I was invited to hike Marcy, Gray, and Skylight with some friends this past weekend. I'd never really considered
doing it as a day hike, but with friends I was feeling confident. It was not meant to be. The remnants of Hurricane
Beryl came through the Adirondacks as a long line of wind and rain. The storm innundated the High Peaks, flooding
everything. The DEC asked folks to stay off the High Peaks and, naturally, we acquiesced. This was coupled with the
fact that we have been in an oppressive heatwave in Upstate New York for weeks and it would still be muggy and hot
this day. The decision to do something different was a no-brainer.
Jay has been going for his
Catskills challenges, so we headed to Phoenicia to climb Wittenberg & Cornell. Thanks to Jay for some of
the photos in this post.
We got a leisurely start to our drive at about 7am, but we were already grateful for the air conditioning in the car.
With the mandatory Stewart's stop, we made quick work of the 1 hour 40 min drive. Quick note: Woodstock, NY... if
you don't build some kind of public restroom or require your gas stations to have restrooms, I'm gonna keep peeing
on your roadside trees.
The trailhead for this hike is a short drive down the road from the Slide Mountain trailhead, but the slide trailhead
is at about 2420' while Wittenberg & Cornell is at about 1380'. This means that, although Slide's elevation is
300' higher than Cornell, today's hike to Cornell featured 3120' elevation gain while Slide features 1780'... a 1350' difference.
The trailhead is located at Woodland Valley Campground. In order to park, you'll need to go down to the park office
to pay the parking fee which was $6 today. This is actually a DEC run campground, so keep in mind they might ask for
your dog's immunization records if you plan on staying there. We weren't sure about hiking, so we just didn't bring
the dogs to the office to avoid the whole thing.
Our friends arrived and we got our start at about 9:20am.
The climb begins immediately after the Woodland Creek crossing. The first mile was quite steep, however the
trail is well-maintained with rock stairs and grading.
Korra and Sunny were having a great day. They got lots of
pets during the hike and sniffed everything. It was, indeed, hot and muggy, but they were active and alert just
about the entire time. The first half of the trail has running water that they took advantage of.
Most of the trail, meaning almost the entire trail, either
follows a ridge line or climbs the spur of a ridge. As such, you do get some good sun through the trees
throughout the hike. On any other day, I'm sure the breeze would be lovely. Today, the air was close and thick.
There's one heck of a campsite about a mile distance and 900' of elevation into the ascent. It sits right on the
cliffside and abuts a natural stone wall. It is unfortunate someone has dug a fire pit into the roots near the wall,
but there's a real firepit available as well. It isn't surprising this seems like a popular camping spot.
After the ascent to the campsite, the trail ascends more gently across the face of the ridge, then turns for a bit of a flat stretch for about a mile to a mile and a half. This was a welcome respite from the relentless ascent.
The elevation gain picks up big time after the Mount Pleasant junction, at about the 2.5 mile mark.
There are aquite a few fun ledges to scale on this hike. Sunny and Korra were able to figure most of them out on their own. For this one, the path to the left is best for 2-legs with ample hand- and foot-holds. The 4-legs took the path to the right around the tree.
Here's a better representation of the height of that left-hand path.
On another similar ledge, I tried lifting Sunny from the bottom. Instead of lifting himself up like he usually does, he pushed off against the rockface and we both took a spill. I got him to land on his feet, but I took a knock to my knee. After that, I went up first and he just came up.
The rock formations on this hike are very interesting. The exposed and eroded sedimentary layers are really cool to look at. Not only are they cool to look at, but also to feel! I took the opportunity to lie against the boulders in the shade several times in an effort to cool off. It felt really good to hug these rocks on this hot, muggy day.
I've been trying to stop and enjoy the wilderness more on my hikes. However, huffing and puffing up and down the mountain in the heat and humidity, I was focused on breathing and keeping my footing. Sunny, however, was really having a great time and taking it all in.
We were both ready for a break when we made the summit.
Gorgeous, but hazy day on the summit.
We soaked up some Vitamin D, dried off, and ate some food.
After doing a little cursory begging, Sunny was smart and ducked into the shade with Korra.
Going down Wittenberg and across the ridge to the base of Cornell was a quick, easy, pretty hike.
By the numbers, there's not a ton of elevation up Cornell, but the climb can be steep and interesting.
Sunny and Korra needed to be pulled up this crack in order to clear it. Even the people had to kind of brace their backs against the wall and edge up before grabbing the top and pulling themselves up. It was definitely easier to throw packs up and then negotiate the climb. The tall people obviously had an easier time than me.
On the way back, we found a well-worn path to a different way down. So, if you're coming here with a dog, you can bear right across the cliff until you come to a point where the cliff is low enough to the soil and roots that the dogs can leap up and move across it. It's in the shade so it's a bit slippery. I wouldn't do this without a dog, however, because it's going to erode more and more eventually. Just climb the crack along the trail if you're a people.
There's a bit of a view prior to the ultimate ascent.
There's not a lot to say about the Cornell summit except it's a nice, shady spot for a rest.
The air grew thicker and closer as we descended. Breathing was not easy. I began to wonder if Marcy/Gray/Skylight would have been a bad idea anyways.
I rationed Sunny's water (and my water) on the ridge where there was no
running water, but I could tell that Sunny was starting to drag on the way back down Wittenbberg. He was pacing
behind me instead of ahead. I sucked the last of my water dry after the 2nd summit of Wittenberg. We eventually came to a running spring-fed stream. Jay recommended we tie the dogs up before filling our water to avoid them stomping the silt and making it hard to filter. We were all energized by the fresh water and continued the descent.
I am notoriously slow on the descent. For example, I believe my ascent up Marshall took 2 hours and the descent also took 2 hours. I'm not really totally sure what my deal is, but I do have short legs and formations that other people can just step down, I need to slide on my butt or jump. I'm also fairly calculating on my steps down; when I am alone, I am very cognizant that if I get hurt, it'll probably be on the descent. I want to make sure I don't do anything dangerous that could twist an ankle or cause a fall.
At first, I tried to keep up with the group, but that was a mistake. Only a quarter way into the descent, my knees started to ache prety badly. By the end of the hike, they were killing me. By comparison, they hadn't felt this way after Cliff and Redfield a couple of weeks ago. It was silly, really. Even if part of your group is out of sight, that doesn't mean they're actually that far ahead and you're holding people up. Jay hung back with me while we finished up and we were only a few minutes behind the rest of the group when we met up at the trail register.
Lots of people were bathing in Woodland Creek when we got to the crossing. It took all my willpower not to jump in myself.
We met up at Woodstock Brewing for a hot meal and a beer. Sunny and Korra got lots of pets and some cold water. I had the fish tacos and they were delicious.
I am grateful for the invitation. As a stark contrast to the Cliff/Redfield hike, it was great to get out and hike with friends. With our busy schedule the rest of the Summer, I have no regrets about the change of plans... it was good to just get out and get some time in the woods.
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