Here's my report for my first attempt at backpacking. If it weren't for this forum I probablly wouldn't have ever tried it. So a big thanks to all of you who offered advice, tips and suggestions along the way while I was trying to figure out what I needed etc.
I left my house with my brother-in-law (new to the ADKS) at about 6 a.m. Friday morning. We arrived at the Loj shortly after 11, which was record time for me. With my wife and kids along for the ride it normally takes more like 6 hours. We picked up a bear cannister, packed it, and were on the trail by 12. We hiked towards Rocky Falls, and then proceeded towards Scott's Clearing and dam. We enjoyed the area alot, dropping our packs, snacking and following some moose tracks along Indian Pass Brook. We did a little exploring, enjoyed the cool water and then were off for Scott's Ponds and the original plan of Wallface ponds. The trail to Scott's Pond was extremely wet, muddy and rocky and at times basically hiking right up a creek. We checked the area out and decided instead of hiking back to Wallface Ponds, we would go back to Scott's Dam and camp there for the night. We arrived back at the dam, set up camp and enjoyed a dinner of lemon pepper tuna with pitas. Very tasty! We filtered water for the following days hike and were asleep before dark.
On Saturday we were up by 6 and the trail towards Indian Pass by 7. This was a very enjoyable hike. I liked hiking by all the different brooks and with some nice views thrown in. Indian Pass was another hard hike of massive boulders, more mud and stream hiking. At one point we saw snow down in one of the crevices of Indian Pass. We dropped our packs and went to check it out. As soon as I got down there it was so much cooler than the trail and the steam just started pouring off of me. At this point we realized just how hot it was! We cooled off, building a small snow man that I could take pictures of for my 5 year old daughter at home, knowing that she wouldn't believe I saw snow while she was at home swimming. We then headed for summit rock of the pass and enjoyed the magnificence of Wallface.
We backtracked to Cold Brook Pass and head up over that for Lake Colden. It seemed like this was a not often used trail. Very narrow, pretty steep in spots, and again rocky and wet and more creek hiking. It was along this trail, that we had our first people encounter, having not seen anyone in just over 24 hours. We arrived at Lake Colden and relaxed for a bit by the lake in front of the interior outpost. The trail map seemed to have a designated campsite right at the base of Cold Brook Pass, but we had no luck in finding. We frustratingly searched for a campsite finally finding a nice one at the base of the trail heading up Algonquin. It was up off the trail, overlooking the first set of falls heading up the trail. Very nice!! It had been used before and unfortunately people had fires there. We discarded of the rocks, and burnt wood and then covered the area up in hopes future campers wouldn't get the wrong idea. We set up camp ate dinner, filtered more water, and attempted our original plan-Algonquin and then over to Iroquois to try to catch the sunset. We set off at 4:30 and headed up the trail. Unfortunately, we only made it about a mile up the trail and I decided I was spent for the day. As Kevin mentioned in his post, I too was probally suffering from heat exhaustion. I had drank close to 6 liters of water, but was still experiencing dehydrations symptoms. Quite a dissapointment! We returned to camp and again were asleep before dark.
Sunday morning we were on the trail by 8. While planning this trip I had hopes of climbing Colden, but in reality it wasn't going to happen this time. We headed out through Avalanche Pass and enjoyed the great views from there even though we never made it up a peak. We made it back to the Loj around noon, and headed back to the real world.
I went into this trip having no idea what to expect as this was mine and my b-i-l's first forray into backpacking. I was hoping to add a few peaks to my whopping total of 2 (Marcy and Algonquin), but unfortunately that didn't happen. I still had a great time saw some amazing areas (Indian Pass, Lake Colden, Avalanche Pass) that I had been wanting to see for awhile. I basically accomplished all my goals except for the peaks. I was happy in my choice of packs, Kelty Storm 3600, and tent Kelty Teton 2. I was glad I didn't have to carry the bear can, the deal was that since I was carrying the tent my b-i-l had to carry the can. Little did he know that my tent weighed only 4 pounds and the can with food had to be around 20 pounds.
I just read this whole thing and realized it's rather boring, especially in comparison to Kevin and Val's trip and mtn.gts amazing journey. Sorry to all of you who were hoping for something exciting.
I left my house with my brother-in-law (new to the ADKS) at about 6 a.m. Friday morning. We arrived at the Loj shortly after 11, which was record time for me. With my wife and kids along for the ride it normally takes more like 6 hours. We picked up a bear cannister, packed it, and were on the trail by 12. We hiked towards Rocky Falls, and then proceeded towards Scott's Clearing and dam. We enjoyed the area alot, dropping our packs, snacking and following some moose tracks along Indian Pass Brook. We did a little exploring, enjoyed the cool water and then were off for Scott's Ponds and the original plan of Wallface ponds. The trail to Scott's Pond was extremely wet, muddy and rocky and at times basically hiking right up a creek. We checked the area out and decided instead of hiking back to Wallface Ponds, we would go back to Scott's Dam and camp there for the night. We arrived back at the dam, set up camp and enjoyed a dinner of lemon pepper tuna with pitas. Very tasty! We filtered water for the following days hike and were asleep before dark.
On Saturday we were up by 6 and the trail towards Indian Pass by 7. This was a very enjoyable hike. I liked hiking by all the different brooks and with some nice views thrown in. Indian Pass was another hard hike of massive boulders, more mud and stream hiking. At one point we saw snow down in one of the crevices of Indian Pass. We dropped our packs and went to check it out. As soon as I got down there it was so much cooler than the trail and the steam just started pouring off of me. At this point we realized just how hot it was! We cooled off, building a small snow man that I could take pictures of for my 5 year old daughter at home, knowing that she wouldn't believe I saw snow while she was at home swimming. We then headed for summit rock of the pass and enjoyed the magnificence of Wallface.
We backtracked to Cold Brook Pass and head up over that for Lake Colden. It seemed like this was a not often used trail. Very narrow, pretty steep in spots, and again rocky and wet and more creek hiking. It was along this trail, that we had our first people encounter, having not seen anyone in just over 24 hours. We arrived at Lake Colden and relaxed for a bit by the lake in front of the interior outpost. The trail map seemed to have a designated campsite right at the base of Cold Brook Pass, but we had no luck in finding. We frustratingly searched for a campsite finally finding a nice one at the base of the trail heading up Algonquin. It was up off the trail, overlooking the first set of falls heading up the trail. Very nice!! It had been used before and unfortunately people had fires there. We discarded of the rocks, and burnt wood and then covered the area up in hopes future campers wouldn't get the wrong idea. We set up camp ate dinner, filtered more water, and attempted our original plan-Algonquin and then over to Iroquois to try to catch the sunset. We set off at 4:30 and headed up the trail. Unfortunately, we only made it about a mile up the trail and I decided I was spent for the day. As Kevin mentioned in his post, I too was probally suffering from heat exhaustion. I had drank close to 6 liters of water, but was still experiencing dehydrations symptoms. Quite a dissapointment! We returned to camp and again were asleep before dark.
Sunday morning we were on the trail by 8. While planning this trip I had hopes of climbing Colden, but in reality it wasn't going to happen this time. We headed out through Avalanche Pass and enjoyed the great views from there even though we never made it up a peak. We made it back to the Loj around noon, and headed back to the real world.
I went into this trip having no idea what to expect as this was mine and my b-i-l's first forray into backpacking. I was hoping to add a few peaks to my whopping total of 2 (Marcy and Algonquin), but unfortunately that didn't happen. I still had a great time saw some amazing areas (Indian Pass, Lake Colden, Avalanche Pass) that I had been wanting to see for awhile. I basically accomplished all my goals except for the peaks. I was happy in my choice of packs, Kelty Storm 3600, and tent Kelty Teton 2. I was glad I didn't have to carry the bear can, the deal was that since I was carrying the tent my b-i-l had to carry the can. Little did he know that my tent weighed only 4 pounds and the can with food had to be around 20 pounds.
I just read this whole thing and realized it's rather boring, especially in comparison to Kevin and Val's trip and mtn.gts amazing journey. Sorry to all of you who were hoping for something exciting.
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