Buttkickin' Adirondacks trip report

“Link to photos is below!

I woke up at 3am Saturday morning to meet up with Pennsyhiker, Fritz, and Skiracer for a buttkicking hike in the Adirondacks that would take us up Iroquois Mt. (4840'), Algonquin Mt. (5114'), and Wright Peak (4580').

About couple hours away from the trailhead, I run into Fritz and Pennsy Hiker at a McDonald's on I-87. Talk about freaky!!! But I took it as a good omen. We caravaned to the trailhead, arriving at 8am to be greeted by Skiracer.

We then began the 6 mile trek to Lake Colden, where he had planned to set up camp near there. We arrived and set up camp, and a fat little chipmunk came scurrying along very close to us. Fritz shoo'ed it away with his foot, prompting Pennsy Hiker to say "what'd you do that for? He was cute!". The chipmunk disapeard for a few minutes, until Pennsy Hiker opened up his backpack and said chipmunk ran out! Upon further examination, the littler varmit chewed a hole into Pennsy Hiker's trail mix bag. He didn't think the chipmunk was so cute from there on out. We spend the rest of the day hiking around the lake, joking around, goofing off, taking naps (well, some of us), cooking dinner, ect.. A neverending stream of hikers was flowing in, and the area got really crowded. We ended up having to share our space with some French-Canadian kids, but they were relatively quiet and it wasn't that big of a deal, though it would have been nicer to have the space all to ourselves.

We woke up the next morning and a bear had gotten into two bear bags of other people camping in the area. Ours were safe, as we heeded the ranger's advice of tying our bags together, and lifting them up to a steel cable that was tied between two trees about 20 feet up and hanging them over it. The other folks who ended up loosing their food merely slung a rope over the steel cable, and hoisted their bags up, tieing the other end of the rope to a tree. One guy immediately picked up the mess the bear had made of his food like he should have, the other people hiked out and left their trash, which pissed all of us off, needless to say.

We left our basecamp behind and began the hike up to the peaks at 8am on Sunday. The route we were doing was VERY steep and VERY strenous.. after all, this was supposed to be a buttkickin' hike... so basecamping is the way to go. Welp, it was a full-on buttkicker... I forget the exact elevation gain, but it was something around 2350 feet in 2.1 miles to Algonquin alone. We huffed and we puffed, and eventually we reached the "T" in the trail where we could turn left for Iroquois or right for Algonquin. We tackled Iroquois first, a mildstone for Pennsy Hiker since it was his first bagged 46'er peak (46 peaks more than 4000 feet) in the Dacks! We chilled out a while, ate some snacks, drank some water, soaked in the views, and enjoyed having the entire peak to ourselves.

We then trekked back and summited Algonquin, the second tallest peak in New York State! LOT's of people at the top, around 30 or so I'd guess, but plenty of room for everyone. Pretty chilly at the top also, as were the other peaks, my new jacket served me well. Skiracer decided to call it a day at this point and head back to camp. We bid him farewell and continued the trek.

We went down the other side of Algonquin and climbed a VERY steep trail up to Wright. Great views here also, but because we were getting mildly concerned about time, we didn't hang around too long and trekked back down to finish the loop.

Down, down, down, down, we go, and we began longing for level trails. We finally got our wish as we hit the trail to Marcy Dam, and Fritz and I began skipping as I proclaimed that I was as giddy as a wee-little school girl. We were jokingly dubbed as "forest fairies" by another hiker shortly after that who I didn't think had seen us. :-P

We refilled on water at Marcy Dam, and continued the trek back. We ran into a girl wearing a sundress, and I wondered if the oxygen-rich air from our lower elevation was making me hallucinate. After rubbing my eyes and Fritz and Pennsy Hiker claiming to have seen the same thing, I realized it was no mirage. Why a girl would feel the need to wear a sundress on a relatively cool day miles and miles into the wilderness is beyond me.

That would prove to be nothing, though. An hour or two later, along a tricky stretch along Avalanche Pass that's comprised of narrow passageways, bridged-walkways built into the side of cliffs, ladders made of logs, and large boulders to be hopped, my jaw would hit the ground. Along this path, we came across a man carrying his bike. Even if it was a full-on mountain bike, it would have been absolutely 100% useless along this stretch of trail and pretty much EVERY trail for that matter. But it wasn't even a mountain bike, but a hybrid that was loaded with carrybags. He was struggling to bring it up and over a rock or tree, and not really knowing what to say to this guy, I said "you know, the trail get's really hairy up ahead". He said he had already carried his bike 7 miles, so it was no big deal. Just to be polite, I said he was hardcore but I should have been blunt and just called him a moron. Fritz, Pennsy Hiker and I could not stop laughing after that!

We arrived back at camp at 7pm, a full 11-hour day of buttkicking hiking!! It was a real workout, and we were all glad to be back. Skiracer had gotten back a few hours before us, and very graciously filtered water for all of our bottles that we had left behind at camp.. what a guy! :-)

That night was even colder than the one before, and I slept very soundly. The next morning, the bear had gotten into another hiker's bag.. and I took a picture (see link to photo page) of an aspirin-sized bottle that contained cooking oil that the bear had put a hole through with his tooth. I wish I could have put a penny or something in this photo for a frame of reference, but the tooth-puncture was pretty big, probably about the size of a pea, if not a little bigger.

We hiked back to the trailhead, bid our farewells, and left. The whole ride back, I reflected on what a great time I had hiking with Fritz, Pennsy Hiker, and Skiracer. Thanks a bunch for coming along guys. You're three terrific people and it was an honor to do the trek with you all! :-)

Artex's Adirondack Trip Pictures”

“P.S. Pardon the typos, it was a buttkickin' trip and I'm tired and not thinking terribly straight. :-P”

“Now that is a kick @ss trip report!!!!!

Great Pictures!!!!!

8D”

“Nice trip report. I can't believe that guy carried his bike that far with packs loaded on it. That's bizarre. What would be the point if he couldn't ride there? Also, wouldn't mountain bikes be banned there like they are on the major hiking trails in PA.?”

“We asked the same questions, richb. It was really bizarre. Sharp as a ball, that guy was.”

“Wow, that was fast Artex!
Super trip report, and you must be really pleased with your new camera. Those pictures came out great. Love the captions under the pics.. "ever animated Pennsy" LOL!

I forgot you got a pic of that evil chipmunk. Forget the bears, the chippies are viscous!

It was a great weekend and it lived up to it's billing..... it was a real buttkicker! We estimated Sunday's 3 peak hike to be about 15 miles with over a mile of elevation gain.

It was my first visit to the High Peaks Region and it will be far from my last. The scenery and views were fantastic. Avalanche Pass and Avalanche Lake are really a site. I'll post my pics in a few days and hopefully they'll do these wonderful scenes some justice.

Thanks to Artex for organizing this adventure. Also, Artex gets the good samaritan award. As we arrived in the parking after the hike out, we immediately ran into our camp neighbors. We asked them to take our group picture with 3 of our cameras. They agreed ever so politely, even though they had just encountered a big problem.

They had a flat tire without a spare. They also had their hung food assaulted by a bear the night before. Talk about bad luck! Good ole Artex volunteered to give them a ride to the closet phone, which had to be several miles away. (btw - how did that end up?)

I'd also like to thank Skiracer for filtering water for all of us Sunday night. It may not sound like a big deal, but it was for Fritz, Artex, and myself. After hiking for 11 hours and coming into camp near dark and starving, no one was in the mood to go filter water.

It was a great weekend guys. It was a pleasure meeting and hiking with Skiracer for the first time. I hope we do it again soon. Of course, it was great hiking with Fritz and Artex again, and believe it or not ;o), Fritz was good company for the drive up and back.”

“Nice...very nice!”

“Rich - that was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen on the trail. The darn bike was a heavy clunker no less. As a former hard core mt biker, I never would have remotely considered biking those trails. We did not see any signs banning bikes, but I have a guess why. They know that it's impossible to ride any of the trails so why bother making a sign. I guarantee this guy spent NO time in the saddle. Go figure.....”

“Great shots, Artex! Send me more details about that digital camera in an e-mail, would you?

What a great trip! Artex, Pennsy Hiker and Fritz are all very personable guys. I enjoyed hiking and sharing camp with everyone. If you've ever considered a TT trip, but haven't taken one because you're afraid that you might not enjoy someone's company, disregard it and go. On every TT trip I've been on, I can honestly say that I've never met a nicer bunch of folks than those from TT.

I got home around 4:15 this afternoon, but not before meeting Pennsy Hiker and Fritz at a McDonald's off of I-87. Artex drove a couple with a flat tire and no spare to somewhere where they could get help. Let us know how that went, Artex. It was an extremely nice thing to do.

I decided to bug out of the rest of the loop on Sunday. After hiking up Iriquois and Algonquin, and after taking a look at the topo, I decided it wasn't in the cards for me to complete the butt kicker the other three went on. Call it knowing your limits. I really haven't gone on too many backpacking trips since the shoulder surgery last summer and the move to New Hampshire this summer. This trip gave me a taste of what I've been missing. I know I'll be going on a lot more backpacking trips up here. I am really going to like living in this part of the country.

I made the right decision about heading back to camp. Even that trek down was no piece of cake and took me the better part of 2 hours. I got cleaned up, took a snooze, filtered a whole bunch of water and talked to some of the other backpackers in the area. It was just right for my first time out in a very long time.

I hope that all three guys have the same soreness in their quads that I do. It was tough to get out of the truck after sitting for awhile on the trip home.

Great trip and a great bunch of guys. I'd hike with any of you anytime. Thanks for an enjoyable trip.”

“Great Pix! I really wish I had been free for this one- The scenery looked great out there, sounds like you had a blast!
Yeah, um, Artex- I might need some info on that camera too.”

“Pennsy - yep, I'm VERY pleased with that camera! After downloading and looking at my pics, it was great motivation to post my trip report and pics ASAP.

Corporal and Skiracer, I'll e-mail you guys tonight with camera info.

Oh yeah, giving those two hikers a ride to the phone was no problem at all. They were both very nice, and very thankful for the help. I was just glad to help out, what a bummer to come back to a car with a flat tire and no spare after a long backpacking trip! We drove along Rt. 2 back to I-87, where there was a gas station with a phone, they had family in Albany on top of being AAA members, so they were all set.”

“Glad you guys had a great time.
Too bad I couldn't have made it.
Anything would of been better than the weather we had around here! Enjoyed looking at the pics. Isn't it cool that when you get on top of Algonquin you can see the way you hiked in from up top? You can see the way Lake Colden leads in to the Flowed Lands which leads into the Opalescent River....”

“Pennsy, I doubt even Hans Rey, the world class trials rider, would even ride the trails you guys hiked on.”

“Artex I never knew that New York was so beautiful!!

How about a hike when I come to New York at the end of September??”

“...it seems like you had as miserable a time as me and stratdewd...sorry you didn't have a better time...at least the photos show that you all attempted to have fun...the visual suffering that you had to endure during this trip...no one should half to suffer so. well done!”

“Artex, what a great trip report. The fun you had with the other guys comes thru loud and clear. The pics are great. What was the total mileage on the trip? Also, how nice of you to give those people a ride.”

“We estimated that we hiked ~30 miles total for the three day trip. Given the constant elevation changes, it seemed like a lot more!

Prowler, if you're up during a weekend, I'll be happy to take you on a hike. Drop me an e-mail with your plans. Yes, New York State is VERY beautiful. Most people only think of that cancerous city to the south, but the rest of the state is an entirely different world, and a beautiful one at that. :-)”

“Great pics, great trip report and beautiful scenery! Can't wait to hike with you guys in October!”

“I couldn't wait to get to work this morning in the hope that Artex (Yukonjamie - I like it) had posted his trip report. I was telling my buddy about it yesterday afternoon on the terrace of The Cottage after we'd done Street and Nye. We were sitting there admiring the ridge you guys did. I am particularly impressed that you did the loop in one day - a buttkicker as you say. BTW nice jacket. I'm trying to find a week-end for Couchsascraga, Panther and Santanoni (my last three), if you're interested.

Was I right about the bears? This year is even drier than 1999 and I really do have to do the Santanoni ridge with these conditions.

Great report, Artex, thanks.”

“Gremlin, when were you thinking of tackling your last three of the 46 peaks? I'd be totally thrilled to join you, and would consider it an honor to snap a photo of you on your last peak! Lemme know! :-)

And yes, I love the new jacket. I have a feeling I'll be getting a lot of use out of it this fall/winter.”

“Forest nymphs! Great report, Artex!

Good job on the bear hang too! Proper hanging is important. If its like the Sierras, the fed bears are (soon to be) dead bears.

Nice pic of Fritz on Algonquin! And the last shot, with Fritz holding the big camera (looks like mine!)

I didn't know NY was so pretty! I always pictured NY as tall bldgs and cars and lights and noise (Like LA).

Thanks!”

“??????

How did you "lift" your bags over the wire??

Getting bags high enough is always my problem. Often I have left them at the end of a long day dangling like a pinata.

I have seen the cables by shelters in the Daks, but assumed that you would just throw a line with a caribeaner over the cable, clip your bag on to it, and then haul your bag up, and tie off the line.

YOu said that bags rigged that way got poached. How??? did the bear snap the line??? (or just put enough wieght on it so that the bag pulled over the top of the cable and came crashing down???)

And again . . how did you hoist two bags (probably weighing a total of 20 lbs???) 20 feet up n the air???? and get them down.

These really really basic basic logistics of hanging a bear bag have always thwarted me!!!!!”

“About a 20 foot long chunk of birch tree was used to hoist the bags to the cable.

The bears are smart, if you use the method you described, they'll find the rope and eat your grub.”

“wooooowww, awesome report! and pics, too...what a bunch of strapping young men. ;-) that trip sounds pretty hard-core, it would have totally kicked my ass.

hey Artex, guess what...i saw Evil Dead II over the weekend! it was raining aallll day Sunday, and we were at our friends' house, and had a movie marathon. it was SO funny! the eyeball-in-the-mouth part was the breast.”

“Wow, you guys did a marvelous job with the trip reports...I second, third and fourth everything y'all said!

Other than a few equipment problems, this trip was pretty much perfect, couldn't have been better.

I had a blast hiking with Fartex/Timex, formerly known as Artex; YouOweMe/FartexWannaBe, formerly known as Pennsy Hiker; and Skiracer, formerly known as...well, Skiracer. :)

Let's do it again! But gimme a few days to recover, today I can just barely walk!”

“I may be able to swing my city trip to Wens. thru Thurs. and hen hit the trail with you that weekend ! ???? How would that work? (ifin i can pull it by the wify)”

“Great trip reports! Great photos!

That's some really beautiful country. It's on the to-do list!”

“great report, cool pix

artex is a good guy to hike with”

“Great trip report sounds like you guys had a blast. I’ll check out the pics later.”

“I was thinking that same thing, lyra. Now if I could get a show of hands and see your boots please...
;)”

“heeheeeee!”

“SnowDude and I are both short, but we can get the bags up there, with trekking poles to push the 2nd bag up, and also tie a loop on the end of the stuff sacks, so you can grab it and pull it down.

The first time a bear got our food ('81 or '82) we tied the rope to another tree. The bear looked up at the bag, followed the rope, and swatted it. Bear hasn't gotten my food since. I carry the canister now.”

“Trekking poles would definitely NOT have done the job. That cable was a good 16 feet up; and the only available tool was that birch log, that must have weighed 50 lbs by itself. Hard to lift, hard to control. It took three of us to get the bags up and down.”

“twiggy, my boots are size 7, what's your point???

;)”

“Snowy - that was me holding the big camera in the last pic. Unfortunately for Fritz, his cam stopped working the day before. Speaking of that Fritz (or uOmE), did you have any luck with the cam/card when you got home?

Richb - I saw an OLN feature some ago about Hans Rey biking a rugged trail somewhere, and it was nothing like these trails.

strapping? - yeeeehaaaaa!!”

“oh, i saw that program too, about ol' Hans. that dude is a machine!! the accent only adds to the appeal ;-) i was thinking of that show when i read about the guy on the bike, but couldn't remember his name.”

“Twigeater-
Holding up hands and showing you my 11.5's. LOL!”

“hmmm...yes, I see...”

“Whewwww... I finally got my pics posted. Enjoy!

Pennsy's Adirondack Trip Pics”

“Super! I was just logging in, hoping to see your pics!”

“Sweet pics!!!!! I love the stupid human tricks picture, hee hee! :-)”

“Guys...

Great pictures! Thanks for posting 'em. Looking at them, I felt like I was right there with you (*M Silver waxes nostalgic*). Didn't ya just love those views of the slides on Colden!

Great trip reports too. Thanks.

I've been reading some ADK Listserve reports that Marcy Dam pond is all dried up. Is that how you found it too?

Despite your explanations and Artex's picture, I still can't figure out how you got those food bags up there on that cable (maybe my mind is just too simple to comprehend such marvels of Physics).

I guess you all didn't look for or see the plane wreckage remnants on the northeast side of Wright's summit ...? (Had I realized you'd be doing Wright, I might've told you where to find it there).

Anyway, it sounds like you had an excellent trip with good company (despite the bears), good weather for climbing, and a decent campsite. Wish I could have been there.

Hitch up matilda!”

“M Silver, wish you could have been there, too!

Yes, Marcy Dam pond is all dried up. Artex's pic of me (as waterboy) was taken there. You can see the new "island" in the middle of the pond, if I am remembering correctly.

I was at Marcy Dam three weeks ago and it looked MUCH different.

For some reason, Lake Colden is full and beautiful.

Bear bags--three, tied together, one hangs on one side of the cable to offset the weight of the other two bags on the other side. Birch log had a "Y" on the end, used that to lift all three bags above the cable, then lowered them with the cable between them.

Had read about the plane wreckage but was so DEAD by the time we were on Wright that I forgot all about it!”

“Great pics Pennsy and Artex, I really enjoyed them.”

“Marion - I tried to get the guys to hike up Colden and then go down the slide on our butts. No takers though...... ;o)

On Marcy Dam pond, it wasn't dried up but very low. Artex has a pic of Fritz filtering water there.
Marcy Pond

About Wright - we forgot about it but another hiker mentioned the plaque while we were up there. Time was an issue and we were whipped from that 620ft vertical climb in only .4 miles, so we didn't look for it.

The bear bags - I had my canister so I let them have the fun. The pole was a 15-20ft birch with a 12" branch angled up at the top that acted as a hook. The bags were tied together leaving some slack and placed over the hook. The bags were then raised above the cable with one bag hoisted over the cable, then lowering the pole to free the hook from the bag ties. That make any sense?”

“ I hate it when I forget to close a tag. Kick me!”

“Beautiful pictures, both of you! Felt like I was there - makes me want to go there.”

“Oh... "ButtKickin'..."

n e v e r m i n d .”

“Ouch Twigeater! That was kinda like a rhetorical question thing. Sheesh! ;o)”

“Pennsy Nice pics and a new perspective. Three Amigos? Wasn't that a movie??”