Indian Pass, MacNaughton, & Marshall TR

“Part1: Indian Pass

I left the house around 6am to meet up with Pennsy and PhantomSoul who decided to sleep out at the Upper Works trailhead. The drive up was pretty much uneventful until about a mile from the trailhead when I pine martin ran across the road in front of me and then watch me as I drove by. Soon I was at the ghost town of Adirondac and the trailhead where Pennsy and PhantomSoul were waiting. We through on our packs and hit the trail.

The first 3 miles of trail was mostly flat and dry with the occasional typical Adirondack muddy spot. From that point the trail started to gain some elevation as the dirt and plant debris in the trail turned to rocks, then boulders and then very large house sized boulders. As we progressed the cliff on the side of Wallface Mountain towered above us. We were dwarfs in a land of giants it was truly sublime. After the first ten minutes my neck began to hurt from staring up Wallface as it rose 1200+ feet from base to summit. After about 800ft of climbing over a mile we reached Summit Rock, the high point in the pass. The steep slope of Mount Marshall formed one side of the pass, but it was the incredible view of Wallface that had our attention. At this point we spotted two rock climbers, who looked like ants, as they scaled the 5.8 class rock wall. In the background we could hear peregrine falcons screech from their nests on the rock face. Next we headed down to the other side of the pass where at one point we spotted snow in between two large boulders. I climbed down to investigate. There was still about 3ft of snow between the rocks. We continued to follow the trail out of the pass as it followed the northern Indian Pass Brook. The trail followed the brook most of the way down to Scott's Clearing where we stopped and had lunch.

Part 2: Wallface Ponds

From Scott's Clearing we crossed Indian Pass Brook and started the climb towards Wallface Ponds. The first .8 mi rose 800ft before leveling off. From this point the trail cross a large mud hole before coming up a height of land near Scott Pond. At Scott Pond we crossed the outlet at an old, demolished, stone dam. After the crossing the tail continued over rolling terrain and a lot of mud as it led to the larger of the Wallface Ponds. The mud was deep and wet and reminded me of the mud on the Bradley Pond trail as you approach the Santinoni Range, it think this trail is it's little brother. After a very long mile of hoping through mud holes we arrived at a very small campsite on one of the Wallface Ponds at 4pm. The crappy trail did have one very nice advantage. We had found a place in the middle of the High Peaks Wilderness without crowds of people. In fact we had only seen about 5 people the entire day including the two rock climbers that were far off on the face of Wallface.

Part 3: MacNaughton

We quickly setup camp and decided to forget about bushwhacking over to Wallface summit and just hike the herd path up MacNaughton, elevation 3983ft. After marking camp on my GPSR we followed the path around the southern side of the pond. After crossing the outlet to the pond the path continued up a small rise and was gone. At that point we ran into three day hikers on their way back from the mountain. They told us that the climb was a bushwhack as the herd path no longer existed. They said that they only made it half way before turning around. At this point we picked a turn around time of 6:30pm not wanting to get stuck in the dark on a mountain with no trail.

The climb was rough. We encountered many blow down along the way up the steep slope. The mountain rose over 800ft over about .5mi to the summit. At about 6:15 we reached a point were things leveled and we came across a herd path. We followed this path to the summit and a rocky outlook. The outlook offered us good views of the Santinoni and Seward Ranges. We didn't stay too long because we didn't want to get caught in the dark. Soon we were making the rough decent down as we climbed over blow downs and slid our way down small ledges. After a long and hard hike three hikers arrived back at camp, with a few extra holes in their clothing and scratched skin, but otherwise unharmed.

Part 4: Mount Marshall and back to the cars

Our original plan was to get up with the sun and hike up Mount Marshall and then hike out via the Calamity Brook trail and be home in time for supper. What really happened was we didn't wake up until after 7am, so we didn't end up on the trail until 8:20, 20 minutes later than when we hit the trail the day before. We slogged through the mud and descended the trail back to Scott's Clearing. From there we hiked back up the Indian Pass trail to the intersection with the Iroquois Pass trail. The trail up to Iroquois Pass was steep and climbed about 1400ft over about 1.6mi. We rested at the height of land in the pass. The herd path up Marshall went up to our right. At this point PhantomSoul decided to head down the pass to Lake Colden while Pennsy and myself hiked up Marshall and descend to the Flowed Lands via the herd path along Herbert Brook.

The climb up to the summit was steep and brushy, but nothing like the bushwhack we did the day before. The scrub brush tore at our legs but soon we made it to the false summit on Marshall (sorry Pennsy I measured the things out on my map program and while the bump was over 4000' the dip was only a 100' drop between Marshall so it doesn't count as a peak). After the dip down we were heading back up the mountain without problems until we reached a 10' rock wall. Once we made it to the top we couldn't find the path, but we did find some flagging that lead us to the other herd path and then to the summit. We took some photos at an outlook and soon we were heading down off the mountain. Herbert Brook was beautiful with its many small cascading waterfalls. Once we made it to the Flowed Lands we took the marked trail to the Calamity Brook trail and then followed that the 4.6mi back to Upper Works.

PhantomSoul wasn't back yet when we arrived so it was decided since I lived only about 2hours away and Pennsy 5.5; I would wait for him while Pennsy headed home. At around 7pm the Soul Man made it back in one piece and I headed home to lick my wounds.”

“Man, oh man -- was this ever a trip to remember. From extremely rugged trails to steep, craggy passes to mud so deep it could suck the boots right off your feet to bushwhacking the 47th of the 46 high peaks through a dense spruce-fir forest to losing most of my food to the "natives" (not bears but smaller critters, as it apparently couldn't break through the foil seal on my dinner package -- I urge -- the 'Dack wildlife is not to be underestimated), this trip was definitely action-packed from beginning to end.

We stayed at an amazing campsite in quite possibly the most remote area of the High Peaks Wilderness. On Sunday, by the time we got to the top of Cold Brook (Iroquois) Pass, I was completely out of steam and we split up. The problem was that, even with the easy way out, I still had about 8 miles of hiking left.

The trail down the east side of Cold Brook Pass was ridiculously steep with lots of loose rocks and gravel -- the trekking poles were useless here. I fell several times, but fortunately my pack caught my fall every time. After about a mile I made my way to Lake Colden and for the next couple of miles, the trail was really easy along Lake Colden and Flowed Lands. The trail here was also very well maintained, probably because of its proximity to the Colden Ranger station and all the campsites/leantos in the vicinity.

When I got to the Calamity Brook junction at Flowed Lands, I was (very) surprised to find out that Pennsy and Lumberzac were about 15 minutes ahead of me and I really tried to catch up. Unfortunately, my legs had a different plan and my soreness had reduced me to less than 1 mile per hour.

I finally made it back to the trailhead a little after 7, and LZ was still there (thanks, man). I figured Pennsy left already since he had as far to go as I did home. Anyway, I told LZ that I made it out alive, changed real quick and set out on the road around quarter to 8. Let me tell you, it was not fun having to get out of the car to go pump gas, and then again at the service area to take care of "other" business. But considering all the stops, I got home just before 2AM, so that wasn't too bad. Now I sit here and recover...

Overall, I'm pretty happy that I survived the trip (except the fact that I didn't make Marshall -- grumble grumble). Although I don't think it was planned that way, I kinda like these extreme trips that really force me to push myself to the max. I wouldn't hesitate one second to do another trip like this again -- so long as yous are willing to wait up every so often (I don't do steep slopes very quickly -- up or down). Kudos to LZ for a great trip -- this is the stuff that good backpacking stories are made of.

PS I almost forgot: Pictures here.”

“Great photos PhantomSoul. I hope to have mine up some time tomorrow. Don't fret about missing Marshall. The mountain isn't going anywhere.”

“Here's one for dogged persistence.

Thanks for the well written reports. Nice to follow along how it all went with the photos as well.”

“Excellent report guys and great pics Soul Man. This trip was backpacking at it's purest and one to remember. Nothing more to say for now cuz I gotta git to work.

Here's my pics.”

“Nice reports, sounds like an awesome place.”

“Great pics Zac. Neat job of the blow-up showing the climbers.

Hey PS - I'm glad you got out and home ok. I'm sorry I didn't hang around to see you, but a big thanks to Zac for waiting.

Zac - the drop between Marshall and the false summit is only 100ft?
BTW - although there was a definate herd path to Marshall from Indian Pass, it certainly hasn't seen many backpackers. Dayhikers perhaps, but our packs took a beating getting through all those narrow sections. Let's do Iroquois the hard way next time. heh heh”

“LZ, Pennsy -- nice pics. Looks like Marshall had some really nice views.

...and now to resume planning the Revenge on Marshall trip...”

“Actually, it looks like the rest of the MacIntyres come together nicely in a single trip from Heart Lake...probably another herd path more suitable for day equipment rather than full backpacks...”

“Let's do Iroquois the hard way next time. heh heh

Why not Wallface the fun way?

PS - There is a marked trail that goes to Wright and Algonquin and a well defined herd path to Iroquois.”

“So it is a trail then... my bad.”

“Oh yeah, and why stop there? Why not just bag all 46 peaks in one trip?”

“Sorry I missed this TR, somehow slipped my mind!

Welcome to the wonderful world of the Adirondacks, Mr. Soul. Too bad you didn't catch a glimpse of the ADK about ten years ago when the park was just crowded, not severely impacted and overused as it is today. Forever Wild? You can find some quiet places off the beaten path, but it's unfortunately become a zoo in the central areas. IMO, it's an unfortunate condition of the "backpacking boom" that we are all witnessing this past decade or so.

That being said, great hike!”

“Oh I did, I just haven't been up there in almost a decade. The high-use trails had a lot of bog-logs, which I guess could help lower impact (pending that people actaully walk on the logs rather than around them). Rumor has it that NYSDEC is considering requiring bear canisters in the ADK's as ya apparently can't shake the bears off anymore with just a simple hanging bear bag. I gotta tell ya though -- I was pretty impressed by the remoteness of the Wallface ponds area. Perhaps it's remoteness is because it's such a PITA to get to...

Next ADK stop might be in August to do Marcy ([sarcasm] because nobody climbs that peak... [/sarcasm])”