Sunny 46

The campground is a very well-groomed piece of property on high ground adjacent to the Schroon River. There are no hook-ups at the sites themselves, but they do have picnic tables and fire pits. I'd picked site 13 because it was near the bathroom, shower, and dishwashing building. There are potable water spigots conveniently located throughout the campground. The sites are almost all big enough to support large campers and there's a dumping station down by the main office.

The campground also serves as a trailhead for the East Mill Flow Trail which we didn't avail ourselves of, but I am interested in. The campground is actually quite conveniently located. Andrew remarked that, for all the years he's hiked the Adirondacks, he couldn't believe he'd never stayed here. For my part, I am certain I'll be back.

Andrew and I met at the Elk Lake trailhead around 2:30 and moved all my gear into his jeep for the 20 minute drive to the campground. When we arrived, a note on the caretaker's cabin said to leave our pre-registration forms in a folder and the attendant would be around to the campsites with parking passes later. We left our paperwork and proceeded to the site. 

Our site was on a bit of a slope, but it was perfectly servicable.  Here you can see the sweet stove setup Andrew has. Nick had to get a separate site because only 2 tents and 2 cars are allowed per site. Nick brought his teardrop camper which his spacious site had plenty of room for.

As we were setting up camp, I realized we hadn't transferred any of the cold stuff from my cooler to Andrew's back at the trailhead. When we had our tents and the stove set up, we got back in the car and headed back to Elk Lake.

When we were nearly back at the trailhead, I realized I didn't have my keys. I just about cried. 

Instead of going all the way back to camp again, we just drove the 10 minutes to Schroon Lake and I bought the eggs, butter, cheese, and sausage I needed to make us Croissant sandwiches the next morning.

Andrew made us Chili Mac which I ate with gusto. This would predictably be the reason we heard a lot of Adirondack Barking Frogs on the trail the next day.

Sunny really wanted some, but I resisted the urge. Instead, I fed him a serving of some new food we'd started him on for hiking: The Honest Kitchen Dehydrated Whole Grain Beef Dog Food. I figured it would be packed with energy, delicious, and easy to carry. He gobbled it down just as he had in our test feeding at home the day before. This was very exciting because Sunny usually wants nothing to do with food immediately before a hike.

Sunny and Stella's initial meeting was a little tense, but they were playing very nicely a short time later. 

I'd bought a bundle each of hardwood ($5) and softwood ($4) at my favorite spot in Chestertown (easily within the 50 mile radius). I'd also bought another bundle at a firewood vendor just a couple of miles South of the campground on rt 9 ($7). 

We had a decent fire with some sips of Andrew's Heaven Hill Bourbon and discussed the big day ahead of us. We agreed to get a good night's sleep and be up at dawn when I would cook our croissantwiches. I think we ended up turning in a bit after 9pm. 

It was good to finally chat with Nick and I was glad we all got on so well. I was certain  tomorrow would be a great day.

The birds woke me up at 4:15am. I tried getting back to sleep, but they got me up again at 4:30, then again at 4:45 when I gave up. On my way back from the restroom, Nick said somehow his key fob got locked in his truck with all his food which we all thought was weird because that's not supposed to be possible with key fobs. I took my time cooking up two croissant sandwiches for each of us while Nick's wife drove up to save the day. Nick and I certainly think that Andrew is a saint for dealing with our hijynx. 

Ensuring my car keys were safely secured in my pack became the running joke of the day.

We started off from the trailhead at 7:20am, basically the same time as when we hiked Giant two weeks ago. We were still well-rested and I was confident we'd be descending Pinnacle at just before sunset, so I wasn't all that concerned. It was warm and muggy, but it was looking to be a perfect day for a long hike.

We were glad to be on the trail and moved quickly up the 200' or so up from the road, then cruised around the lake. It was a really beautiful day. Note that some of the photos in this post were taken with my CampSnap in order to preserve battery on my phone.

We hauled ass as we started the 600' of elevation from the pond. Although it was only about 70F, it was very muggy in the lower parts of the valley and we were pouring sweat. I suddenly became acutely aware that we still had (conservatively) nineteen more miles to go in the day. I asked the guys if I could take the lead and set us on a Hobbit pace with my little Hobbit legs and they agreed. I also cut Sunny loose earlier in the hike than usual to save my strength. Stella was put off by this at first, but she got over it pretty quickly.

We arrived at Gravestone Brook at 9:10am where we fueled up and refilled our water. It felt good to have come so far in under two hours, but we knew we had the bushwhack to contend with next. We were packed up and moving by 9:25. 

Both Nick and I had hiked this bushwhack before, but we both felt that this time there were a lot more blazes and the route was much clearer. I don't know if this was because there were three of us to keep an eye out or if the trail has seen more traffic. I'd guess both things are true. I also suspect, with the ongoing permit system in effect at the AMR, the trails from Round Pond will become more popular as time passes, Gravestone Brook included. We all agreed that the majority of this trail had become a herd path rather than a bushwhack.

This time around, we stayed exclusively on the right side of the brook. I think, generally, you can't really go wrong by sticking to that logic on this trail. However, there was one area in the vicinity of the Spruce traps when Andrew pointed out that that it looked like the herd path crossed the stream. Nick and I vetoed that, remembering getting trapped in the Spruce on that side, and continued on the right bank. In retrospect, I think Andrew had been correct, but we got through it just fine.

Keep an eye out for two spots about halfway up the herd path when it crosses two tributaries which you could accidentally mistake for Gravestone Brook itself and veer too far to the right. For every tributary you come across, check your map or compass as you proceed.

Eventually, as we began taking on more elevation, we lost the blazes and began the real climb. 

As we climbed, I came to the realization that we'd gone too far to the left. I think I remember the fellas having mentioned it earlier and I thought I'd guided us back to the right, but it was absolutely not far enough. We ended  up in front of the same cliff face I'd gotten in front of the first time I'd hiked this trail. We had to bushwhack to the right in order to get around them and up to the trail.

We arrived at the HG Leach Trail in a little over an hour after our break at Gravestone Brook which felt really good. The guys agreed to keep pushing until we got to the summit of Dial. It was a tough climb, but I tried to keep a steady pace.

We reached Dial summit at at 11:25, two hours on the money from our rest at Gravestone Brook. We were all glad to remove our packs and eat a bunch of snacks. We were also happy to be fully exposed to the wind which dried us out and cooled us off. All day long it felt to me as if the lower elevations were thick and muggy while the ridges and summits were much more comfortable.  

We had some conversations with a family at the summit, one of whom was working on her grid 46. That's an impressive goal and I think she's gonna crush it. Her younger daughter was counting in the teens of her 46 which was awesome to see. Sunny and Stella got lots of pets which is perfect because pets and sandwiches I believe, are the only reasons Sunny tolerates this nonsense.

Crossing the ridge from Dial was the first stage of the hike where we had a demoralizing moment. I had created an elevation map to track the PUDs, but I think during the hike I mistook shorter bumps for bigger ones (or short breaks of elevation for the top) and misjudged how many we'd crossed already, especially on that last 264' section which has a variety of different climbs along the way.

There was quite a lot of blowdown between Dial & Nippletop, but we came across a DEC trail maintenance crew working on that problem. I forget who suggested it, but one of us said they should just throw all the logs in the giant mud pit a few yards down the trail. We had a chuckle about that. 

While I negotiated around the area with Sunny, the guys chatted with the trail crew a bit about the trail ahead and one said he'd patrolled the Elk Lake area recently and answered some of our questions. We thanked them for their service and moved on.

At great length, we reached the junction with Elk Pass Trail where we stopped to refuel again.

Holy macaroni, the descent down the Elk Pass Trail from Nippletop was steep. I never felt in any kind of danger, but I also really took my time. At the start of the descent, for safety, since Stella was tethered to Nick, it was best if he went first. I came next and Andrew took rear-guard. Near the bottom, I got a shot of the guys descending down a particularly steep rock pile. Rarely does a photograph properly gauge the steepness of a formation like this, but this one comes close to approximating it.

There were many steep slabs to contend with as well. For the most part, we could negotiate them by switchbacking at naturally safe spots. I did have to utilize the butt-slide maneuver a couple of times. We all engaged 4-wheel drive on this section. I know some hikers abhor trekking poles, but I really don't get the aversion on sections like this. Perhaps y'all are skinny enough to just naturally go 4 on the floor when climbing and also just let your knees take all the impact when jumping down. That makes me wince with pain just thinking about it. 

The pups did a great job negotiating the terrain. Sunny often went ahead and found the path and Stella followed, though she also had her own mind about some parts. Stella is lighter and more spry than Sunny and she could do some things he couldn't. For example, Stella is very good at stairs while Sunny needs a lot of encouragement. Sunny, though, is very good at picking his way through a difficult situation.  They made a great team.

As advertised (both by other hikers and the map) the terrain in Elk Pass was marshy. Fortunately, the truly boggy parts had logs or boards to traverse them. It looks like some of boardwalks are not much longer for this world, but others are brand new.

The Elk Lake campsites are right on the water. I do wonder if they flood in the spring, but it also seems like the marsh is extensive and may be able to withstand the impact of winter melt. Today, the water was far enough from the tent areas and firepits. The firepits seemed to be in active use. I'm not totally sure if this area is in a zone where fires are normally forbidden. We figured that particular ban would be cruel in this wet, buggy place anyways.

I was a little surprised to see the trail climb along the ridge away from the water. I hadn't investigated this section of map much and had just assumed it followed a stream down the drainage to the Colvin junction.  However, the Gill Brook runs through the gorge 200' below the trail; you can hear it flowing in the distance. 

We arrived at the junction with Pinnacle Ridge Trail and Gill Brook Trail before 3:00pm, a little less than 7.5 hours after we'd started. Still, we took a long rest here, eating and drinking. Sunny rested on a rock that Allison later commented that not many dogs have had the opportunity to nap on.

According to the maps, there's also a feature called "Fairy Ladder Falls" a short .2 mile bushwhack down the gorge.  In retrospect, I kind of wish we'd gone to see it. It is the highest elevation waterfall in the park and the pictures folks have posted online look awesome. I suspect the pups would have loved it and if we were low on water, we could have easily taken a detour down to filter.

I was still inexplicably drinking from my 3-liter bladder and felt good. I was, however, getting kind of bored of the snacks I'd brought. I wished I'd brought along a greater variety of things for this long trip, especially more protein. I'd erred on the side of more sugar for boosts of energy which I'd always had too little of on past hikes. For this hike, I think I overcorrected and didn't have enough protein. I did have beef jerky in my trail mix, but I was grateful for the jerky sticks Nick gave me.

The traverse across the Dial-Nippletop ridge and the descent had taken a lot out of us. We always knew if we were hurting, we could always escape the hike down Gill Brook Trail and risk a fine for having dogs with us. There was no need for that today. By my calculations, I figured we'd take a couple of hours to get up Colvin, another hour to Blake, and two and a half hours across the ridge. In my mind, we'd be descending Pinnacle at sunset. The guys were a bit more optimistic about our ascent up Colvin than I was. Either way, the trail was marked, there were three of us plus two dogs; we had maps, all the gear, more than enough power, more than enough food, and enough water to make it down to the streams at Pinnacle. We were game to continue.

The trail climbs for one mile directly up Colvin's front spur. The ascent looks very gentle from a distance as you can see in the photo and map screenshot above. However, this mountain is very interesting. The climb is somewhat reminiscent of the Catskills in that the elevation comes in spurts; several steep steps rather than spaced out over the entire ascent. As such, there are a lot of very steep sections of this hike which are very fun to scale. I don't think I've climbed a High Peak that was so clearly stratified before, at least not with so many layers.

The slabs here have a similar feel to the ones on Cliff, only the ones on Colvin are eroded wider than Cliff which isn't surprising considering the remoteness of Cliff. There are often lots of places on the slabs like you see here where there is a crack or ledge along the face of the slab. These allow a hiker or dog to crisscross up the formation.

There was one narrow ledge very near the top of the mountain that sunny needed help jumping on. I think if he'd given himself more of a running start, he'd have made it on his own, but sometimes he's not comfortable with the approach. Stella got up that one no problem.

We reached the summit a bit after 4pm. The ascent having taken a little more than an hour meant the guys' optimistic estimate turned out to be true. I cursed the last two gains of the hike, but was glad when we were rewarded with a lovely ledge summit with 180 degree views South. I was pretty busy fussing that I didn't get a lot of photos on the summit. Fortunately, Andrew and Nick took a bunch and I'm sharing them here.

We were all grimy as hell by now. We talked wistfully about the showers at the campground. I swapped out my empty 3.0L bladder for my 1.5L bladder with an electrolyte packet in it. We ate and drank until about 4:30, made a bunch of wrong predictions about how long the rest of the hike would take, then headed off for Blake.

In the distance, Blake seemed utterly indomitable. The elevation gain from the col is supposed to only be less than 600', but it looked like so much more. I know the optical and psychological illusion that peaks make in a hiker's mind along a ridge, but I was super falling for it this time.

Both Andrew and Nick had been to Colvin and Blake previously, so they knew what to expect. Nick wasn't sure Stella was going to be able to handle the ladder sections descending Colvin. We did have a rescue harness to use in the event either dog couldn't manage it.

As it turned out, Stella climbed down the short ladder with ease and wondered why there was a ladder in the first place on the second one. Sunny is not in any way fond of ladders. He has a tendency to turn around halfway down them, sit on a rung, and freeze.  I directed Sunny to ignore the first ladder and go around it through the brush. He actually tried to use the second longer one, but eventually gave up and slid down the rest of the way. It was kind of cute; he was lying on his belly and lifting his paws up one at a time, and sliding on his belly until he jumped. I've never seen him do this before.

We passed the Carry Trail junction in the col at 5:20. It had taken almost an hour to descend the 650' or so down Colvin, but it was much faster than it could have been thanks to Stella and Sunny's proficiency with the slabs.

I had largely stopped taking notes a long time ago and my memory of the Blake ascent is spotty. It was fairly steep, however, with some crazy-looking slabs. I don't remember it being terribly technical, just physically challenging.

We found the summit of Blake at 6:00pm. It had only taken us 40 minutes to summit from the col, an hour and a half since we left Colvin. The photo of Sunny and me in the photo above does a pretty good job conveying how we felt at that point. It was still a great day, but we'd been hiking for over 10 hours. We stopped here again to take off our packs and fuel up.

We tarried at the summit for 20 minutes to rest and fuel up. Normally, I get anxious about taking long breaks, but as we'd discussed before the hike, this was a marathon, not a sprint. It was important to remain healthy and fed and worry less about the time of day. We were well-prepared for hiking in the dark after all. 

Nick and I took the opportunity to change our socks and tighten our boots for the long ridge walk ahead. Andrew had already changed into a fresh pair, but he had a third on deck. 

There is quite a bit of fresh blowdown on Pinnacle Ridge, but there is some evidence of recent trail maintenance.

The ground was soft to hike on and the elevation changes along the way were very manageable. I wondered if this is what High Peaks trails looked like in the early 1900s. Commenters in the Facebook groups said the well-trafficked trails in the 30s, 40s, and 50s were still a sloppy mess. Still, it was really nice to hike on such soft, clean trails.

We had a cool breeze and obscured views throughout the hike across the ridge. It was a lovely place, really. However, towards the end of it, I was ready to stop hiking uphill. 

Up down up down up down. Light began to fade as we approached Pinnacle at 8:30pm, a little more than 2 hours after we'd left Blake. I was feeling healthy, but tired, and was grateful to shed my pack for the final summit up Pinnacle. 

Nick decided to hang back, rest, and fuel up while Andrew and I proceeded on.

There's a long ladder to the summit that I didn't want to figure out a way to get Sunny up. I had to ask Nick to call Sunny back down to the junction so I could make it up and down before it got too dark.

I caught sunset on the West side of Pinnacle at 8:36pm on the money, just as we'd planned! Right to left: Sawteeth, Gothics, Saddleback, Basin, and Haystack.

I got a photo from the Southeast overlook at 8:42. Andrew noted that it was probably an incredible view in the '70s, but it's now too overgrown. I think a lot of overlooks in the Adirondacks have a similar issue. I don't really think it would be terrible to maintain the views on these overlooks, but I do understand why the DEC doesn't.

Despite the late hour, we had reserved ourselves to the knowledge that this was going to be a long night from the beginning. We once again took a few minutes to refuel, rest, and take some pain relievers.

I don't recall who said it, but one of the guys remarked something about not coming back to the mountains we'd hiked today. I replied, only really half joking, "Oh yeah. Every single one of these peaks is fucking dead to me."

During the descent, Nick was feeling a bit ill, so I hiked with him while Andrew scouted ahead to warn us of difficult spots and find the campsite. My belly was a bit gurgly as well and I was concerned that the water at the campground we were staying at was tainted somehow or, worse, my egg sandwiches had made us sick. 

Nick and I took our time getting down, slow and steady, until we came to a Junction Andrew had found. Referring to the map, we saw the trail going straight was a private trail leading to the blueblood lodges along the Upper Ausable Lake. We'd seen a few of these along the ridge as well. We turned left towards the designated campsite.

By the time we got to the campsite at the base of Pinnacle, all twilight was gone and we were going by headlamp only. The site is nothing to write home about. From what I could tell, it was quite cramped and the fire pit was filled with rocks. However, it was nice that the water source nearby was clear and fast-moving.

I fed Sunny the second meal of his special dehydrated food. I was pleased when he slurped it down with gusto. I bummed a couple more beef sticks from Nick to add to the rest of my snack intake, Nick sipped a ton of electrolytes, and Andrew made himself some sammiches. 

We also slathered ourselves in Deet.

Even before the hike, we'd discussed the possibility of taking up to an hour at the campsite to let the dogs nap and rest. We took quite some time here to rest, refuel, and fill our water supply. I added a second packet of electrolytes to my 1.5L bladder just in case. 

I don't know about Nick, but I was super jealous of Andrew's third fresh pair of socks.

I don't quite recall what time it was when we packed up and left, but by that time we were all back to life and ready to tackle the rest of the hike.

It was also at this time that I clipped Sunny's longer leash to him and lashed it around my body. I asked the guys if I could put on music for the rest of the hike and they agreed. It was dark and creepy in an unfamiliar area in late spring. I wanted to make sure we didn't have any random overland encounters in the night. As such, I led the way playing an Industrial Metal playlist I'd downloaded prior to the hike. Interestingly, there is a lot of bad Industrial Metal out there, but it kept the pace and I saw no wildlife beyond the moths that were divebombing our headlamps.

Since I'd insisted on taking point, I kind of had a hell of a time negotiating my way down the rest of Pinnacle Ridge Trail. I fell a few times and cursed into the night each time. At one point, I slipped on a wet slab and rang my bell. Andrew suggested I borrow one of his headlamps instead of the one I was using because his were much more powerful. I was happy to accept the offer and it was literally like night and day. The lamps I have are certainly sufficient, but this one was exactly what I needed to avoid obstacles. Andrew said it is a Nitecore NU45 1700 Lumen Headlamp and it did great.

The trail after the campsite wiggles along the side of the ridge, likely avoiding wet terrain below. It's fairly well-marked and doesn't take a lot of weird turns, though there were a few to watch out for. You should especially take care at the handful of water crossings because the dogs can easily lose the trail at that point and not all of them have a trail marker on the opposite bank.

All the way I kept the idea of the Casey Brook Lean-to awaiting us about 1.8 miles from the campsite in my mind. I think we all did.

We arrived at the lean-to at around 12:45am, just under four hours after we'd left Pinnacle. The trail is clearly marked with the regular sign, but the path in is aided with temporary blazes. There have been comments online that there is no toilet for this lean-to and we didn't see one. Another blaze seems to exist leading away from the structure, but I think that one just leads back to the trail as well.

Here, we took off our boots and stretched out for another extended break. We were feeling very good. The end was in sight and it was nearly all downhill from there. Again, we ate and drank and talked. Andrew offered me a packet of some interesting coffee paste called "Gu". The taste sure was something, but so was the caffeine!

Just as I got comfortable I realized getting comfortable was probably a bad idea. I was also getting a bit chilly and wanted to keep moving, The guys were ready to go too, so we gathered our things and headed off. I also switched the playlist to a Guitar Hero playlist because the Industrial one had completely lost its luster.

The trail from the lean-to climbs along the ridge a bit more and through the pass. After that, the trail descends rather sharply, then smooths out and widens.

As you descend from the pass, the hike becomes a road walk and remains so for several miles. There are various private road junctions along the way, but hikers should just stick to the trail marked with blue DEC markers the entire way.

The bridges at a couple of crossings are out. I figure they don't get vehicles too far up the road anymore; unless, of course, there are other bridges along the private roads but I doubt it. 

We were absolutely cruising. According to AllTrails, we'd hit sub-30 minute splits for the first time all day long. Towards the end of the trail, one plywood bridge is more or less intact (we took that one one person at a time)  and the final suspension bridge is in fine shape.

After the suspension bridge, the trail runs through a forest of mostly evergreens and starts climbing out of the valley up to the road. This last bit of elevation gain was an unsurprising final F-U from the Pinnacle Traverse and I respect the commitment to our pain. One thing to note is that along this trail we saw a pretty huge White Pine that I can only assume was somehow spared logging back in the day.

Congrats Stellaaaaaaaaa! I think Nick said she only has 10 more High Peaks left to go: the Lower Great Range, MGS, and Cliff & Redfield. I believe Stella has proven herself up to the task of tackling the rest of those mountains.

As we approached my car, I made sure to ponder aloud, "Gosh, I sure hope I have my keys," and the fellas groaned.

When I got in the car, the console flashed a warning, "Close moon roof!"

The moon roof had been wide open the entire time.

We could have gotten in the car on Sunday after all.

Andrew said it was just the perfect way to end this trip.

I opened the cooler and passed out a beer to each of us and we toasted our preserverence and survival. I just took a little sip because I was driving, but I did grab a cold Diet Pepsi from the cooler for the road.

Sunny and I crawled out of the tent around 7:30am and got a fire going. Sunny and I relaxed in front of the fire while I took stock of myself. I had a friction burn on my right shoulder from the strap on my pack, a huge blister on my left heel, several irritated bug bites, and a blister on my butt cheek from my underpants. I did not have a headache. I believe we all kept well-hydrated and well-fed throughout the trip. With the muggy conditions, despite the reasonable temperatures, I believe our biggest challenge had been electrolytes.

We slowly broke camp and doused the fire, then said our goodbyes and headed off. I ran into Keene to get Stewart's coffee and pins from the Mountaineer before heading home.

I learned a lot on this trip. I am glad to have explored places like Elk Pass and the Elk Lake - Marcy Trail. I thought the terrain between Blake and Pinnacle was really interesting to experience even though the trek was tiring. I think bringing along servings of the high-energy dehydrated dog meals was really helpful for Sunny. In fact, despite the length and difficulty of this hike, Wendy and I have both noticed that Sunny's rebound has been faster than many other hikes he's done.

I think it's no surprise that the biggest take-away is pride that I was able to do something so difficult and come out victorious. I know that too much confidence can be a dangerous thing, but I'm feeling very good after this trip and I'm going to enjoy that feeling for a little while.

However, as with many hard things, success was all down to trust and camaraderie of the people I was with. We all supported each other without complaint or judgement. I am glad I didn't (and won't in the future) attempt a big challenge like this alone. Certainly, multi-day trips are one thing, but a challenge like this is best shared. The difficulty of this adventure hasn't soured me on doing something similar in the future, but I do now know these challenges are best shared.

Thanks to Andrew, Nick, and Stella for joining us. Thanks to those who helped plan the adventure, especially Jay and Allison, and of course thanks to Wendy for giving me the opportunity and support to do it.

In a very real way, I feel like my 46er journey is all downhill from here despite the fact that most of the mountains left to do are some of the tallest in the state. I don't think any of them, however, will come close to the challenge presented by the Pinnacle Traverse. 

We have one big hike planned in each of the forthcoming months. Here are my plans for the rest of the season:

• Allen: 3-day hike with Jay, Dan, and Adam in July,
• Big Peaks from Slant Rock: 4 days in early August climbing Marcy, Gray, Skylight, Haystack, and Basin with Jay and anyone else who'd like to come,
• Esther and Whiteface: Several friends, family, and acquaintances are joining me for my final hike the week of my birthday in September. I may have to plan sending multiple groups up the mountain. Other family members will be waiting at the summit and joining us for dinner after.

I'm really grateful that Colvin and Blake are done and super excited for the busy Summer ahead. Sunny and I hope to see you on the trails.