una_dogger
New member
Terra (aussie shep) and I set off for the Lake Placid area wednesday afternoon. We arrived at the Adirondack Mountain Clubs awesome High Peaks Base Camp, the Heart Lake Campground by seven pm. After setting up camp, we took a great stroll around Heart Lake and around the campsite, which is absolutely beautiful, clean, and superbly run.
Thursday morning we set off to summit Algoinquin Peak, the second highest mountain in NY at 5115 ft. Our total trek mileage for the day was 12 miles with 4000 ft vertical gain and loss. The trailhead was just a tad over 2000 ft.
In two hours we reached an amazing waterfall 3 miles into our journey at 3800ft. We hit treeline at about 4000ft and began our careful picking up Algonquin. The trail was rock face and although not technical at all, the trail follows an old avalanche and the entire Lake Placid Valley sprawls out below. (not for the faint of heart or fear of height-ed!)
At 4500 we hit a steep pitch and began our rock scramble along the alpine zone characteristic of the Daks. Terra is an amazing little mountain girl and all our hard work on local mountains sure has paid off. We have a variety of tools to help us negotiate trails and rocks whilst still being on leash. I have to admit that this is one situation where a flexi leash comes in really handy. Working as a team I would climb up and have Terra wait below and then call her to me, or have her go ahead and give her the wait command where she'd halt and wait for me to catch up to her. Being a little afraid of heights myself, the vertical was probably exaggerated in my own mind!
We reached the summit at 11:00 am and were greeted by ----- no one! It was amazing! Nobody was up there, and Algonquin has anywhere from 50-100 people on its summit on the weekends! The view from the top is amazing! Mt Marcy was right across from us, as was Mt Colden with its numerous landslides. Below was Colden and Avalanche Lakes and an area known as Flowed Lands that looks like Moose Heaven. Iriquous Peak was just a hop and a skip away across a pretty gentle ridgeline so we bagged it, too.
Then we began our steep 2500 ft descent down two miles to Lake Colden. The trail itself is a narrow swatch of bare rock sandwiched between srubby fir. Terra was a super girl and carefully followed me, I've taught her a "stay" command in which she is to stay behind me. She's such a great team mate!
About a mile down the bare rock became cobble and a small stream formed high in the mountains. We came upon a group of about seven young hunky guys (woo hoo!) heading up the mountain. They were really surprised to see me coming down but happy to hear that the snow pack and ice are gone and crampons are not needed (so was I, cuz we don't do ice!). They asked Terra's name and we received many compliments on her skill as a mountaineer. Terra was very quiet and a bit suspicious as the group parted and let us down the narrow steep trail, all the while they softly said "good girl, terra". You can always count on other die hard hikers to recognize a team mate and provide trailside support!
Just before we reached the base the trail leveled somewhat and followed the flat rock of the stream bed. Several pools were carved into the rock and Terra enjoyed a nice swim while I soaked my tired feet and we lay on the rocks drying off and eating fig newtons together.
Soon we reached Lake Colden and began our six mile journey around two lakes and through a pass on our way back to Heart Lake. Lake Colden is beautiful and the trail is an undulating, sometimes very rocky path along the lakeshore. We went through a large bog on bog bridges and then reached Avalanche Lake. The steep sides of Algonquin and Colden Mts form what is called Wallface, a vertical slab of rock on either side that cradle the narrow Avalanche Lake. A series of deck/bridges form the walkway around the slab, allowing one to look either straight up Wallface or down into the dark depths of Avalanche Lake. Shortly thereafter we reached an area of house sized boulders with rock ladders up on down each side. I carefully lifted Terra up on to each rock and then she found her way around adjoining rocks to get to the other sides. This was the only area I had to take her off leash. She was very careful and waited for me to show her the way and I would climb up through the small wooded area and use large hand signals to show her the best way to go. (Leftover from Agility Class!)
The probably quarter mile through the jungle gym seemed to take an hour! Finally we reached Avalanche Pass, an amazing little valley filled with hundreds of trees scattered like matchsticks! The track of the landside could be easily ascertained by following the trees up the cliff and up at the top of Wallface one can see a clump of soil and trees clinging to the edge, waiting for a strong enough rain or snowmelt to push them off into the valley below. It was truly amazing to see the power of Nature at work in this pass.
Finally, we reached a signpost directing us back to Heart Lake, 3.2 miles down a wide, soft path. We stopped at the Marcy Dam to take a picture of Terra with Marcy Lake and Mt Marcy, Colden, and Algonquin behind her and reflecting in the lake. Its a great picture and I'll post it here soon.
We were joined at the dam by five guys (clean) heading out for a few days in the backcountry. I asked them where they were heading and thier trip was the same twelve miles Terra and I had just covered in nine hours! They were pretty impressed with us!
Dirty, tired and sore, we reached our little tent and Terra had dinner and then I tucked her into her sleeping bag while I went to take warm shower (did I mention the Adirondak Mnt Club runs a GREAT basecamp at Heart Lake!)
After, Terra and I buzzed into Lake Placid so I could buy myself a hard earned beer to bring back to camp and enjoy with my dinner....OK..two beers....well, they only sold six packs....and I still have four left...!
We left our tent fly off last night so we could lay and watch the beautiful blanket of stars above the tops of the pines. Early this morning we took a walk around Heart Lake and out to Indian Falls. By 11:00 hordes of cars from Quebec and NY were filing in to Heart Lake; and we packed up to come home.
Before leaving I stopped into the High Peaks Info Center to file my trip ticket and update the trail conditions for Algonquin. There I met a young Canadian couple with a baby in a backpack set to climb Algonquin. They couldn't be disuaded by the ADK staff; and I overheard them say they had no map, but declined purchasing one. In my pocket I had my trusty old High Peaks map, marked with the many routes Charlie Brown and I had taken through the High Peaks together, with numbers denoting the day on the trail and where we had made camp. Our longest trip together in the Daks was 10 days and we bagged six peaks over 4600 on that trip (tearing up here remembering my sweet brown dog). Something inside me made me walk back inside and hand them my map....can't imagine anyone walking into the Wilderness, especially with such a late start in the day, mapless....
Hope everyone has enjoyed our little adventure chronicle. I'm happy to say that once we conquer red squirrels, Terra has the makings of a Wilderness Dog.
Thursday morning we set off to summit Algoinquin Peak, the second highest mountain in NY at 5115 ft. Our total trek mileage for the day was 12 miles with 4000 ft vertical gain and loss. The trailhead was just a tad over 2000 ft.
In two hours we reached an amazing waterfall 3 miles into our journey at 3800ft. We hit treeline at about 4000ft and began our careful picking up Algonquin. The trail was rock face and although not technical at all, the trail follows an old avalanche and the entire Lake Placid Valley sprawls out below. (not for the faint of heart or fear of height-ed!)
At 4500 we hit a steep pitch and began our rock scramble along the alpine zone characteristic of the Daks. Terra is an amazing little mountain girl and all our hard work on local mountains sure has paid off. We have a variety of tools to help us negotiate trails and rocks whilst still being on leash. I have to admit that this is one situation where a flexi leash comes in really handy. Working as a team I would climb up and have Terra wait below and then call her to me, or have her go ahead and give her the wait command where she'd halt and wait for me to catch up to her. Being a little afraid of heights myself, the vertical was probably exaggerated in my own mind!
We reached the summit at 11:00 am and were greeted by ----- no one! It was amazing! Nobody was up there, and Algonquin has anywhere from 50-100 people on its summit on the weekends! The view from the top is amazing! Mt Marcy was right across from us, as was Mt Colden with its numerous landslides. Below was Colden and Avalanche Lakes and an area known as Flowed Lands that looks like Moose Heaven. Iriquous Peak was just a hop and a skip away across a pretty gentle ridgeline so we bagged it, too.
Then we began our steep 2500 ft descent down two miles to Lake Colden. The trail itself is a narrow swatch of bare rock sandwiched between srubby fir. Terra was a super girl and carefully followed me, I've taught her a "stay" command in which she is to stay behind me. She's such a great team mate!
About a mile down the bare rock became cobble and a small stream formed high in the mountains. We came upon a group of about seven young hunky guys (woo hoo!) heading up the mountain. They were really surprised to see me coming down but happy to hear that the snow pack and ice are gone and crampons are not needed (so was I, cuz we don't do ice!). They asked Terra's name and we received many compliments on her skill as a mountaineer. Terra was very quiet and a bit suspicious as the group parted and let us down the narrow steep trail, all the while they softly said "good girl, terra". You can always count on other die hard hikers to recognize a team mate and provide trailside support!
Just before we reached the base the trail leveled somewhat and followed the flat rock of the stream bed. Several pools were carved into the rock and Terra enjoyed a nice swim while I soaked my tired feet and we lay on the rocks drying off and eating fig newtons together.
Soon we reached Lake Colden and began our six mile journey around two lakes and through a pass on our way back to Heart Lake. Lake Colden is beautiful and the trail is an undulating, sometimes very rocky path along the lakeshore. We went through a large bog on bog bridges and then reached Avalanche Lake. The steep sides of Algonquin and Colden Mts form what is called Wallface, a vertical slab of rock on either side that cradle the narrow Avalanche Lake. A series of deck/bridges form the walkway around the slab, allowing one to look either straight up Wallface or down into the dark depths of Avalanche Lake. Shortly thereafter we reached an area of house sized boulders with rock ladders up on down each side. I carefully lifted Terra up on to each rock and then she found her way around adjoining rocks to get to the other sides. This was the only area I had to take her off leash. She was very careful and waited for me to show her the way and I would climb up through the small wooded area and use large hand signals to show her the best way to go. (Leftover from Agility Class!)
The probably quarter mile through the jungle gym seemed to take an hour! Finally we reached Avalanche Pass, an amazing little valley filled with hundreds of trees scattered like matchsticks! The track of the landside could be easily ascertained by following the trees up the cliff and up at the top of Wallface one can see a clump of soil and trees clinging to the edge, waiting for a strong enough rain or snowmelt to push them off into the valley below. It was truly amazing to see the power of Nature at work in this pass.
Finally, we reached a signpost directing us back to Heart Lake, 3.2 miles down a wide, soft path. We stopped at the Marcy Dam to take a picture of Terra with Marcy Lake and Mt Marcy, Colden, and Algonquin behind her and reflecting in the lake. Its a great picture and I'll post it here soon.
We were joined at the dam by five guys (clean) heading out for a few days in the backcountry. I asked them where they were heading and thier trip was the same twelve miles Terra and I had just covered in nine hours! They were pretty impressed with us!
Dirty, tired and sore, we reached our little tent and Terra had dinner and then I tucked her into her sleeping bag while I went to take warm shower (did I mention the Adirondak Mnt Club runs a GREAT basecamp at Heart Lake!)
After, Terra and I buzzed into Lake Placid so I could buy myself a hard earned beer to bring back to camp and enjoy with my dinner....OK..two beers....well, they only sold six packs....and I still have four left...!
We left our tent fly off last night so we could lay and watch the beautiful blanket of stars above the tops of the pines. Early this morning we took a walk around Heart Lake and out to Indian Falls. By 11:00 hordes of cars from Quebec and NY were filing in to Heart Lake; and we packed up to come home.
Before leaving I stopped into the High Peaks Info Center to file my trip ticket and update the trail conditions for Algonquin. There I met a young Canadian couple with a baby in a backpack set to climb Algonquin. They couldn't be disuaded by the ADK staff; and I overheard them say they had no map, but declined purchasing one. In my pocket I had my trusty old High Peaks map, marked with the many routes Charlie Brown and I had taken through the High Peaks together, with numbers denoting the day on the trail and where we had made camp. Our longest trip together in the Daks was 10 days and we bagged six peaks over 4600 on that trip (tearing up here remembering my sweet brown dog). Something inside me made me walk back inside and hand them my map....can't imagine anyone walking into the Wilderness, especially with such a late start in the day, mapless....
Hope everyone has enjoyed our little adventure chronicle. I'm happy to say that once we conquer red squirrels, Terra has the makings of a Wilderness Dog.
