded the summits of the tallest mountains. 
The hike started out with an immediate steep pitch.  The pitch remained relatively steep for the first 1/4 - 1/2 mile.  After that, the hike was relatively flat for about 1+ miles.   Through this flat section, we crossed several bog-like fields, and one evergreen "tunnel."
One thing that stands out about this hike is that we were the first ones to the trail head.  We started hiking around 8:30am.  As a result, we had the distinct privilege of eliminating all the spider webs.  Yuck!  Neither of us could believe the sheer volume of webs we took out.  (My skin itches everywhere as I write this!)  Luckily, neither of us is really bothered by spiders or their webs.
 Eventually, the level trail gave way to a steep ascent.  The trail was pretty much uphill most of the way from this point to the summit, with a few sections that were very steep.  Near the top, we had to "button-hook" right to get to the large rock formations that lead to the summit.
We were told that Hurricane Mountain was once used to conduct geological surveys of the surrounding region.  NO Wonder!!!  The summit has awesome 360 degree views, and the hike up was pretty quick.  Cascade, Big Slide, Algonquin, Colden, and Marcy (as well as all the other peaks in-between were visible to the west.  To the North, Whiteface.  To the East, the Green Mountains and Lake Champlain were easily in sight.  What was really cool about the eastern view was that Vermont's Mount Mansfield and Camel's Hump Mountain were plainly visible before the cloud formations obstructed them.  To the south, "back" side of Giant, Rocky Peak, Bald Mountain, Noonmark, Bear's Den, and the Great Range were visible.
Our views were somewhat mixed because of the extensive cloud cover, but they were far superior to the views we had from Algonquin the day before!  In many ways, we liked this because the clouds add a certain "character" to the mountainous scenery.
When we tried to climb the fire tower at the summit, we found it to be in a state of disrepair.  If you look at the pictures closely enough, you'll see that the ladder rungs have been removed to prevent people from climbing it.  This tower is listed as an "endangered tower" on page 18 of the September/October 2001 issue of Adirondac magazine.  According to the article, it is a "non-conforming" tower that was slated to be removed in August 2001.  We're glad we got the opportunity to see it before it gets taken away.
We hung out at the summit for about an hour to eat some lunch, scope out the surrounding mountains, and chat with a fellow hiker named Kathy.  We departed from the summit around 11:30 so we could meet up with Teena Baby Elizabeth, and begin the long ride home.

What will we remember from this trip?  A "nice" quick hike up and down.  Spectacular views.  The fire tower - a first for each of us - with its ladder rungs ripped out.

For more information on Hurricane Mountain, click here to visit the Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK) writeup, or here to visit a nice winter report at a "Towns and Trails" site.

STATS SUMMARY:

Date of Summit: 09/23/2001

Team:  Mike Bowen, Rick Allen

Location:  Adirondack High Peaks (44.214694,-73.840485)

Summit Elevation:  3,694'

Vertical Ascent:  ~1,982'

Approach: South Trail from Rt. 9N

Trailhead to Summit: ~2.6 miles

Time to summit:  ~90 minutes

Weather:  Sunny at first, then overcast.  Chilly, with temps in the fifties

Trail Difficulty:  Moderate - sustained steep sections at the start and summit, with relatively easy hiking in between.

Photo Album:  (10 pictures)  Click on picture to see a larger version.

Rick points to the approaching clouds and offers his sandwich as an offering for clear skies.

Looking west, Algonquin is shrouded in clouds.

"High" Peaks, from left to right: Giant Mountain, Bald Mountain, Noonmark Mountain, Bear's Den Mountain, and the Ausable Lake valley.

Rocky Ridge Peak and Giant Mountain.  That's "Green Mountain" in the foreground - not to be mistaken for Vermont's Green Mountains.

The "Great Range" of the High Peaks is in the background.  Lower Wolf Jaw, Upper Wolf Jaw, Armstrong, Gothics, Saddleback, and Marcy.  Colden is farthest to the right.

Rick & Mike pose in front of Hurricane's fire tower.  Notice the missing ladders at the lower levels.

Meanwhile...  Mike decides that his climbing exploits for the day aren't finished yet.  "Missing ladder rungs are no obstacle!"

...Here's the "Farscape" shot.  It's too bad that this tower is "non-conforming."  The debate as to how strict New York's  "Forever Wild" clause should be enforced is an interesting one.

Rick squares off against intrepid explorer Kathy.  It looks like a great struggle is about to ensue...  Neither one giving an inch.

The stalemate is broken by Rick's clever wit, and by the "cameraman" shouting "Hey!  Look into the camera!"

Algonquin

Trip Report:  Los Amigos Tackle Mighty Algonquin!

SUMMARY:
Teena, Elizabeth, and I visited Lake Placid for the second time in three weeks to meet up with our friends Rick, Gordon, Andy, and Sue.  "Los Amigos" planned to hike Algonquin and Iroquois on Saturday while the ladies shopped, toured, etc...  Teena, still recovering from a July delivery of Baby Elizabeth, plans to make her big hiking comeback debut in October 2001.

After a rough start, three of "Los Amigos" successfully ascended Algonquin Mountain (Andy, Mike, and Rick), reaching the cloud-shrouded summit at about 11:30am.  Gordon reached to within a few hundred feet of the summit before being turned back by the generally inclement weather - a fact that we will constantly remind him of.  Unfortunately, the cloud cover never dissipated, meaning that Andy and Gordon had to apply their imaginations in new and creative ways to see the surrounding scenes.

Because of the lack of views, the very high winds, and because Mike knows he'll be back on Algonquin again someday, the ascent of Iroquois Peak was abandoned.

We arrived back at the Loj trail head around 4:15pm, making much better time on the way down than we did on the way up.  We regrouped in Lake Placid for dinner at 7:00pm at the Lake Placid Brew Pub.  There, Rick and Mike discussed plans to hike up Hurricane Mountain the next day (click here for that report).

This was Mike's 2nd successful ascent of Algonquin.

DETAILS:

Teena and I headed to Lake Placid for the second time this month.  The first trip resulted in a Phelps Trip Report and a 1st Adirondack trip for young Baby Elizabeth.  This time, instead of checking into the trusted Woodlake Motor Lodge, we decided to stay at Placid Bay Inn.  Earlier this month, we learned that travel with a baby requires additional space.  Placid Bay offered a room with a king size bed, kitchenette, and walk-in closet for ~$75.

It was a cold, wet start as we arrived at the Loj trail head and started hiking at 7:25am.  Yet another major weather system went through the area overnight, unloading an extensive payload of rain on the area.  Even as Rick picked us up at 6:30am, the rain was still pouring.  The weather was a about 50 degrees, drizzly, and overcast when we started hiking.  Like the Phelps hike a few weeks before, this wasn't exactly the type of weather you want for taking some friends on their first High Peaks hiking trip.

Each hiking trip has its own interesting side story...  That story for this trip belongs to Rick.  He started the trip quite "ill,"  fertilizing the local plant life with plenty of oats.  The cause of this sudden illness - seedy, bottom of the barrel "Ubu Ale" at the Down Hill Grill, or the "love fest" in the room above him at the St. Moritz - remains unknown.  Lucky for all of us, the Ale worked it's way out of his system, his lack of sleep energized him, and his terrifying memories of "squeaking" the night before provided plenty of jokes and tall tales throughout the hike!  At the end of the day, Rick was arguably better off than any of us!

This first mile of the 4.2 mile ascent took us only 20 minutes, after which we stopped for a quick breather and posed for pictures at the trail junction for Marcy Dam.  Somewhere in our conversations at this point, the following exchange took place:  "How far is it to the summit, Mike?"  "About 4+ miles."  "Great...  We should be there in an hour then."  "Uh huh...  Hold on to that spirit........"  Within the first 1/4 mile, the drizzle stopped, and we were able to put away our jackets.

After the next 1/2 mile and another 20 minutes (notice the diminishing return on time?), we arrived at the Whale's Tail ski trail to Wright's summit.  We stared for a few moments and wondered aloud at how hard it must be to ski uphill at such a pitch.  We then hiked and rested on and off for another mile, and another hour (what happened to 20 minutes per mile rule?), hitting some increasingly steeper terrain, until we reached a beautiful waterfall.  There, we stopped for 20+ minutes to climb the falls and take pictures.  Once we got started again, we hiked for another 1/2 mile to the trail junction for the summit of Wright Peak.  Shortly into that 1/2 mile, Gordon began to fall behind, and requested that the rest of us continue up - he would meet us at the summit.

"Remember I told you that this gets steep?" Mike chuckled...  The next 1/2 mile or so to the tree line was extremely steep, but took little time to traverse as we "bulled" our way through it.  Once above the tree line, we were greeted by extreme winds and powerful gusts.  Above our heads, the canopy of clouds could almost be reached.  At this point, we could still see the summit of Wright peak, and much of the northern regions behind us.  But within a few minutes, we were in the clouds for good.

At the summit, we were kept company by constant 40mph winds, with gusts that were probably close to 60mph.  One of those gusts nearly knocked Rick cleanly off the summit in his eagerness to get there.  Rick, Andy, and Mike hung out at the summit for ~45 minutes, waiting for Gordon and thinking about whether or not to hike Iroquois.  In the end, we decided against hiking to Iroquois because we had no views, and the weather appeared to be getting worse.  Besides, we routinely saw blue skies above us, leading Mike to exclaim that there was a possibility to have "undercast" skies similar to those he experienced in January's ascent of Wright peak.

The weather began worsen with the arrival of increased winds and colder temps.  As we began our descent, we began asking fellow hikers if they had seen our friend, Gordon.  Surprisingly, about 1/2 said he was way back on the trail - behind the Wright Trail junction.  The other 1/2 said he was only a couple hundred feet away.  The latter proved true as we met up with Gordon less than 5 minutes from the summit.  Due to the lack of views, Gordon decided he'd rather turn around and head back to the trailhead instead of hiking to the summit.  In spite of the heckling and jabs we gave him on the way down, it's worth noting that intelligent people turn around before they've gone too far.  We posed for a couple group photos and headed back.

The hike down was uneventful and quick.  We stopped by the High Peaks Information Center for a quick break and some coffee.  Then we went back to Lake Placid, hit the Placid Brew Pub for dinner, and told tall tales to our friends and significant others.

What will we remember from this trip?  Yet ANOTHER "white out" atop a High Peak, this time being on top of Algonquin!  Andy's and Gordon's first High Peaks hiking adventure.  50mph+ gales on top of Algonquin!   ...And of course, Rick's adventurous start of the day!

STATS SUMMARY:

Date of Summit: 09/22/2001

Team:  Mike, Rick A., Gordon P., Andy Z.

Location:  Adirondack High Peaks (44.143664, -73.986536)

Summit Elevation:  5,114'

Vertical Ascent:  2,936'

Approach: ADK Loj parking lot

Trailhead to Summit: 4.8 miles

Time to summit:  ~4.5 hours

Weather:  Sunny, and HOT enough to melt rock!!!  91 degrees!!!  The heat index was over 100 degrees!!!

Trail Difficulty:  Difficult with steep terrain for the last mile of the hike to the summit.

Photo Album:

One mile into the trip...  Only 20 minutes?  4.2 miles to the summit?  We'll be home in time for lunch!!! 

The Whale's Tail ski trail junction...  "People actually ski UP  that?"  Mike explains the concept of "skins." 

Mike stands near the top of the waterfall.  In January 2001, he passed this same waterfall during his ascent of Wright Peak (click here for trip report, and click here for picture).

...Mike and Gordo pose in front of the waterfall. 

Andy also posed...   What can you say...   It's a nice shot!

Think Algonquin's last mile isn't steep?  Here, mighty mighty Rick clings onto life after a near fatal misstep.

¡Los Tres Amigos!  Andy, Rick, and Mike pose atop the shrouded peak of Algonquin, awaiting their compadre, Gordon.

Meanwhile...  "Indiana" Mike always says that being on top of a mountain must be what heaven is like.  (Nice leg-warmers!)

...Amidst the clouds that shroud Algonquin, it looks like he may have found it!

Although Andy's not too sure that there are actually views from up here, he still gives the thumbs up.  for the trip.

30 minutes:  Where's Gordon?  Los Tres Amigos begin to ask fellow travelers, "Have you seen a bald guy in a green shirt?"

One last group pose atop 'ol Algonquin...  Should we go to Iroquois?

Iroquois!  I can't even see the camera man!  Besides...  Where's Gordo?

It's amazing what one sees when approaching the summit!

Just below the summit, Los Tres Amigos regroup with Gordon in the place described by several hikers.

We all pose before heading back down to the parking lot.

 GR-R-R-R-R-R-UNT!!!
Rick explains, while flexing his muscles, that hiking Algonquin requires a strong will, and an even stronger physique.

"We were right here!"
Gordon pauses while on Loj Road to squash all the little people still atop of Algonquin.

Though not yet old enough to hike the Adirondack High Peaks, Baby Elizabeth dreams of the day she can join her parents, after studying the trail descriptions over dinner.

'Tis the end of the day...  The hiking party successfully regroups with Sue, Teena, and Baby Elizabeth at the Lake Placid Brew Pub.  Though we gave it our best shot, there was still plenty of Ubu Ale left in the keg by the end of the night!

Phelps in the Rain

Trip Report:  Whiteout atop Phelps

Dates:            September 1, 2001

Location:       Adirondack High Peaks

Team:           Mike and Scot

Destination:  Phelps Mountain Peak (4,161')

Approach:     ADK Loj parking lot

Author:          Mike

Summary:

Once again, Teena & I checked into the trusted Woodlake Motor Lodge on Saranac Avenue in Lake Placid on Friday night.  This time we were accompanied by our friends Scot & Cat, Michaela, and our six-week-old daughter, Elizabeth.  Scot & I intended to climb Phelps Mountain and eat lunch while viewing Marcy from one of the rocky outcroppings at the summit.  Teena, Cat, Michaela, and Elizabeth planned to spend the day shopping (OUCH!) in Lake Placid.  Teena plans to be back on the trails for a potential hike in October!!!Our plans were mostly fulfilled.  We reached the summit around 11:00am amidst the constant rain and overcast skies.  These conditions somewhat inhibited our summit views of Marcy and the surrounding area, and forced us to retreat into the trees to eat our lunches.  In the end, as the sun finally burned through the clouds as we arrived at our car, we claimed success at climbing Phelps, and providing Scot with his very first Adirondack High Peak hiking adventures.  

Details:

It was a cold damp morning start as we arrived at the Loj trail head and started hiking at 7:25am.  The weather was a cold 50+ degrees, drizzly, and overcast.  Not the type of weather you want for taking someone on their first hiking trip.  The parking lot at the ADK Loj was already quite full from cars left by backpackers - a sure sign that this must be the Labor Day weekend.  A major weather system moved through the area the previous night, supplying many hours of severe thunderstorms.  I imagined that there were many flooded tents. The hike was pretty standard, arriving at the Marcy Dam area a little before 9:00am.    We quickly crossed the "High Water Crossing" bridge at Phelps Brook and then took a break at the normal "low water crossing" site to pump water.  The water levels were surprisingly low, considering the amount of rain that hit the region over the past day.  We hit the trail again and reached the summit around 10:30am.  This pace was good since Scot wanted to be back in Lake Placid by mid-afternoon to join the rest of our troop.

The summit, as you might expect from the weather description, was shrouded in clouds, making for a wet experience.  Add a few 25mph wind gusts, and you get an idea of how cold it was.  The summit is mostly treed, and we followed several herd paths through the woods to find the U.S. Geological Survey marker that provides the highest elevation point.  Although we couldn't find the marker (maybe there isn't one?), we did find both rock outcrops that are reported to be at the top of Phelps.  We took turns taking pictures in the numbing air before evacuating the summit for warmer terrain and lunch!  

We hiked for about 15 minutes off the summit before breaking for lunch.  At this point, we shed out wet clothes for the dry ones in our packs.  A note to anyone hiking in wet weather...  I wore a "rain resistant" parka (REI rain resistant treatment) that was supposed to prevent water from penetrating it.  I found that the water pooled on the jacket instead, and leaked through precipitously.  I was wet, cold, and miserable.  I left my Gore Tex jacket at home since it was "too heavy" to wear.  Since this is the 2nd time I've had this luck with this technology and drizzle (the first time, I wore a similar EMS parka), I'm of the opinion that the only good rain protection is probably the Gore Tex.  I'm probably lucky that the air temperature wasn't very cold.

The trip back to the Loj parking lot was as fast-paced as the trip up had been.  In a moment of true back country gratis, we assisted a large crowd of about 20+ children cross Phelps Brook at the regular "low water" crossing.  For adults, this crossing was slippery but relatively easy.  For the 12 and under crowd?  The rushing white-capped rapids and distantly-spaced rocks provided a daunting obstacle.  Scot assumed "landing position" to help the children cross the rocks by providing them a steady hand.  I assumed the "Catcher-in-the-Rye" position, ready to catch any little travelers that might fall, or slip.  Luckily, with Scot's assistance, everyone successfully hopped across the stream without a single slip, and I wasn't called upon for any rescue attempts. 

The rest of the hike was pretty straight forward.  We arrived back at the Loj parking lot around 1:30pm.  Shortly afterward, the sun appeared and the clouds began to dissipate.  The temperatures soared.  "Should we go back up there now that we can see stuff?" I asked as we drank coffee in the High Peaks Information Center.  We both agreed that we'll save it for another day.  Instead, we talked with the rangers about the increased aggressiveness of the local black bear population, drove back to Lake Placid, and joined our companions for lunch at the Steak & Seafood restaurant.

What will we remember from this trip?  The "white out" atop of Phelps Mountain.  Mike's first taste of the "Adirondack Chill!"  Assisting the troop of young hikers cross Phelps Brook.

Pictures:

TBD - Converting all the old trip reports into this blog.