My longest one to date..not sure if it was 14.4 or 15 miles. All I know is that it went on and on and on, LOL! We left the house Saturday morning (4/18) at 5:40am and pulled into the Hiker's Parking area at 6:57am. We scooted up the Lake Road past the Ausable Club clubhouse and signed in. Brian snapped this picture of two young deer nibbling on something just outside the AMR cabin. Anyhoo, we headed up the Lake Road for a bit...maybe 2.5 miles of flat road walking until we got to the turn off for the trail to Nippletop.
We stopped at the Flume on Gill Brook--this would have made a nice picture except for that dang tree that got in the way.
Brian stopped some pretty little ferns--I mean, they were tiny! And, the rest of the plant was covered in snow and ice. It was funny to see this burst of lush greenery out of the snow.
Elk Pass. This would be the last time I smiled for a while. Brian said this was going to get ugly and stay ugly for about 1.5 miles. And this time I believed him. Wowza. We didn't talk a lot on this stretch...no, not because I was mad at him for taking me up this trail. I had all I could do to keep up! Halfway up, I noticed a branch sticking out of a pine tree that looked like an ice axe. Weird. It must have been the thin air, LOL!
Indian Head from Elk Pass. Brian has a better pic from his Colvin Range hike from 2 years ago. It's still pretty neat to see.
We (me and the gnome) made it to the junction about 11:50. Only .2 of a mile between me and High Peak #12.
There "she" is: Nippletop. This is looking at it from the bump. It only took about 5 minutes to get there, it just looked farther away. I could see the yellow disk from where I was standing.
Officially on #12
We had a quick lunch and rest break and then headed back to the junction. I think--don't quote me--that's Colvin and/or Blake in the background and the Great Range behind that, in the clouds.
A little trail humor! Notice the P's....
The trail over to Dial was nice, kind of rolling over the ridge. Halfway there, we passed a man and a boy (teen-aged). The man said it was steep in a few spots, but not difficult. Yay. Actually, it wasn't very steep for very long in the spot he was talking about. We thought we wouldn't see anyone else on the trail, but we passed three big burly guys just before Dial. This was the view from the "big rock" on Dial.
Yay! #13 The weather was getting squirrely at this point. We watched the clouds swirl and float on through for a few minutes. So long Dial! We're headed out!
We continued on to Bear Den as it started to spinkle--then turned into rain--and decided to put on ponchos. We looked like a couple of hunchbacks. From Bear Den to the Lake Road via the Leach Trail, it was 2.5 miles of rockiness, snow, ice, mud and wet leaves. Oh, I was so glad to see the road. I asked Brian to walk ahead and drive the truck in, but he wouldn't do it. Can't hurt to ask. We'll be back on a drier day to visit Colvin and Blake.
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