ladders in the high peaks?

[shmucko]

Hey all,

I'm trying to find which trails in the high peaks have ladders that might be impassible for a 75lb. dog (husky/akita? mix) who does not take well to being hoisted 15-feet vertically. Dog can climb o.k., so alternate scrambleing routes are alright, but we've learned, from experience, that that is not always an option.
Last year we (girl, dog, and i) found our originally planned loop unreasonable because of the ladder just south of the indian pass summit. We made it from the upper-works trail head to that final ladder just fine (past the first set of ladders), but absolutely could not pass the ladder. we spent an hour trying, stopping just short of hoisting kira-the-dog up in a sleeping bag.
This year we will be base camping and daypacking, so finding through routes is not so essential, but it would be nice to get some summit views along with our hikes.

any advice or links to sites with good dog trails would be very helpfull

thanks

[Mike P.]

Saturday I did a loop from the ADK Loj past the drained Marcy Pond, The Avalanche Pass Trail to Lake Arnold trail, the Mt. Marcy trail from Upper Works (121 in the guide book) to Lake Tear & Four Corners, up Sklight & then up & over Marcy & back via Van H. trail. no ladders that required hands but a few staircases that were missing a rung or two. No ladders on Redfield path but some spots along the brook were tight & involved big steps. Don't recall ladders on Cascade & Porter or Macomb either but that was many years ago.

If you don't get many replies here, I'd post your question on VFTT as it seems to be about 50/50 between Whites & ADK's. It is where I usually post my ADK questions.

[una_dogger]

All done with a dog:
Marcy from ADK, Marcy from the Garden via the Hopkins Trail, Down to Four Corners from Marcy; Dix (up and over both approaches), Algonguin and Iriquois, up and over from Heart Lake and down the Lake Colden Trail; Avalanche Pass (ladders but doggable); we had no prob on Indian Pass from Heart Lake to Calamity Pond, Hurricane, Giant from 9N.

The High Peaks Guide put out by ADK does a good job at pointing out ladders; for example, the Brothers/Big Slide/Yard is a great hike but there are ladders on Big Slide.

BTW, dogs need to be leashed at all times in the High Peaks.

Happy Hiking,
Sabrina
& Terra Firma the TrailDog

[shmucko]

Thanks mike p. and una dogger (i was hoping to hear from you).
I was wondering if indian pass might be easier southbound. but having never seen the northern side...

una_dogger- it looks like terra and kira (the dog in our household) might be about a similar mass and trail maneageable physique. although we don't have as much experience as you two, we could probably do indian pass southbound.

mike p.- thanks i posted on vftt and almost
immediately got 6 replies

d

[una_dogger]

Actually, Terra is a lithe 42 pounds; very agile, and easy to lift!

Kira looks like a cutie!

Would you mind posting what you find here, too?

Thanks,
Sabrina

[thetrailboss]

Welcome to the forums! Hope to see more of you, Shmucko.

[MichaelJ]

Indeed, welcome to AZ! I hope those quick VFTT responses don't lure you away from us here.