Lost in Translation

So, on the 15th, MD and I had managed to move our schedules around for another hike. I had been wanting to take her to Avalanche Pass up in Keene Valley since we first headed up Hadley. I got directions from my Aunt a while ago, and finally go to put them to use.

The first problem we realized:
We had planned to leave around 9 so we would have all day to get there, mosey about, hike the trail and do anything else we felt like while still getting off the mountain before dark. Well, I slept in until 8:45 ish and proceeded to run around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get ready in time. I texted MD to let her know and she responded with the fact that she had actually just woken up too. So we both took our time getting ready and then I headed over to get MD. Then we made a quick stop at Dunkin' Donuts (yay coolattas!) and didn't really get onto the highway until 10.

Second problem:
Ahhh weather; MD and I have come to the conclusion that whenever we are together the weather seems to get sad and the air cries. Since we go hiking whenever it fits our schedule, whatever weather we get is what we are stuck with, we can't reschedule. When I headed out the door Sunday morning, I strangely forgot to check on the weather and didn't bring any sort of coat with me.

And the third problem is the charm:
Since this trail is up in Keene (the High Peaks Region) and I only have trail guides for the Central Region and the West-Central Region of the Adirondacks, I didn't have that bit of security. I also generally keep a map in my car for perilous situations, unfortunately this map didn't stretch as far north as Keene.

So, onto the trip.

We hopped in the car with our doughnut and coolatta, headed to the highway and proceeded to exit 30 off of I-87. We took a left onto 73 and proceeded to wind through this beautiful thing called 'nature'. After a ways, we began to look for either Heart Lake Rd. or South Meadow Rd. (my Aunt wasn't sure about which one it was). We drove, and drove ... and drove. Anxious about the time and wanting to keep ahead of the clouds we had passed on the way up , we pulled over to check my map . After realizing our mistake, we decided to continue driving, after all 73 led past the road we were supposed to take and if we did miss it, we would be driving straight into Lake Placid where we could get a map and/or directions.

After a distance that was almost equal to the first that we spent on 73, we arrived in Lake Placid. There we purchased a Quickmaps Adirondack Quickmap. From this we were able to find where Avalanche Mt. was and then found the access road in relation to 73. A short distance back our of Lake Placid, we took a right onto Heart Lake Rd. (sneakily, this was also named 'Adirondack Loj Rd.' and we hadn't been looking for that).

Now the name Adirondack Loj Rd. is a dead giveaway for the Adirondack Loj to be down that road (I should have put two and two together and remembered that the Loj is at Heart Lake. Oh well) and I had been wanting to check the Loj out. So we drove to the end of the road, parked under the pretense of 'just looking around' and headed into the first building we saw. Now I'm not sure if this was the Loj, or just a gift shop: it looked kinda small, but we headed to the shop and I pulled the High Peaks Region trail guide off the shelf. I scanned the glossary for 'Avalanche' and figured out where we had to go.

Leaving the parking lot, we drove a short distance back up the road and took a right onto a dirt road that led to the 'Marcy Dam' trail (and others). Somehow I managed to guide my low riding station wagon down the extremely pocketed road and to a small lot at the end. We jumped out and headed for the trail. 'So I'd like to be back to the car before it gets dark, and since it's 1:20 right now, that means that wherever we are when it's 3:00, we turn around.' I told MD as we signed the trail register and passed the bear information.

MD and I divided this trail into three sections; lot to dam, dam to trail split, and trail split to Avalanche Lake. The first stretch was about 2 miles one way and was pretty much just an access path from the road to the wilderness. The fact that it was usually wide enough to drive a four-wheeler down kept distracting me, but it was a nice walk through the woods. This brought us right up to the bottom of Marcy Dam.

We took some pictures and wandered out onto the dam where I had a nice conversation with a man (his hiking buddy had already headed down the trail to the loj) from near Albany who had to head home for work (boo work conflicting with the Adirondacks). We talked about the weather and he said that it had been decent so far for them.

You can see from the view from the dam that is was rather foggy. A breeze was picking up and I wanted to reach the lake before 3. We then signed another trail register and headed to the left of the dam, past quite a number of campsites and a lean-to.

This began the second stretch of our hike which was about 1.8 miles one way. The gradient increased a bit, but nothing drastic, and it brought us along the side of a brook for quite a ways. This stretch was rather nice, but I remember talking with MD for most of it and not pulling out my camera.

A short ways from the third stretch we crossed a small bridge. Despite it being later than I would have liked, we paused to document a staged fight on the bridge with MD's camera and to mounain goat around the stream.

When we reached the beginning of the third stretch (about 1.2 miles one way) we paused to talk with a couple who was just descending. Again the weather was mentioned and our hopes raised, it hadn't rained yet and it was well into the day; if it was going to rain, we were already so into the hike that we would have pressed on despite it. This third stretch was definitely steeper than the second, but nowhere near as steep as what Lauren and I dealt with on Peaked Mt..

Fortunately for MD, this stretch was kept up rather well and there were lots of steps and walkboards for us. After ascending, the trail began to descend and through the trees, mountain walls could be seen rising up on either side of us. After a slight curve to the left with a decidedly downhill slant, an opening in the trees led us to the shores of Avalanche lake.

The left hand rock face turned out a little funky in the above image (SW), but it is just as high as the right hand one. The bottom image looks a bit more correct (NE). Despite the mist, the scene was great and MD informed me that this was one of her two favorite hike I had taken her on this summer (she has only been on three)

It is a It was now 4:10 - I had given up on my idea of turning around at 3 long ago. We took more photos and wandered around exploring (there's a boat up there that I really want to take out some time). After we posed, perched on top of a crag-like rock just out into the lake, for a picture with MD's camera (10 seconds are not nearly long enough) we headed back down to the car. Just as we took back to the trail, we met a man, toting a camera, who asked 'Please tell me the lake is nearby.' We responded with an assured 'yes,' and remembered only 2o minutes ago when we were in the same situation.

During the second stretch on our way down, there was a boy behind us. It kind of sketched us out, we asked if he wanted to pass (he had been behind us for a good 20 min and we had been giving him passing opportunities already) but he said that our pace was fine. We reached the dam, signed out of the register there and had a short snack sitting on the dam. The boy behind us crossed the dam and sat on the other side, a short while later two girls came down the trail and met up with him. Good to know that he was just faster than his party and wasn't stalking us (skeeetttccch!).

As we headed off the dam and onto the first (and final) stretch, a man came down the trail and signed out of the register. Since we were next to him we struck up some polite conversation and learned that he had just descended Mt. Marcy and was headed back to the Loj. He exclaimed that he was glad to be off of all those rocks, we told him we had just been up to Avalanche lake, but agreed with him none the less. When we parted with our new friend, MD informed me that she would have complained the whole time had we headed up Mt. Marcy. Baby steps MD, baby steps.

When we finally got back to the car (a good 10+ miles later), we turned to a print out of directions to a restaurant that MD's coworkers had suggested. Tail o' the Pup was just a ways through Lake Placid and we definitely enjoyed the hearty, flavorful BBQ meals. It was a great environment to relax in just after a hike, and then next time I'm up that way I may just have to stop by again.

So what's next for me? Well, I'm hiking Hadley Mt. again on the 24th, this time with my mother (I should have a GPS by then so get ready to hear about geocaching!). And on the 27th, I'm heading our somewhere with one of my good friends and her boyfriend, I'm not sure where to yet.

Also, I'm searching for people to take on winter hiking with me. I'm surprised at how many people are interested; I didn't think that many of my friends were up for such muscle aching work. But, I'll take what I have and hopefully they know what they are getting themselves into.

Anyone have a good daytrip that I could head out to on the 27th?
G