|
Click on the thumbnail to the left to see a map that shows a profile of
the first day's hike. Click on any of the thumbnails below to see larger
images.
|
|
We left Saranac Lake after breakfast and headed towards the mountains. We would start
our hike from the Adirondack Mountain Club's (ADK) facilities at Heart Lake.
Going east on SR 73 (SE of Lake Placid) we turned right (S) onto ADK Loj Road.
This picture was taken about a mile down the road, looking SW. We hiked in the
area encompassed by this picture.
|
|
The ADK High Peaks Information Center. There are restrooms, showers (out of
order when we started and ended our hike), trail foods/snacks,
and some ADK merchandise inside this building. The parking lot here probably holds
a hundred cars. This is where many people begin their hikes into the High Peaks Region.
|
|
Here we are in the parking lot, getting ready to head for the trailhead.
Each of us is carrying about 25-30 pounds of gear and food in our pack.
It was very warm and humid when we began our hike, in the upper 80s to low
90's.
|
|
At the trailhead hikers must sign-in on a trail register indicating
where they are planning to hike each day. This helps the rangers keep
track of people. Hikers were also required to fill out and
carry a backcountry permit (free). The permit is hanging from the sleeping pad
attached to Katie's backpack. We left the trailhead around 9:15.
|
|
This is Heart Lake. The ADK also has a facility here called the ADK Loj, which is
just west of Heart Lake. The Loj has private bedroom, bunkrooms, and cabins. It's
not exactly roughing it.
|
|
After leaving ADK property, we entered the High Peaks Wilderness Area. The High
Peaks Region of the Adirondack State Park contains all the peaks in the park
over 4000' in elevation as well as many other mountains.
|
|
The trail was easy going with plenty of foilage to shade us from the direct
sun that had been producing the high temperatures. At 10:30 we reached the
trail to Rocky Falls. The picture shows a portion of the falls with the
absolute perfect swimming hole! The water was about 4' deep, crystal clear,
and the riverbed was solid rock (good on the feet). It was too soon in our
hike to take a dip, so we just sat and ate a quick snack with our feet in the water.
|
|
After hiking for another hour and half we reached the junction where
the trail t-bones E before heading to Indian Pass or W to Scott & Wallface
Ponds. This picture was taken while looking straight S to Wallface Mountain.
This is the second highest vertical face east of the Mississippi (the highest is
Cannon Cliff in Franconia Notch in the White Mountains). The NW wall (on
the right in picture) rises nearly 1000 feet. We rested and ate lunch in a
clearing with this view in front of us, deciding which direction we would head.
|
|
We knew that we could head straight to Scott Pond, where we wanted to camp
that night, or hike up to see Indian Pass and Wallface from Summit Rock then
hike back to Scott Pond. We decided we had to see Wallface. The hike up to
Summit Rock took about an hour. As seen in the picture, a good deal of it
was straight up. We were really feeling the heat and humidity, but we had
left our packs back at the junction so we were moving at a lively pace.
|
|
Summit Rock is not the highest point in Indian Pass (the pass between
Wallface Mountain and the McIntyre Range) but the best view of Wallface
is supposed to be from Summit Rock. The picture doesn't do it justice.
Indian Pass is actually over a mile in length, with the steep face always
present. Being so close to the opposite wall of the pass we weren't
able to get descriptive picture of this awesome feature.
|
|
It took us an hour for the return hike to our packs and the trail to Scott
Pond. It was just before 4:00 when we headed up to Scott Pond. We thought
it would only take an hour to get to Scott Pond, but the relentless uphill
climb at the end of our first day on the trail took an hour and forty minutes!
We pitched our tent at the edge of the pond, ate dinner, studied the map and
guidebook for the next day... and quickly fell asleep.
|
