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By Saturday morning, I was strongly considering not doing this hike, since my knee had acted up the night before after climbing Marshall. The rain in the morning didn't help either. I drove to the trailhead anyhow. I was prepared to hike either way, and I wanted to at least let Lumberzac know what I was or wasn't doing so he didn't have to wait.
He was already there at 7, all ready to go. After an introduction and brief chat, I decided to give it a shot. I figured I'd just turn around if the knee acted up again. It was actually feeling pretty good at this point. The rain also seemed as if it might stop. Our first point of interest (after crossing the Hudson of course) was Lake Jimmy, which I found very scenic. 'Zac said it's now OSI property, so I started thinking it might have paddling potential, as it would be an easy carry-in.
We tramped on and took a left at a sign marked simply "Trail." Bad move. The trail began climbing and we were both scratching our heads since the walk in should have been essentially flat, maybe a little up and down. After a little while of this, 'Zac basically realized we were climbing Adams! At least one of us packed his brain that morning. We considered blowing off Allen, but since it was totally socked, we figured better to save the fire tower peak. So we headed back through the wet brush and got even more soaked than we already were. I guess we had figured Allen by itself wasn't quite challenging enough.
After our of little side trip, it was easy to the herd path. The rain was long gone, but the clouds remained, which was actually nice, since the open areas didn't feel like the desert. The route was also very well marked and signed from here on. The first part of the herd path had the yellow coffee can lids, and also some orange and other colored flags. The flagging continued throughout the climb.
All the brook crossings were fairly benign. The climb was fairly strenuous, and also a little dicey in a few spots, but we just really took our time. Ah, these long days of the solstice week. We were both really impressed with the grade in parts of the slide. Mostly it was reasonably doable to work along the edges, fortunately. We also finally got to experience the infamous Allen slime we had heard so much about. I took one little spill, and banged my knee (of course), but not bad at all.
On top, we had to traverse along the ridge a little ways until we came to the signs. The wooden one looks very new. We hung out for maybe 15 minutes and then I had to move, as I was getting a bit chilled. It was breezy and we were very wet. I actually put on the balaclava for the first 20 minutes or so of the descent. By the time we were back to the slide, the sun started coming out! It was still quite hazy, but we were allowed some pretty good views of Redfield, and we were quite impressed with one of the slides we saw over there. It had a sharp turn in it, above which it looked very steep. I think 'Zac got a pic or two-not sure how they will turn out w/ the haze.
The rest of the way back was fairly uneventful, just a long schlog. My knee had held up pretty well, thankfully. My toes were also not getting rubbed too bad. I felt well-hydrated and not too hungry. I was just really, really tired. We saw a grouse at one point on the herd path, not too far from the road section. Back at the gravel pit, we had a little rest/food break and then shambled the last 5 miles, which had been so easy before. We saw a young couple heading in to spend the night at Skylight Brook and no one else. Lake Jimmy was a sight for sore eyes, and not just because of the scenery. At last we were crossing the mighty Hudson again and then we were signing out.
We de-booted, chatted for a few more minutes and went on our ways-'Zac back home, and me back to Lake Harris for a third and final night. I'm really glad I decided to go for this challenging, fun hike after all. The next day I stopped for a quick walk on the Boreas River Trail and then headed down to Latham to visit w/ my sister's family on the way home. Nice way to end a great weekend in the Daks. 'Zac, it was great meeting and hiking w/ you.
Matt
He was already there at 7, all ready to go. After an introduction and brief chat, I decided to give it a shot. I figured I'd just turn around if the knee acted up again. It was actually feeling pretty good at this point. The rain also seemed as if it might stop. Our first point of interest (after crossing the Hudson of course) was Lake Jimmy, which I found very scenic. 'Zac said it's now OSI property, so I started thinking it might have paddling potential, as it would be an easy carry-in.
We tramped on and took a left at a sign marked simply "Trail." Bad move. The trail began climbing and we were both scratching our heads since the walk in should have been essentially flat, maybe a little up and down. After a little while of this, 'Zac basically realized we were climbing Adams! At least one of us packed his brain that morning. We considered blowing off Allen, but since it was totally socked, we figured better to save the fire tower peak. So we headed back through the wet brush and got even more soaked than we already were. I guess we had figured Allen by itself wasn't quite challenging enough.
After our of little side trip, it was easy to the herd path. The rain was long gone, but the clouds remained, which was actually nice, since the open areas didn't feel like the desert. The route was also very well marked and signed from here on. The first part of the herd path had the yellow coffee can lids, and also some orange and other colored flags. The flagging continued throughout the climb.
All the brook crossings were fairly benign. The climb was fairly strenuous, and also a little dicey in a few spots, but we just really took our time. Ah, these long days of the solstice week. We were both really impressed with the grade in parts of the slide. Mostly it was reasonably doable to work along the edges, fortunately. We also finally got to experience the infamous Allen slime we had heard so much about. I took one little spill, and banged my knee (of course), but not bad at all.
On top, we had to traverse along the ridge a little ways until we came to the signs. The wooden one looks very new. We hung out for maybe 15 minutes and then I had to move, as I was getting a bit chilled. It was breezy and we were very wet. I actually put on the balaclava for the first 20 minutes or so of the descent. By the time we were back to the slide, the sun started coming out! It was still quite hazy, but we were allowed some pretty good views of Redfield, and we were quite impressed with one of the slides we saw over there. It had a sharp turn in it, above which it looked very steep. I think 'Zac got a pic or two-not sure how they will turn out w/ the haze.
The rest of the way back was fairly uneventful, just a long schlog. My knee had held up pretty well, thankfully. My toes were also not getting rubbed too bad. I felt well-hydrated and not too hungry. I was just really, really tired. We saw a grouse at one point on the herd path, not too far from the road section. Back at the gravel pit, we had a little rest/food break and then shambled the last 5 miles, which had been so easy before. We saw a young couple heading in to spend the night at Skylight Brook and no one else. Lake Jimmy was a sight for sore eyes, and not just because of the scenery. At last we were crossing the mighty Hudson again and then we were signing out.
We de-booted, chatted for a few more minutes and went on our ways-'Zac back home, and me back to Lake Harris for a third and final night. I'm really glad I decided to go for this challenging, fun hike after all. The next day I stopped for a quick walk on the Boreas River Trail and then headed down to Latham to visit w/ my sister's family on the way home. Nice way to end a great weekend in the Daks. 'Zac, it was great meeting and hiking w/ you.
Matt
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