Red Hill

I have been to the other Catskill fire towers numerous times.  It was five years ago that I finally made it to Red Hill.  In a down pour, I did not even bother climbing the tower.

Today the weather did not fully cooperate, but there were at least some views (of what I don't know).  Red Hill is remote.  Even when approaching from the south, it's an hour and a half from Monroe.  I'll only do this hike if it's in conjunction with something else.

Red Hill is a short 1.4 mile walk on a single track trail.  It's a real trail with plenty of rocks.  There's also almost 1,000 feet elevation gained.  Not bad for a "hill".

The fire tower affords some great views of the surrounding mountains and farm land.  I expected to see Slide, but I'm not sure if I did.  I think Wildcat obstructed the views.  Doubletop was in view, but I was not certain which one it was.  Still, the views were quite nice.  Especially of the area up close.  It appears to be a nice valley to live in if quite remote.

Overlook Training Run

If I have the calendar right, Escarpment is exactly one month away.  Today I did a classic training run.  Overlook Mountain.

I always start this run in Woodstock for maximum effect: 4.5 miles, 2,400 feet elevation.  The first half is on road, the second half on a runnable trail.  Nothing that will be seen on the Escarpment, but the elevation is greater in one shot.

About 10 minutes in I thought, "this effin hurts and I'm less than one sixth of the way up."  At about 20 minutes, I experimented with walking.  I noticed I went slightly faster.  Despite walking, I made it to the parking lot in 30 minutes.

The trail is slightly steeper than the road, but it has plenty of rocks making it a bit more challenging.  I ascended this section in just under 33 minutes.  Overall time is 63, making it slightly quicker than last year.  Hopefully I can break sixty before the Escarpment.

While on the summit, I noticed the Hudson River is in full view from south of Kingston to just a bit north of Hudson.  For whatever reason, I always remember there being some obstructions.  This has to be one of the best views of the river.

Windham High Peak Training Run

This is essentially the first Escarpment training run of the year.  Almost two weeks ago I went up Indian Chair in 27 minutes, which I believe is a new low.  I really hoped for an improvement today.

I got off to an early start leaving the trailhead at 8am.  Unlike at Indian Chair, I felt good.  I reached the trail junction and lean to in 17 minutes.  The fun begins after this point.  The trail becomes noticeably more rugged and steeper.  I decided early on I would not push it.

With a good amount of hiking mixed in, I reached the summit in 54 minutes.  I've reached it in just under 50.  So I was pretty happy.  There will be a different strategy this year.  I plan to take it easy going up to the summit of Windham.

I ran much of the way down.  I heard a lot of movement coming up the trail.  I assumed it was a group of hikers.  Instead it was bambi.  With all the hiking I do in the wilderness, it's still a rarity to see deer.  This would be the first time I captured a photo.    

Morton Memorial Hike to Gray, Skylight and Marcy

Chris Hiker on Skylight with Marcy in background

On my way into The Works trailhead last night, I caught a long glimpse of my first NY moose.  She didn't seem to be in any hurry to get out of the road.  I guess she's well-versed in the fact that NY cars do not want any part of her.

Today would be my ninth Memorial hike for my great cat Morton.  I originally intended these hikes to take place in the Adirondacks, but today would be the first since 2008.  The plan for today would be Gray, Skylight and Marshall.  This would be the fourth time that I bailed on Marshall.

The Hudson Valley has received a lot of rain recently.  It did not take long to notice that this was the case for the Adirondacks.  When it's dry, the trail from The Works to Colden Dam is impressively muddy.  It did not take long for the mud to accumulate on Chris Hiker, despite the work of trail maintainers.  There were plenty of new boards and stones to walk on.

The Hudson River

Standard in the Adirondacks

Some nice trail maintenance

Despite not much elevation gained, the walk out to Colden Dam is a slow go.  I also stopped numerous times to check out the newts.  Until today, I had not seen any.  I'm sure they love the slop.  And I liked checking them out.

After passing the cairn marking the herd path to Mt Marshall, I reached Colden Dam.  This is one of the best places in the Adirondacks.  The lake casts a perfect reflection of mighty Mt Colden if conditions are right.  Despite the cloudy sky, I couldn't complain, so I decided to take a nice long break and soak in the view.

Working my way up to Gray and Skylight, I followed one of my all time favorite trails.  A major reason that I chose these mountains today was to scope out some swim holes for later in the summer.  The roaring Opalescent has many.  Watching the water rip through deep gorges in such a wild environment, one cannot help but be amazed that this water forms the brown, slow moving, tidal water that is the Hudson River.

A steep climb of three miles leads to the source of the Hudson, Lake Tear of the Clouds.  It must rank as one of the great names for a lake (thought it's more of a pond).  The water flowing out of the lake reminded me of my trip to Lake Itasca.  The Feldspar Brook drains out of the lake, which leads to the Opalescent, which leads to the Hudson.  According to my map, the Hudson River as named, flows out of Henderson Lake.  So I guess I'll have to visit that spot someday.

Chris Hiker at the source of the Hudson

Marcy as seen from Lake Tear of the Clouds

Here are photos of the sources of two of Americas great rivers.  Clearly, the source of the Hudson is far more wilder.  The source of the Mississippi has a state park dedicated to it.

Lake Tear of the Clouds

Lake Itasca and the start of the Mississippi

 From Lake Tear, I picked up the herd path that leads to Gray.  This happens to be the highest mountain in the Adirondacks without an official trail.  Besides that, I knew nothing else about it.  Though the herd path is short, it's steep with a couple borderline Class 3 scrambles.  I met a guy coming down as I was going up.  He said, "I'm a chicken when it comes to this stuff."  I laughed, as I was thinking the same thing.

Typical rugged herd path

Some views of Redfield on the way up

Herd paths are a wonderful thing.  The summit of Gray was thick with small, prickly Spruce and Fir trees.  Even with the path, I got cut up.  My cotton shorts also fell victim.  I walked the rest of the way with my some of my underwear showing.  Always keeping it Nice & Sexy.

Marcy from Gray

The walk down was quite slick, but I made it without much difficulty.  I reached Lake Tear and took some fotos.  Marcy reflected nicely in the lake.  It was a really cool sight. Here's a photo of Mount Marcy as reflected on Lake Tear of the Clouds.  I found it surprising that such a muddy lake could produce such a reflection.  

Finding my inner VPo

After walking through some more mud along the side of the lake, I reached the col of Marcy and Skylight.  The walk up Skylight was short and steep but fairly straight forward.  I carried my rock to the summit.

Approaching the summit

My rock is in there somewhere

Long before I reached the summit, I knew the views were going to be pretty sweet.  I added my rock to the pile and took in the views.  Allen and Redfield and Cliff were in view from the south and west.  Moss Pond sits just below the summit of Redfield, I'd like to check that out some day.

Across the way is Marcy and Haystack.  Behind them are Basin, Gothics and Giant.  To the east are the Dixes and Nippletop, Colvin and Blake.  Lots and lots of slides are visible on these peaks.  To the west are the MacIntyres, Santanonis and the Sewards.  In all directions, it appeared to be complete wilderness under the haze.

Cliff w/ Santanonis and Sewards in the distance

Colden and the Macyntire Range

Haystack and the Great Range

Nippletop and the Dixes

Marcy

Chris Hiker on the summit getting eaten by black flies

After spending about 45 minutes on the summit getting eaten by the black flies (the only time of the day), I made the descent down to the col.  I had already made the decision to not give Marshall a try.  I had no desire to walk out in the dark.  But as I descended, Marcy stared right back at me.  Though I wanted to possibly save Marcy for last, I decided to tackle it while I could.

At over 5,300 feet, Marcy towers over everything nearby.  It's a thousand feet above Lake Tear of the Clouds, so this extra detour would not come easy.  Less than half way up, the alpine zone is reached.  Marcy holds the largest uninterrupted alpine zone in the Adirondacks.  There were a couple interpreters on the summit who let me know about the fragile vegetation.  The signs are enough for me.  I love the alpine vegetation.  If only I could transport their resiliency.  

Heading up Marcy

Redfield and Lake Tear of the Clouds

Standing on the summit, it's easy to believe your on the summit of New York.  Marcy towers over everything that surrounds it.  Both Haystack and Skylight rise to just under 5,000 feet, but they appear significantly lower here.  To the east, Big Slide's easily recognizable.  Nearby is the rocky summit of Cascade.  Also visible is Heart Lake and the Olympic Ski Jump area.  One of the few signs of civilization.  I stayed here for a while enjoying the views and chatting with the cute interpreter.

Gray

Big Slide and Cascade to the left

Haystack and Little Haystack

The Great Range

Heart Lake and Mt Jo

Some sun on Gothics

Fianlly on NY's summit

From the summit, I had ten miles and a descent of over 3,500 feet to reach The Works.  The 4+ miles to Colden Dam took almost 3 hours.  My right knee started to bother me, but mostly it was just a very slow trail to descend.  I also took my sweet time descending Marcy.  The walk along the Opalescent is one of my favorites.  I hope to come back in late summer and swim.

Lake Tear of the Clouds

Never ending mountains all the way into VT

I needed this

It was a bruiser of a day

Lake Tear of the Clouds

Adirondack mud

Suspension bridge over the Opalescent

I felt a few rain drops on my way down to the dam.  It was upon leaving Colden Lake that it began to pour and I put my rain jacket on.  My ripped shorts by the time I reached the car were essentially just rags.  I love the rain.  It cooled things off and I lost all care for keeping my feet dry.  If there's an area of water with no rocks or logs, just walk straight through.  If the constant rock hopping starts aggravating the feet, again, skip the rocks and walk straight through the water.

Some stats:

The Works to Flowed Lands     2 hrs and 4.5 miles
Flowed Lands to Colden Dam   40 min and 1 mile
Colden Dam to Lake Tear         2 hr 10min and ~3 miles
Lake Tear to Gray                     1 hr and ~0.5 mile
Gray to Lake Tear                     30 min and ~0.5 mile
Lake Tear to Skylight               40 min and 0.5 mile
Skylight to Col                         20 min and 0.5 mile
Col to Marcy                            50 min and 1 mile
Marcy to Lake Tear                  40 min and 1 mile
Lake Tear to Feldspar Tr          1 hr and 1 mile
Feldspar to Colden Dam           1 hr 10 min and 2 miles
Colden Dam to Flowed Lands  50 min and 1 mile
Flowed Lands to The Works    2 hr 15 min and 4.5 miles

Total approximately 23 miles, with just under 5,000 feet elevation gained.  Total time 15hrs.