Big Slide 11/23/13

The weekend before Thanksgiving I decided that it was time for me to stop procrastinating and head back up to the Adirondacks for some hiking. I had been itching to get back to the High Peaks region since my backpacking trip at Cranberry Lake in September. Cranberry Lake was nice but I was ready to get another High Peak under my belt.

So I left work an hour early Friday at 4pm 11/22 and headed up to Keene Valley from Rochester. The weather was very crappy, it was dark and raining, so I decided to take the less entertaining route of route 90 to Amsterdam and then north on 87, as opposed to cutting across on route 8 at Utica. It took me exactly 5 hours to reach my destination and pulled into the Keene Valley Hostel’s driveway at 9pm. I grabbed my gear and headed inside. I quietly walked upstairs with my headlamp not knowing if anyone else was there sleeping. There was one occupied bed so I selected my bed and headed back downstairs to hang out for a bit before hitting the sack. I ended up going to bed around 11pm and quickly fell asleep. At about 1am, I was woken up by a group of 4 coming into the hostel and getting straight to bed. I fell back asleep soon after and slept soundly until my and the 4-some’s alarms went off at 6am. I grabbed my stuff and headed downstairs to get ready exchanging sleepy good mornings with the 4 guys who had arrived so late the night before. I made it to the turn off of route 9 before realizing I left my camera back at the hostel so I turned around and went back to grab it. I made it back to the Garden parking lot, signed in at the register, and hit the trail at 7:15am.

The trail had a very light dusting of snow and the ground was frozen which was nice wince there was no mud to deal with.

Very light dusting of snow near the trailhead

At the ledge before the First Brother I stopped to take a few pictures of the hazy views in the morning light. The views were not the best today due to the clouds and snow. These were the best views I saw all day as the snow showers slowly increased during my hike. The tops of the peaks were mostly blanketed in the clouds but it was still a nice sight. All the slides were white with snow and I can see how the views from the Brothers would be absolutely gorgeous on a clear day.

Early morning views from the first ledge

Earl morning views of the Great Range

Views as the trail follows the ledge

I came to a spot in the trail where it looked like the trail kept going straight up, very steeply, but then realized there was a switchback to my right. It was here I ran into my first little scramble. I boosted myself up without too much of a problem and continued on my way. It was about this point I decided to put on my Trail Crampons as I had been having to take very careful steps to avoid not slipping. I had never used them before and boy what a difference they make!

Soon I hit the scramble to the First Brother and scaled it easily. It was somewhere on the First Brother I think I lost the trail and made my way around the Northern side of the bump where I then met back up with the trail. I didn’t even notice my mistake until I came back down.

Scramble up to the First Brother

I scrambled up and over the Second Brother and then followed the trail into a very pretty woods section. The pines looked very nice with their light dusting of snow. Through here the snow increased a bit, still not nearly enough to warrant snowshoes which I had decided to leave in the car. A couple came up from behind me and I let them pass through. 

Gorgeous trail

Increasing amount of snow

I finally reached the junction with the trail to the summit and the Slide Mountain Brook trail.

Trail junction

The sign pointing to the summit had fallen and was sitting against a tree pointing straight ahead. I went the way the sign pointed, following the footprints of the couple ahead of me, and got about 20 yards before the “trail” and footprints ended. I turned back around to the junction and found the real trail to the summit. I made a mental note to move the sign when I got back there but someone had already fixed it by the time I came down.

This "trail" didn't go very far

The real trail to the summit

The final climb to the summit was steep and icy but I was able to navigate it fine with my spikes and a little help from the trees next to the trail. I stopped and took a few pictures of Big Slide’s big slide and continued my way to the summit.

Big Slide's big slide

Just below the summit I ran into the couple I had let pass me early eating lunch in the shelter of the trees. They greeted me by saying “You made it!” and pointed that the summit was right over the last scramble. It was about 11:30am when I made my way up to the summit to take some pictures and enjoy the cloudy snowy views.

Not the best views today

I then made my way back down to where the couple was in the trees to enjoy my lunch. While eating, a group of 4 summited coming from Yard. They were all very excited to be at the top and took out a few beers to celebrate their accomplishment. I climbed back up to the summit to ask them to take a picture of me and I enjoyed some of my Captain while they enjoyed their beers until I got cold and retreated back to the shelter of the trees.

I made it! On the summit

The Captain

I refilled my bladder from the Nalgene I had in my pack and the packed back up to start the trek back down. My fingers were freezing and I put my heavy gloves on for a bit to warm them back up. I stopped at a couple viewpoints on the way back down to the junction to take some pictures.

Views of the Great Range

Taking the ladder back down to the trail junction

I passed a good amount of people along the way that were headed up to the summit. A few of them would overtake me on their hike back down. By the time I was back to the trail junction I was warmed up and switched back to my light gloves. The hike down was pretty uneventful. I passed by a tree that had fallen and had a cool hole in the roots so I took a few pictures of me looking through it.

Perfect hole in the roots of a fallen tree

By the time I got back to the Second Brother the snow had picked up and any views I had before were gone for the day.

Looking to the First Brother from the Second Brother. No more views today

Right before the Frist Brother I came to the spot I think I went wrong in the morning. I could see faint, snow-covered footprints heading left but I looked right and saw a trail marker. This is where I finally came upon the cool rock overhang I had seen so many pictures of. I had wondered how I missed it on the way up. While I was checking it out a couple guys came down and looked confused about which way the trail went at the same spot I had. I yelled to them that there were trail markers this way. They thanked me and I asked them to take a picture of me under the rock overhang which they were happy to do. I thanked them and we continued down the trail, they moved faster than I did. I took my time descending the First Brother being extra cautious as I was tired. The sun had melted off much of the little bits of snow and ice that were on the open rock earlier in the day.

Cool natural rock overhang

The last mile or so seemed to stretch on forever. I was tired and starting to hurt a bit. I rolled my ankles a few times when I was being lazy about where I stepped but there were no major injuries. I finally made it back to parking lot around 3:30pm. I threw everything into my car and head back to the hostel for a nice hot shower followed by a delicious hot roast beef sandwich smothered in gravy at the Noonmark Diner. The rest of the evening was spent hanging out and talking with Sarah who was the occupant of the bed when I had arrived the previous night. We bonded over the fact that we were both from Rochester and that we are young females who go hiking solo. At one point I went to get something from my car and a cat showed up and let itself into the hostel when I opened the door. It was very friendly so we let it hang out for a while. I hit the hay around 10pm and slept in late the next morning before packing up and exchanging info with Sarah for possibly carpooling on future trips. I headed back to Rochester via the more interesting route along route 8 to Utica which also cut at least 30 minutes off my drive. Big Slide was High Peak #5 for me and it was a great trip. Now that it’s a month later I’m itching to get back up there again!

The rest of my pictures