I was on my way back to Jersey from college and decided I'd do a little hiking before my trip home to get me that much closer to my 46. I had Street and Nye set in sight for that day.
I arrived at the ADK lodge around 9 am. There was only one other car in the parking lot!! Pretty surprised, thought there would be more people on a Friday.
I started out heading towards heart lake and passed a fellow XC skier on a few rounds around the lake. I told him I was doing Street and Nye and all he said was good luck...this should have been a sign for me! The trail was great starting out. There were other snowshoes track impressions in the snow, but they were slightly faded because of the fresh snow. It was nice and easy going for the first mile or so. No problems what so ever. I got to Indian Pass Brook (or the steam leading into it) and took a little break there to get some food and water in me and take a few pictures. It was nice and peaceful hearing the trickling of water with beautiful scenery.
I started off again, crossing the stream, when all of a sudden the ground broke below me and next thing i know, I'm standing in water. Good thing for my waterproof boots!! The next mile was fairly easy, but once the elevation started to increase, things slow began to get worse.
First thing--- no more snowshoe tracks to follow. The snowshoe track i had been following began to disappear. could have been the increase in snow amounts or maybe that person had turner around and headed back? I was on my own now and had some difficulty locating the trail often (the trail up street and nye is not marked if you didn't know). I usually found myself doing switchbacks to locate the trail which was very time consuming. i kept pushing on though despite my constant thoughts of turning around.
Second thing--- SNOW SNOW SNOW!!! There must have been a little over a foot at the base, but as I slowly made my way up it keep increasing and increasing!! At about 3,500 there was approx 2 feet plus and at just under 4,000 approx 3 feet. The going was slow...I was about 3 and a half miles in at about 4 hours, way to slow for me. I was nearing the top and had to take constant breaks because the snow was tough getting through.
Third thing---Spruce Traps!! I was basically making my own trail to the top now and caught myself falling into spruce traps. They were tough getting out of especially being by myself. At this point I must have been 300 feet from the top - dead tired. I sat down to catch my breath and think about my next move. It was now 1 PM and I wasn't too sure how long it would take to get back down so i made the conscious decision to turn around despite me being so close to the top. I didn't want to make this decision, but knew it was the best one.
Going down was fairly easy and surprisingly fun haha. I used my snowshoes as skis by leaning on the back flat part of them while using a xc ski motion. Going down was a breeze. It took about 40 min to get down the steeper part of the trail. I ended back up in the parking lot around 3 pm drained of energy. I headed over the placid for some food and continued on my drive back to Jersey, leaving the ADK mountains behind me for another month
-- Kurt
I arrived at the ADK lodge around 9 am. There was only one other car in the parking lot!! Pretty surprised, thought there would be more people on a Friday.
I started out heading towards heart lake and passed a fellow XC skier on a few rounds around the lake. I told him I was doing Street and Nye and all he said was good luck...this should have been a sign for me! The trail was great starting out. There were other snowshoes track impressions in the snow, but they were slightly faded because of the fresh snow. It was nice and easy going for the first mile or so. No problems what so ever. I got to Indian Pass Brook (or the steam leading into it) and took a little break there to get some food and water in me and take a few pictures. It was nice and peaceful hearing the trickling of water with beautiful scenery.
I started off again, crossing the stream, when all of a sudden the ground broke below me and next thing i know, I'm standing in water. Good thing for my waterproof boots!! The next mile was fairly easy, but once the elevation started to increase, things slow began to get worse.
First thing--- no more snowshoe tracks to follow. The snowshoe track i had been following began to disappear. could have been the increase in snow amounts or maybe that person had turner around and headed back? I was on my own now and had some difficulty locating the trail often (the trail up street and nye is not marked if you didn't know). I usually found myself doing switchbacks to locate the trail which was very time consuming. i kept pushing on though despite my constant thoughts of turning around.
Second thing--- SNOW SNOW SNOW!!! There must have been a little over a foot at the base, but as I slowly made my way up it keep increasing and increasing!! At about 3,500 there was approx 2 feet plus and at just under 4,000 approx 3 feet. The going was slow...I was about 3 and a half miles in at about 4 hours, way to slow for me. I was nearing the top and had to take constant breaks because the snow was tough getting through.
Third thing---Spruce Traps!! I was basically making my own trail to the top now and caught myself falling into spruce traps. They were tough getting out of especially being by myself. At this point I must have been 300 feet from the top - dead tired. I sat down to catch my breath and think about my next move. It was now 1 PM and I wasn't too sure how long it would take to get back down so i made the conscious decision to turn around despite me being so close to the top. I didn't want to make this decision, but knew it was the best one.
Going down was fairly easy and surprisingly fun haha. I used my snowshoes as skis by leaning on the back flat part of them while using a xc ski motion. Going down was a breeze. It took about 40 min to get down the steeper part of the trail. I ended back up in the parking lot around 3 pm drained of energy. I headed over the placid for some food and continued on my drive back to Jersey, leaving the ADK mountains behind me for another month
-- Kurt
Nice report.
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