Sunny 46

The first group to arrive back from their day hike was a big group who had walked in from Rooster Comb. The second person was running medicine. The third person I just let a couple of day hikers take the spot. It was 1:30 by the time a hiker arrived from Big Slide an opened up a spot for me, three hours after Dan and Adam had started.

The hike in started off great. Despite the fact that I was wearing a 35lb pack, we were moving pretty fast. With the humidity diminishing, it was easy to breathe and I felt very comfortable. Sunny was excited as usual and pulled me down the trail we'd crossed six times already in our hiking career.

We walked past the JBL less than two hours after we'd started. The trail after the JBL is much like the trail before the JBL (firm trails lined by hardwoods). South of the JBL, the trail has fewer stream crossings in your path and is less eroded.

The Phelps Trail hugs the west bank of the John's Brook along the mountains. First, the trail winds along the feet of Howard Mt. (3800ish feet), then the tip of the Northern spur of Tabletop Mt.  The trail is well-maintained here and features decades of hardening, boulder stairs, and logs spanning muddy bits.

The trail climbs the East bank a few times, once very steeply. It's not much by Adirondack standards, but it was tough with a full backpacking pack. There is one short stretch where the trail dips into the streambed itself. Today it was dry, but I'm sure there are some days when the water is high enough you'll get your feet wet.

There were lots of lovely ups and downs through the woods as we approached Bushnell Falls. Evergreens were slowly replacing the hardwoods as we progressed South.

The Bushnell Falls campsites on the West bank are smallish. We didn't check out the lean-to here, but Dan got a photo of it.

At this point, the trail splits with the Hopkins trail forking right (to meet with the Van Hovenberg Trail 2.5 miles on) or crosses the John's Brook to the East bank. We crossed to keep following the Phelps trail. I can see why there is so much camping at this location. If you're backpacking, you can hit a lot of different mountains from this point. It feels like the crossroads of the central High Peaks region.

Note that when returning, there's a herd path South (ostensibly to the falls) and it's easy to miss the crossing. Dan said the lean-to has a lovely exposure to the falls area and the privy on this side is a thunderbox.

The camping on the East bank is very spacious and flat. A short hike up through the pines brought us to the lovely, new lean-to which also has a nice, open exposure to the valley below. I'd love to stay there someday. The privy on the East bank is enclosed.

The hike out of the Bushnell Falls area climbs steadily up the valley in steps. The trail here gets quite close and claustrophobic in places due to some verdant foliage. This part of the trail is quite muddy, but some effort has been made, in the past, to add logs and rocks to these sections. However, this far up, most of the log crossings are well-rotted. 

It was at this stage of the hike where I suffered a nasty double leg cramp. I had to pause for a few minutes to work it out before proceeding. Later, I added a Liquid IV to my water bladder to help replace electrolytes.

The trail eventually crosses Basin Brook, then climbs to higher and dryer ground. Here, as we approached the Slant Rock area, there has been a great deal of recent trail maintenance. The climb up has been hardened and the trail to Slant Rock also features a tremendous effort at hardening. The trail here is lined with larger rocks with packed gravel and smaller rocks. It's very impressive.

We crossed the John's Brook one last time at 5:20, less than four hours after we'd started. This crossing, right next to Slant Rock, features a lovely little waterfall and a crystal clear swimming hole. 

The guys greeted me at Slant Rock where they'd been relaxing for a while. We chatted for a bit as I explained why they saw lots of people leaving but I had to start so late. They said that there were people at the lean-to and they seemed extremely comfortable and that the structure was a good climb up the side of Little Marcy. They said there were a few small tent  sites up the hill as well, so they'd made camp down by the brook instead. I do love a lean-to, but I'd rather camp with friends than strangers. I decided I'd go ahead and pitch my tent with the guys.

I hiked over to the camping area to drop my pack and fish out my bear can and chair. The trail markers seem to want you to hike in the streambed, but there is a clear trail to the right. It is a little convoluted getting to the camping area with the various herd paths, but I figured it out.

I entertained everyone for a good 30 minutes setting up my tent. Dan wasn't going to use his trekking poles for the hike tomorrow, so he let me use them to raise the tent.  In this pic  you can see my new obnoxious, yellow bear can. I'm very pleased with it as it holds quite a bit.

There are two large camping areas along the brook. One was taken by a small group, so I don't have photos of that. Ours was lovely and spacious situated in an open stand of evergreens. There is also one more small site suitable for one tent near the Marcy/Shorey junction. Although remote, the Slant Rock area is well-situated for hiking a lot of mountains in one weekend.

We had some nice conversation and were in bed by 8:30. Sunny and I slept very well that night. It was a comfortable 60-65 degrees farenheit in the tent all night and I was cuddled up deep in my 40 degree bag.  Although my real pillow took up loads of room in my pack, I was glad to have it.

I did toss and turn a few times, but that's to be expected.  I only woke up once to pee and actually stayed outside for a little while to look up and enjoy the stars. Once I saw the ISS zoom across the sky, I called Sunny back over and went back to sleep almost immediately.

The next morning, Sunny and I woke up just before 5am and brought our breakfast and chair down to Slant Rock to cook and eat. It was a lovely, cool morning. 

I decided to take off my crocs and climb to the top of Slant Rock. The view isn't much different from the limited view from the brook near our campsite. As I slid down the rock in my shorts, I ended up road rashing my buttcheek. Ow!

The elevation gain begins immediately and it is relentless. The terrain was classic Adirondack feet-of-the-mountain: piles of rocks tangled with roots. There was some  water on the trail, but the rocks and boulders were piled so thick that we could rock hop the whole way up.

Shorey gets properly steep about halfway up as the trail digs right into the crags of the mountain itself. There are some very interesting parts and we took a number of short breaks to catch our breath.

After curling around the spur, the trail starts descending and we were rewarded with some stunning views of Haystack.

I was pleasantly surprised to see lots of flowing water coming down from the spur towards the Range Trail. Despite being a stream-ish descent, it was a mostly painless rock-hop on the way down. Just the same, as usual, I was a little pokey on the descent.

We arrived at the Shorey's/Range junction at about 9:15am, about an hour and a half after we'd started. I feel like we made pretty good time considering the rugged nature of the trail. Adam decided he was good for one mountain today rather than two, so we split the party. Adam headed for the summit of Little Haystack while Dan, Sunny, and I headed up Basin.

Well, Sunny managed the big scrambles cliffs up Basin with very little difficulty. Most of it he could get by pathing well or from a standing jump. There were a couple of spots where Sunny couldn't manage with a standing jump and couldn't work out the best way to get a running jump started. I tried a new trick where I picked up a stick and threw it up. In both places, the trick worked and he stopped thinking about the jump and just did it.

Goldens work best when they don't try to think.

We have this in common.

Please note that there are certainly a couple of spots hikers need to be careful on if terrain is slippery or if they are prone to vertigo.

The moment came when we approached The Ladder. I told Dan the plan ahead of time. I also told him it's entirely possible Sunny may not summit Basin. I would be willing to live with that if this ascent became too dangerous.

For some reason, I never captured an image of the actual ladder. I think it's because I was in full mission mode when we got there. I'd been thinking about this moment for quite some time and had prepared for it. When I saw it, I was dubious about the stick trick working. It's about an 80% grade and despite being rough Adirondack granite, it was going to be impossible for Sunny to scale. Still, I had some small hope Sunny would try to use the ladder with the stick, so I took off his pack and threw the stick two or three times. He looked at me like I was crazy.

I put his pack back on and took out some weight. Dan took hold of the long 25' cable lead I'd brought with us and he scaled the ladder. Dan braced himself and hoisted Sunny up, hand-over-hand while I followed behind. At first, we relied on Sunny to do some of the work himself, but he soon lost the nerve and I just held him while Dan hoisted. 

For something like this, you want to keep the dogs paws away from the surface. I'd learned that not only from my own experience on Wittenberg, but from the experiences of others. Dogs will try to push off from the surface to jump. That can send the both of you plummeting. Keep the dog parallel to the surface and calm and you can both reach the top safely. Certainly, the dog should not be at chest level. You need to maintain your center of gravity. Instead, they should be more in line with your face. With each pull by the belayer up top, help push  the dog up and then stabilize yourself on the ladder.

If I were to do it again, I would take a suggestion Dan gave. I had the leash and lead  threaded through the loop on the back of Sunny's pack. This caused the lead to pull him from behind. This was fine coming down, but it would have been more natural to pull him from the shoulders on the way up and he may have been able to use the ladder better on his own.

I know this seems a bit crazy. It kind of is. Is it safe? I think if you do it properly and have a friend to help, it's fine. I would never try this alone. 

There are only three places in the Adirondack High Peaks hikes where I feel this level of work is necessary. Other than this approach to Basin, there's also the Saddleback Cliffs. I'd never attempt that at all. There's also the ladder up the North side of Armstrong. It's a bit less sketchy than the Basin cliff because it has a lot of loose scree at the bottom. We've hiked every other mountain without the need for belaying. There was one cliff going up Wright that it was nice to have a 2nd person to help, but belaying wasn't necessary.

Sunny is a strong, fit, dog who has been training on High Peaks since he was barely over a year old. We've worked hard to keep him in mountain shape. I know most Goldens would never be able to achieve the things he has. I've had two Golden rescues previously and I can attest to it. However, please understand that we are fully aware of Sunny's abilities and are always thinking of health and safety.

We arrived at the summit of Basin at a bit after 10:30am, a little over an hour from when we left the junction. We'd made pretty great time. We had some snacks and chatted with some folks who were prepping for the Iron Man tomorrow. It's always fun to talk to people from different regions of the U.S. because you get their perspectives of the Adirondacks. They're uniformly surprised by the challenge of our rugged yet beautiful terrain.

We didn't tarry long on Basin. I think we began our descent around 10:50, enjoying the views as we did so. When we came to the ladder, Dan climbed down and encouraged Sunny while I belayed him down. It was a bit trickier this time getting Sunny started which is fair considering he doesn't know he'll be held up by a cable. Dan climbed up the ladder a bit and set him in motion again. After a couple of attempts, Sunny dug in and skidded down as I held tight and he made it to the bottom safely.

We hiked past the junction and down to the low point in the trail where it crosses a drainage at about 3840'. There was good water in there which Sunny partook of. I imagine this drainage can get quite dry at other times. 

The trail then climbs up to 4000' where there's a ledge of flat terrain. During this climb, I noticed some interesting rocks that I first mistook for shale then realized was limestone. Dan concurred. I was surprised to see limestone up here because I thought it had all been scraped away by the glaciers. Dan said that it had still been an ocean at some point, so there still must be some lying about in the nooks and crannies of the Adirondacks.

It is on this ledge where Sno-Bird, the highest designated campsite in New York State, is located. The site is situated a short distance and a little climb up to the left of the trail as you head South.  We arrived there at about 11:50. Despite Adam waiting for us up ahead, I had to satisfy my curiosity and check it out.

I was shocked to see how spacious the site is. There's room for at least eight tents, more if you're not picky or if you're organized as a single group. Some of the trees seemed strong enough for hammocks, but I didn't press Dan on the issue. You can look at the pictures and judge for yourself. I do think it's possible there used to be even more room for tents, but those places have gotten a bit marshy. There is a privy up there, but we didn't see it or go hunting for it, but I assume it's a thunder box. I wish I could stay there someday, but I really don't think I possess the endurance to carry a full pack to that elevation.

Dan and I had a snack and moved on.

Just past the Haystack Brook Trail junction (which leads down to the AMR), we came to another drainage with running water. This time, I filled up along with Sunny.

Another tough rock-and-boulder scramble faced us up the Range trail to the base of Little Haystack.  After climbing over 400' we finally came to the Haystack Trail junction. 

It was here that we met back up with Adam. We talked for a bit and made some decisions. We were going to have rain tomorrow and we were starting to enjoy the thought of sleeping in a bed tonight. We decided to abandon camp this afternoon and head back to the trailhead.

As such, Adam took the right fork heading up the Phelps trail back to camp. Meanwhile Dan and I pressed on to Haystack.

Sunny was very happy on this trip. There were a great many hikers out enjoying the incredible weather and all of them wanted to pet a dog. I was happy to see so many folks enjoying the trails and had friendly chats with quite a few of them. 

There is one fairly difficult vertical section going up Little Haystack followed by some moderately challenging scrambles. Sunny, Dan, and I managed them without much issue. The climb up Little Haystack is much less technical than Basin.

The view of Haystack from Little Haystack is really cool. The South side of Little Haystack is extremely steep, but the ledges all line up perfectly for a safe switchback-ish descent into the short (and surprisingly mud-free) col.

Thanks to Dan for taking pictures of us coming up and going down Haystack. The hike up the final ascent of Haystack reminded me a bit of Algonquin. It is exposed rock meandering around light alpine scrub. However, Haystack has a few false summits that a hiker should mentally prepare themselves for.

I kept Sunny on leash for 99% of our climb over Little Haystack and Haystack. I wished I hadn't left the elastic Ruffwear at the campsite because we could have stayed on-leash 100% of the time otherwise. 

We arrived at the summit at a bit before 1:30, about two and a half hours after we'd left the summit of Basin. The breeze was blowing and there were many nice people to talk with.

The day had gotten super hazy as the humidity started to roll in again. Unfortunately, I think my lens was also smudged. At any rate, I still have the memories.

After enjoying the summit for 20 minutes or so, I changed my socks and we started heading back. Thanks again to Dan for snapping a few photos of us heading down. It was fun to head downhill again. I was lucky enough to have paced my water and electrolytes fairly well today and didn't get any leg cramps while changing gears.

We had a jaunty hike across Little Marcy and down to the col. The hike along the Range Trail up over the ridge was steep, but nothing new to us. The summit of this little hump is actually exposed and we got one last view before descending down into the valley towards the John's Brook. 

During the 1.1 mile descent down the Range Trail and then the Phelps Trail, we experienced a variety of terrain, rather steep for much of it, and muddy in other parts. I don't have any photos of this part of the trail because my phone died. I had foolishly left my charging cord at home. Fortunately, Adam would let me use his later. I believe I got back to the campsite around 3:30pm, about an hour and a half after we'd left the summit of Haystack. Dan had arrived a few minutes before me and Adam had just about finished packing up.

It took me a good hour and a half to get ready to leave. I made Sunny a rehydrated dog meal and myself a rehydrated people meal. While I did this, Adam was kind enough to pack up my air mattress and tent. I am pretty sure he packed them better than they had been by the manufacturer.

For most of this time, Sunny took a cat nap. He'd torn one of his toenails on one of the many scrambles and I had applied some antibiotic ointment to it and also ointment in the paw. He didn't seem to have noticed the issue, so I felt safe taking him out. I figured the food would provide us both the energy we needed for a successful 6.5 mile exit.

We were on our way by 5pm. We cruised down the trail. Sunny, especially, was full of piss and vinegar dashing about and having a great time. I'd had him fully on leash on the way in and I thought he deserved a little dashing time before being hooked up again closer to the trailhead. 

My overnight pack was killing me, though. The shoulder straps were fully pulled in and yet the pack wasn't resting properly on my hips. The chest strap kept riding up to my neck and choking me. For most of the hike I had one or both hands pulling on the chest strap to keep the bag closer to center of gravity and to keep it from choking me to death.

I really need a new overnight bag, but those are very, very expensive.

Still, we reached the Loj by 6:30. There were loads of hikers outside on the picnic tables and Sunny lapped up the attention. I went inside to buy my peak pins, but the Loj staff was super busy prepping dinner. Instead, I put two bucks in the can and served myself two cups of lemonade and a cup of coffee. That turned out to be exactly what I needed to press on to victory.

Shortly after the outpost register, we were joined by a couple of hikers coming behind us. They asked if we'd give them a ride to Marcy Field. Since we had the Highlander today, that was absolutely something we could do without issue.

It was super nice having a couple other members in the party we could tell all our old stories to while we hiked out, Time flew by which absolutely never happens on the miles out from JBL.

We were at the Garden lot before 9pm and my shoulders were absolutely screaming. I gratefully dropped my pack and started up the air conditioning. All five men, a dog, and all their packs fit a bit snugly in the vehicle, but we were still relatively comfortable for the 6 mile drive to Marcy Field. 

After we parted ways, our new friends took a dip in the Ausable River across 74 and we went to Stewart's for a much-deserved post-hike coffee and snack.

What an incredible experience. I got to explore areas that I've wanted to see for a long time and I didn't have to do it alone. Thanks so much to Dan and Adam for joining me. I did have a tough time side-sleeping when I got home because my shoulders hurt so much, but still I slept. The next day I was able to take Quinn on an unplanned trip to Great Escape where he got to hang out with Dad and swim for a few hours.

The plan now is to wait for a very dry few days and, as the kids say, "send it" to Allen as a day hike. I am very grateful to have an understanding and flexible boss and a flexible and understanding wife.

Jay and I still plan on hiking Marcy, Grey, and Skylight as an overnight, but we haven't yet agreed on which lean-to to stay at. You'll all learn soon enough.