Our day on the MacIntyre Range was far from over. The most challenging part was yet to come, followed by the sweet reward of one of the best ridge walks in the Adirondack Park.
Since the last time we'd hiked the Lower Great Range, Charissa had racked up enough High Peaks to bring her count up to 32. She was keen to tackle the entire Macintyre range in one hike. This task would be more difficult with Avalanche Pass closed for trail work due to last year's landslide. The plan was to hike out from the Loj along Indian Pass, climb Marshall via Cold Brook Pass Trail, hike down Herbert Brook Trail, then climb up to Iroquois from Lake Colden, finish the range, then head back down to the Loj via the usual route. I knew it was going to be a very big day, but I was also...
Nick and Stella have been with us on several Adirondack High Peaks and it's always a pleasure to hang with them. We even survived the dreaded Pinnacle Traverse together, which is certainly a friendship forged by fire. I was chuffed when Nick asked if Sunny could patch Stella on the ultimate peak of her Adirondack 46er, Skylight. Of course, I immediately agreed. Nick and Stella are expecting a new family member very soon, so it was imperative that we do this quite soon, certainly before August. A weekend was set and we watched the weather. It was touch and go for a bit, but some chance of rain...
I was kind of champing at the bit to finally complete the maintenance on our section of the Indian Pass Trail and the weather was looking fantastic again the Monday after our last trip. I decided to just go ahead and head out there one more time in order to finish up.
Unsurprisingly, volunteering to maintain Southern Indian Pass Trail has been quite a challenge. I went out there in May with Dan when we scooped out a lot of drainages and cleared a bunch of blowdown up to Wallface herd path. Then Sunny and I went in June when it rained all day and we had to bail for safety reasons, though I did manage to clear a bunch of new blowdown and clean up more encroaching vegetation. I was going to leave Sunny home at first, but I didn't really have the heart to do so. Besides, my goal this time was to finish clearing up to the Cold Brook junction and I didn't relish...