Colden 7/1/14

Because I had 3 holiday days off from work this week, 7/2 – 7/4, I figured why not use 2 vacation days and get the whole week off to spend some quality time in the Adirondacks! So early Saturday morning I started my drive up. Saturday and Sunday were spent backpacking near Clockmill Pond with 3 others plus a four-legged friend from a meetup. After heading back out of the woods Sunday afternoon, I headed up to the High Peaks to spend a few nights. I had planned to hike on Monday but the weather was looking a little iffy so I switched my Monday and Tuesday itineraries. Monday ended up being a nice day so I slept in a bit then took a short kayak on the Chubb River which was very pretty. On the way back to Keene Valley, I stopped at Cascade Lakes to eat lunch and take the short hike up to Cascade Falls.

Tuesday 7/1 was my real hiking day. The plan was to hike to Colden via Lake Arnold. So Tuesday morning I woke up, finished packing my pack, drove to the Loj and I hit the trail at 7:40am.

Register at the Adirondack Loj trailhead

The hike to Marcy Dam was easy enough so I hiked along quickly since I knew that once I started going up I would slow way down. Along the way a guy on his way to Marcy passed me and commented on my fast hiking pace. I told him not to worry since I would slow down to a snail’s pace once I started gaining elevation. At 8:30 on the dot I made it to Marcy Dam. I took a quick stop to take some pictures and take my pant legs off since it was so hot and humid already.

Marcy Mud Flat and Colden in the clouds

What's left of Marcy Dam

I headed off on the trail towards Avalanche Pass and made it to Avalanche Camp by 9am.

Coming up on Avalanche Camps

I then headed off on the trail to Lake Arnold which is where the climbing really starts. No more nice easy walking trails from here, lots of rocks to navigate over and around. At 9:50am I arrived at the junction to the crossover trail to Indian Falls. I stopped to filter a liter of water since I wasn’t sure how much I had gone through already and because the stream looked so refreshing. By 10:30am I had made it to Lake Arnold.

Lake Arnold

The breeze had really started to pick up but it felt good on such a hot and humid day. I liked that from Lake Arnold to the summit the trail alternates between steep uphill sections and flatter sections. It gives you some time to catch your breath.

The summit from Colden's false summit. So close but yet so far...

After passing Colden’s false summit I saw the first person I had seen since Marcy Dam. She was headed back down from the summit and looked like she was a summit steward from the way she was dressed. We said a quick hello and continued on our ways. A little further up I passed a couple who were also on their way back down.

I finally made it to the summit at 11:50am. Just over 5 hours which is about what I expected my pace to be.

Me on the summit with Wright in the background

The summit of Colden

I had the summit to myself and spent about an hour up there eating lunch and just enjoying the gorgeous views with the Captain. It was windy but it felt great on such a warm and humid day and the clouds were just high enough that there were still views.

Algonquin

Looking down at Avalanche Lake

Marcy in the clouds

Me and the Captain with Algonquin

Obligatory "I'm pushing the boulder off the mountain" shot

Iroquois and Algonquin

At one point I noticed someone over on the false summit so I knew I would be gaining some company. Right as I was getting ready to leave he showed up. We did a quick introduction and took each other pictures. I then started heading back down at 12:45pm.

Me and some Macs

My goal was to have a faster pace heading back down and I got off to a good start.

Time to climb back down through the boulders

I was back to Lake Arnold just before 1:45pm, already having cut about 30 minutes off my uphill time.

Bog bridges near Lake Arnold

It was past here things went downhill some more, and not in the good way. About halfway between Lake Arnold and the Indian Falls crossover trail, I stepped awkwardly on a rock with my right foot and seriously rolled my ankle.

Trail or creek? (Or both?) I injured my ankle a little further down the trail from here

Luckily, there was a big rock right there which I immediately fell sitting onto. If it hadn’t been there I probably would have fallen over. I sat there in pain for a few minutes before evaluating my situation. I was still able to move my ankle and toes so I stood up and gingerly tried to put some weight on it. It hurt but it was manageable. I decided I was going to hike down to the crossover trail, which couldn’t have been more than a quarter mile away, and then attend to my ankle some more.

I slowly made my way down the trail and got to the junction about 15-20 minutes later. I stopped, took off my shoe and sock and iced my ankle in the creek. It was very swollen already and I still had 4 miles to get back to the trailhead. After icing it for about 10 minutes and filtering some water while I was there, I wrapped my ankle, took some ibuprofen and a few swigs of Captain Morgan, and began to carefully make my way back down the trail. Thank god I had trekking poles or it would have made for an even slower, more painful descent.

I didn’t see anyone else on the trail until just after Avalanche Camp. By this point I was really hurting and just wanted to be out of the woods. A woman came up behind me and I mentioned I had sprained my ankle. She graciously asked if I needed some gummy bears or a hug or anything. I thanked her and said I was doing ok, just moving slowly. She gave me a hug anyways and hiked with me for a few minutes before speeding off ahead. Just talking to her for a few minutes and knowing I was so close to Marcy Dam really lifted my spirits and I tried to pick up the pace a little.

Easier trail near Marcy Dam

I finally made it back to Marcy Dam around 4pm.

Marcy Dam, a sight for sore eyes (and ankles)

After crossing over the new bridge I hiked down to the water near the dam to soak my ankle again and eat a snack.

Colden from Marcy Dam

What's left of Marcy Dam

Colden from Marcy Dam

After about a 20 minute break, I was ready to conquer the last section of trail and get back to somewhere I could really ice my ankle. With the flatter, easier to manage trail, I slowly but surely made it back out. I still think I made great time even with my injury. I was back to my car by 5:30pm, 9 hours and 50 minutes after starting that morning.

Back to the parking lot at 5:30

I happened to run into the woman who offered my gummy bears back at the parking lot and she was glad to see that I had safely made it out.

Luckily, that was the last day of my trip. I drove back to Rochester Wednesday afternoon and went to Immediate Care to get my ankle properly checked out. Fortunately, nothing is broken but there is lots of swelling and bruising. So I will be taking it easy for a while. Unfortunately I had misplaced my decent camera somewhere between the Clockmill Pond trailhead and Keene Valley so I had to take my crappier one with me up Colden so my pictures aren’t the best

The rest of my pictures

Video from the summit of Colden

Video from just below the summit of Colden