Porcupine Post

The Adirondack 46ers, or high peaks, are the 46 peaks that were determined to be above 4000’ when originally surveyed by Colvin’s team in the late 1800s. While some of the numbers are a little different when surveyed with modern methods, the list still holds and many people make it their mission to climb all of them, myself included.

My nerves have come a long way since I started my Adirondack 46er journey in 2015. Scrambling and exposure used to terrify me. I had a panic attack climbing, I believe, Big Slide when we reached some ladders. My spouse needed to help me through some breathing exercises to calm down and keep going. Since then, I’ve hiked nearly 5,000 miles of long trails and even more if we count day hikes, trail runs, and overnights. All the experience in the big mountains on 14ers and ridge walks in the Cascades, Collegiates, San Juan’s, and Sierra have significantly helped reduce my fears and trust that I can handle it. It was time to see if the high peaks of NY still held that fear. Spoiler alert, they’re still pretty scary (I’m looking at you Saddleback cliffs, Gothics chains, and Macomb slide), but I kept it together and was able to get through all the climbs and descents. When I say climbs, I mean hands and feet and knees climbing. Real scrambling, some with real consequences if a handhold slips. My trekking poles, and my pack to a lesser extent, got a lot of air time this trip. So let’s get into it. My adventure back into the high peaks.

I was headed up to the North Country for a high school graduation. I figured I may as well spend some time in the woods and do a little peak bagging while I was there, so I pulled out my paper map to see where the highest concentration of peaks was. Looked like the Great Range (didn’t know it was called that until I was on top of Marcy) and the Dix Range. I thought 3-4 days would be a nice amount of time and proceeded to map. On the mapping software I use, I laid out a couple options depending on how I’d feel once I got out there. One was two nights with three full days, 42 miles and 13 peaks. The other was three nights with four full days, 53 miles with 17 peaks. I ended up making a new route when I was out there, but this was the base I was working with.

I had my dates, I had a route, I just needed a parking pass. A few days later (you can only reserve a spot 2 weeks in advance) I was able to reserve my spot at the Adirondack Mountain Reserve (AMR) lot and chose three nights just in case. I could decide later how many nights I wanted to camp. Gathering gear was straight forward since I had everything already as well as packing my food. I could finally use up those tuna packets that have been sitting around in the pantry.

I made the long drive north, visited with family, attended a graduation, went to a couple graduation parties, and explored Fort Ticonderoga. Time to hike.

I drove the short ways up to the high peaks region leaving early enough to get hiking by 0600. After a quick stop at the high peaks welcome center rest stop, I was parked at the AMR lot and ready to go. I began hiking around 0550. After a short road walk, I was at the trail head signing the register.

It was great being in the backcountry again. After a very short time on trail, maybe 5 minutes, I was already altering my plans. The sign was pointing to a different route up to the first peak I planned to hit. It looked only a tiny bit longer, but less steep. It would climb 3000’ over 3.5 miles instead of doing most of that gain in a shorter 1.5 mile segment. It was pretty easy terrain, steep, but no overly difficult climbing.

As I got closer to the summit, the rocks got bigger and the scrambling began. I didn’t know what to expect when I planned my route. I definitely blacked out how much scrambling and climbing is really involved. Good thing too or I would have definitely been very anxious and scared going into it. As it turned out, the difficulty ramped up through the day, so I made small gains in my confidence as I went. Couldn’t have worked out much better. First confidence builder was a 12’ climb along a crack in the rock with lots of helpful tree roots.

I hit my first summit at 0900. Lower Wolf Jaw checked off the list. On to the next. The scrambling continued to ramp up with some large boulders to clamber over and a harder climb along a crack in the rock.

And there was some cool tiny mushrooms to look at too.

I hit the top of Upper Wolf Jaw at 1045. Two peaks complete, unknown quantity to go.

Off to Armstrong, the next summit in the range. This one continued to ramp up the climbs. At least one section had a ladder.

The climbs were intimidating but nothing I couldn’t handle. I just needed to breathe slowly and not think of all the bad things that could happen. Trust myself that I won’t randomly let go.

I succeeded at staying calm and reached my third summit at 1150. The views on all three so far had been pretty great. I enjoyed this one a bit longer while I ate my lunch.

I was pretty surprised at how few people I had seen. I had heard that the crowds in the peaks were getting bad enough that they were planning on adding more permit systems. So far I had seen 2 runners, 2 older guys backpacking (separately), and a couple day hiking. It was the perfect amount. Enough that I knew if I did get hurt and couldn’t push SOS on my Garmin, someone would probably find me soon, but not so many that I felt stressed and anxious that I would be too slow or have to wait in lines to climb or have people watch me try to plan out my moves to get up or down.

On to the next peak, Gothics. I have a history with Gothics. During the winter mountaineering class I took in prep for the PCT, we did a multi night portion where we’d summit Saddleback and Gothics from our base camp. We succeeded with Saddleback.

It was pretty straight forward with the route we took headed south to the summit. The next day, one team member was injured so half the group stayed back while half of us went to hit Gothics. We’d be going up the steep route. In the summer, there are chains to aid in climbing. The high was about 7 degrees F with steady winds and snowing. The snowpack was about knee high as well. We got part of the way up before I got too scared on the insanely steep section and we turned back. The team was great and didn’t care that we turned back. They were also considering if it was a good idea to push on, but I was the one that ultimately said to go back.

So, needless to say, I was afraid for what I’d find on my descent down Gothics this time around. I had quite a few bailout options, so if it looked too bad, I didn’t need to go on and could make a new route. The path to Gothics from Armstrong however was pretty easy other than the mud. Mud season is typically on the way out by end of June, but I guess with the heavy snow year, it was lingering into July. Lots of mud.

I reached the top of Gothics at 1315 and enjoyed just shy of a 360 degree view of the area. I snapped a few photos then headed towards the section I’d been dreading.

The ridge walk was lovely and soon I began the descent. It wasn’t too bad to start, but slowly got steeper and steeper. It looked like I’d fall off the edge of the mountain.

I hit a pretty steep section and butt slid/inchwormed down. I caught my breathe and talked to the people who bailed on that part. They were waiting on their third who I had just passed. One didn’t have the right shoes and the other was not up for it.

Time for the chains. If there are chains to help people up, it’s got to be steep. And it was. I very slowly butt slid and inchwormed my way down hanging onto the chain for dear life. I’m not naturally cut out for this time of exposure and risk. Definitely a works in progress.

Soon I was off the chains, but the steepness didn’t end. It was just slightly shorter of a segment.

It wasn’t long after the last bit of rock face that was in the trees and at the saddle between Gothics and Saddleback. I was running low on water so I grabbed some from a puddle and sat on a rock to cool off and calm down. I finally found the black flies I had been hoping were done for the season. They proceeded to bite me leaving little spots of blood behind. Soon I was back to climbing. Saddleback wasn’t as easy as I remembered but it definitely was not difficult. I breezed up it pretty quickly and hit the summit at 1515. I took a short break at the top where I talked to a couple also doing a 3 night trip. They weren’t trying to hit as many peaks though and were on a more casual hike that involved swimming in lakes. I wandered around briefly at the top looking for the trail out, when I realized it led to the cliff face. I didn’t see that coming.

I’m glad I didn’t know about this section going in or I’d have been freaking out all day leading up to it. A pair had just got to the top of what I was about to head down. They said follow the blazes so you don’t get cliffed out. One of them was definitely adding to the fear. Said it was the hardest scariest section in the high peaks they’d done. I got down a small bit then sat frozen. Debating what to do. It looked super frightening and had very high risk of serious injury or death with a misstep. Another larger group was coming up and gave a better calmer run down of what to expect other than the off hand mention that’s why they chose to go up this and not down. The couple caught up to me, also a little apprehensive about the down climb. We kind of all stared at each other for a bit before I started inching forward to get it over with. They were right behind me and I asked if I could join them for this section so I wouldn’t be alone. We got down the second big drop, handing off packs and pointing out holds.

Eventually the drops got smaller and I was able to split off again to tackle Basin, the last mountain before camp. I hadn’t noticed the camp sites originally on the map, but a chat with the couple had me planning to head there too. I wasn’t going to make it up and over Haystack. The scrambles were slow going and the elevation gain was a minimum of 1000’ per mile, usually the grade was steeper. Basin was incredibly slow going. There were a few steep parts up, but nothing could compare to what I’d done already. The whole way up all I could think was that it felt like I was climbing a staircase, but every second or third step was hip to shoulder high. It had good views of the rock face I came down though.

I reached the summit of Basin at 1730 after a final small scramble.

The way down was harder. It continued to be incredibly steep. I wasn’t overly afraid though, just small bits afraid while being physically and mentally exhausted.

I kept on and eventually got to the stream I had been fantasizing about for a while. I was pretty thirsty at this point and if there wasn’t water, I’d need to go an extra mile to another stream. So glad I didn’t need to. I filled my water bladder and headed the last little bit to camp. I arrived at 1920. I wandered around the marsh a bit wondering how this could be the designated area when I heard some people saying there’s more spots uphill. I headed towards them and indeed there were a few dry spots. I left the bigger better spot for the couple since my tent could easily fit in the wooded area and set up.

Since there was another stream I’d need to cross in the morning, I had extra water I could use to rinse off my legs. They were decently muddy and it’s nice to go to bed slightly cleaner.

I ate my dinner, stowed my bear can, and said hi to the couple who arrived an hour after me. I spent a little bit looking at my map deciding the plan for the next day. There were probable thunderstorms and rain all afternoon. I didn’t particularly want to be trying to rock climb on a peak during that. I decided I’d hit the three peaks I planned and make a final decision on the last peak as to where I’d go that afternoon. I set my alarm for 0530, put in ear plugs, and went to bed. The next day would potentially be long too.

The high peaks are slow going for me:

12.5 miles

6 summits

6590’ gain

3825’ loss

13 hours

Day 1: Quick trip to the North Country

Day 2: Quick trip to the North Country

Food on Trail

Porcupine Post