Adirondacks Advisory

“DEC ALERTS HIKERS TO MUDDY TRAIL CONDITIONS IN THE HIGH PEAKS
Hikers Should Temporarily Avoid High Elevation Trails in the Adirondacks

With the start of a new season of outdoor hiking and recreation on public lands in the Adirondacks, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Regional Director Stuart A. Buchanan today urged hikers to be cautious and postpone taking any hikes on trails above 3,000 feet until the middle of June.

DEC is asking hikers to voluntarily avoid trails above 3,000 feet, particularly high elevation trails in the Dix, Giant and High Peaks Wilderness Areas of the northern Adirondacks, due to muddy conditions and the potential damage hiking can cause to vegetation and the soft ground.

“The Adirondacks provide great opportunities to hike scenic trails and enjoy the region's beautiful mountains and lakes,” Director Buchanan said. “However, the high elevation trails in the Adirondacks are very muddy this spring due to snowmelt and rain, and we are asking people to temporarily avoid these areas so they do not disturb our natural resources.”

Hikers are advised to only use trails at lower elevations during the spring mud season, since these trails usually dry soon after snowmelt and are on less erosive soils than the higher peaks. DEC is asking hiker to avoid the following trails through June15, 2003:

• High Peaks Wilderness Area - all trails above 3,000 feet; wet muddy snow conditions still prevail, specifically: Algonquin, Colden, Feldspar, Gothics, Indian Pass, Lake Arnold Cross-Over, Marcy, Marcy Dam - Avalanche - Lake Colden which is extremely wet, Phelps Trail above John Brook Lodge, Range Trail, Skylight, Wright and all "trail-less" peaks.

• Dix Mtn. Wilderness Area - all trails above Elk Lake and Round Pond

• Giant Mtn. Wilderness Area - all trails above Giant's Washbowl, “the Cobbles,” and Owls Head.

DEC suggests the following alternative trails for hiking, subject to weather conditions:

• Debar Mt. Wild Forest:
Azure Mt.
• Giant Mt. Wilderness:
Giant's Washbowl
Roaring Brook Falls


• High Peaks Wilderness:
Ampersand Mt.
Cascade
Big Slide
Brothers
Porter from Cascade; avoid all other approaches
• Hurricane Primitive Area:
The Crows
Hurricane Mt. from Route 9N
• McKenzie Mt. Wilderness:
Haystack Mt.
McKenzie Mt.
• Pharaoh Lake Wilderness Area:
Pharaoh Mt.
• Saranac Lakes Wild Forest:
Baker Mt.
Panther Mt.
Scarface Mt.
• Taylor Pond Wild Forest:
Poke-O-Moonshine

For additional information on trail conditions, visit the DEC website at http:/www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dlf/publands/trailcond.html or call the DEC Region 5 Lands and Forests Office in Ray Brook at (518) 897-1200.”

“So is this trip canceled?”

“Thanx Bobo. Glad Maple and I aren't going to Saranac until July. That would be a bummer if it were earlier...”

“Yes, must hike. we unfortunately had to postpone the hike because Pennsy's backpack-convertible sled-convertible canoe is in the shop getting fixed. Looks like we could have used that canoe...”

“That message was released April 28. We are being urged to stay off the high peak trails (above 3000 ft) until June... just in time for black fly season!!!”

“I seem to recall an August trip to the Daks when I was churning through mud up to the bottoms of my shorts. I'd lose a boot in the muck and have to stick my stockinged foot down there and feel around for the boot. It would rain one day and the sun would come out the next, then it would rain the next day and so on. It would get me down and the next day get me back up and the next drop me back down. Finally I opted to cut the trip by a couple of days and get a room in Lake Placid. It was a good decision. Those mud holes don't have bottoms when it gets real wet.”

“Adirondack muck is like quicksand! I was having horrible dreams last night about being drowned in mud and water on the Calamity Brook trail!”

“That's a good'n!”

“The trail that finally got me was coming back from the Duck Ponds to Henderson Lean-to south of Indian Pass. That trail was a sea of muck.”

“to bad, was looking forawrd to do it.”

“Too bad about your trip Capn Bobo. But look at it this way now you can get your vacation days changed and take off the 16th and go to the Devils Path! Also maybe when you reschedule that ADK trip it will be a date that I can go.”

“Hey Capn, you still interested in Spring on the Sods? May 16-26?”

“Bobo is popular, must be his special Tea..lol.”

“He’s going to reschedule it for when my knee gets better, because it’s all about me, you all should make your plans around me. GET IT!”

“must hike - stop being selfish! Did you go to see a doctor????

Aw Shucks, I Totally forgot about the TnT recipe, sorry Lt! I'm still taking the days off and I'm still going to the Daks, but I had to settle for plan "C", which should actually not be too bad! I NEED the time off and when you gotta go, you gotta go!

Lt - I do want to go on the devil's hike, have to see if I can squeeze it in as a weekend trip.
Geo - yes, I'm still interested in hooking up for Spring on the Sods, My apologies for not being more proactive, I've been planning the ADK hike and I'm taking my brother-in-law out (He is a mountain-virgin!), so I've been packing and prepping for two people. Plus, just mention "High Peaks" and I become flustered and happy... like a little girl!”

“Hey it would be great if you make it. Pennsy is also talking about catching up with us on Saturday, you migh be able to hook up with him.

Have fun in the ADKs I really want to head up there this year sometime. The Summer is filling up so fast it might not be until fall, I bet the fall colors up there are awesome!”

“I've been known to get weak in the knees over the prospect of taking in the sweet scent of balsam in the Daks. I get even weaker-kneed carrying a pack down one of those cirques, but that has not stopped me. Gotta get my ankle back in shape before I take on the Daks anytime soon.”

“Lt, fall colors are in mid-late September. If you work it out just right you can catch the last snow of summer and the first snow of autumn. I did that one year.”

“Cool, can't wait for the fall trips! It will give me the excuse to buy that new 0 degree sleeping bag.”

“Ah, to be one with the moss and pines at Lake Colden, it would make anyone weak in the knees!

I especially like all the different colored mushrooms in late September! Purples, cream, yellows, polka-dots... very trippy!”

“I call folks who camp at Lake Colden bear bait. I usually check into the Uphill lean-to instead.

Walked around Lake Colden once and saw how people hang their food. They put it up so bears can conveniently get it. Doh!”

“It is a beautiful spot though. Once I camped at the lean-to on the point of land near the outlet, looking up the lake toward Avalanche Pass. That is a magnificent view. That was in the 70s, before the bears got out of control.”

“So that's what you'd call an Official Muck Advisory?”

“we are asking people to temporarily avoid these areas so they do not disturb our natural resources

I'm all for perserving the natural state of the trail, but how do you "disturb" muck?”

“Really. The muck was disturbing me back in '76! Once I got my dang boot out of it, it just oozed back into place.

Seriously though, hundreds of hikers plowing through it makes things worse. You can only lay down so much corduroy before the logs get sucked in too.”

“That is not good news for you all that are going to be going on that trip to Ny!!!

So is the show still going to go on?

I wish I could go on that hike.

8)”

“Bobo, et. al.,

There was an interesting thread today on the 46er Listserve regarding "Mud Season" in the 'daks. The copy-paste below is from one of the posts that I thought made a lot of sense...

As far as the logic of "under 3,000 feet", I'm sure someone from the DEC on this list can elaborate..

I'm not from the DEC, but I'll take a stab.

First of all, it isn't just the mud. That is the name commonly given to the season. Soil over 3000 ft is different than soil at lower elevations.
It isn't deep.
It is usually steep.
It is often partially frozen.
It is mostly rottedd vegetation.

Look at slides. There is a thin layer of soil covering rock. There isn't all that much holding it there. This is not the case at lower elevations.

When soil freezes, (which it does more frequently at higher elevations, it raises up a bit as the water expands. I'm sure we have all seen these little crystals of ice and earth. Walking on this,
when you add to it the slope, does more damage than what happens at lower elevations. Higher elevations tends to have this freezing thawing almost every night during this season.

Yes, this is not true EVERYWHERE, but imagine trying to color-code maps, and have them change weekly. A blanket over 3000 ft is so much easier to manage.”

“That is an interesting and inciteful bit of information.”

“What do you think it will incite?”

“Grrr, insightful. Good catch!”

“Brain lock!”