Panther Gorge is a singular zone deep within the Excessive Peak wilderness; it’s one of the crucial distant locations within the park, and for good purpose. Mendacity between the best peak within the state (Marcy) and the third highest (Haystack), the Gorge is in a world of its personal.
From The Backyard, it’s about 7.8 miles; the Loj is 7.5 miles, Elk Lake is about 9 miles, and Higher Works is 10.7 miles, and these are simply the distances to achieve the realm, with out together with exploration and a return to the trailhead. In case you’ve ever hiked Haystack or Marcy and regarded throughout in direction of the opposite’s peak, then you definately acquired a look of Panther Gorge.
Dropping hundreds of ft from the close by summits, the Gorge’s ground sits at 3400’ and is roughly 200 acres consisting of beaver ponds, massive talus fields, distant streams, and a trail-less alpine forest. The japanese and western sides of the void are flanked by cliffs that rise lots of of ft, a mountaineer’s quiet paradise.
This glacial valley has been surveyed by most of the Excessive Peak’s early explorers, together with Orson Phelps and Verplanck Colvin. Extra just lately, fashionable adventurers like Kevin “Mudrat” MacKenzie have made quite a few outings to the Gorge and written intensive studies of what he got here throughout, together with the Mount Marcy Cavern, one of many largest talus caves within the northeast. There are a pair landslides that stand up the edges of the mountains, and with fall rapidly approaching, I felt it was about time to do some exploring for myself.
Once I consider slides within the Adirondacks, I often think about Colden, Large, or Dix, every of which is plagued by virtually a dozen slides. Since I’ve climbed each main slide on every of these peaks, I have to look nearer to seek out alternatives seldom mentioned throughout the slide-climbing neighborhood.
That’s the place Marcy is available in. Marcy has solely two 4th class rated slides: a small, delicate slide dubbed “Grand Central” from backcountry skiers, and a large, mature slide rightfully dubbed the “Previous Slide.” Grand Central is on the smaller facet, rising up from Panther Gorge on the japanese facet of Marcy roughly 1,200 ft. It’s solely 50’ at its widest part.
However, Previous Slide lies on the southern facet of the mountain, 900 ft lengthy and virtually 2,000 ft broad. After mapping out a route to achieve each slides by way of the Gorge, we started our journey.
The trailhead at Elk Lake is a well-liked place to begin for hikers, particularly these trying to conquer the Dix Vary. The problem with this trailhead, additionally shared with the favored Backyard trailhead, is that the lot can solely maintain as much as a dozen vehicles. The overflow lot is over a 2 mile stroll away, so if you happen to don’t get there early sufficient then you definately’re including one other 4 miles onto your hike, particularly on a Saturday.
With that in thoughts, my youtuber good friend Brian, one other good friend and slide-climber Joe, and my brother and I met on the trailhead at 4am. The lot was already half full, probably with folks tenting within the backcountry. The automotive mentioned it was 40 levels but it surely felt rather a lot cooler. The sky was cloudless with a darkish sea stuffed with stars. It was the right circumstances to begin an extended day of climbing.
After a fast briefing on the day forward, we began down the path in direction of Marcy. We donned headlamps since we wouldn’t see the solar for one more 2 hours. The path cut up left and proper at a number of occasions in direction of different locations, however we remained on our slender path because it winded by the nonetheless forest.
Each stream that we crossed was dried up as New York and the remainder of the northeast is presently in a drought. This restriction on our water provide nervous us. Three miles into the hike, the path started to crawl uphill and crest a ridge. As soon as we dropped alongside the opposite facet, temperatures dropped considerably. We placed on our jackets and gloves because it felt like temps had been within the low thirties.
Step by step, the sky grew to become brighter and the solar rose at 6:30. Quickly after, we took a water break. One other half hour introduced us to the Panther Gorge lean-to, the place we sat down and took our first snack. Fortunately, Marcy Brook ran proper down the path from the lean-to, which had sufficient stream to fill us all up.
At this level, we had been 9 miles in and about to enter the southern finish of the Gorge. The brook was our direct lead into the guts of it, so we started to hop from rock-to-rock in direction of the north. The brook got here to a fork shortly after, the left path heading in direction of the col between Skylight and Marcy, and the correct path main us deeper into the Gorge.
With ease, we continued to rock-hop up the narrowing brook, climbing over timber and leaping to the financial institution when essential. Our first view of Haystack poked by the timber, its steep slope plagued by colourful foliage blended with darkish spruce. A lot of the foliage that surrounded us started to vary colours.
I seen among the timber had been reduce, by beavers. There have been a pair dams that crossed the brook, however as a result of low water ranges they didn’t actually block a lot of something. By means of the forest, I may see a gap to my left, so whereas we took a brief break I walked over to see what views it’d maintain.
As soon as I popped out onto the dry swamp, I used to be met with the immense East Face of Marcy. The cliffs and their pitches rose lots of of ft upwards into the oncoming daylight. To the north, I may barely make out Grand Central towards the treeline. My pleasure for the day was immediately reinvigorated, so after snapping a pair pictures we continued alongside the brook.
The water grew to become a trickle as we climbed in elevation. Checking his GPS watch, Brian introduced it was time to go away the brook and head west to seek out the drainage to the slide.
After a brief bushwhack, we got here throughout a meager path of rubble crammed with blowdown. We knew this to be Grand Central’s drainage, so we adopted its winding path because it started to steepen. Not lengthy after, it was a steep scramble proper beneath a ridge of cliffs. As we approached them, we may see an imposing characteristic earlier than us: Panther Gorge Falls.
The huge waterfall rises over 100 ft to the bottom of the slide. Sadly, we’ve been in such a drought, there was hardly a trickle coming down its overhanging partitions. Nonetheless, we sat in awe beneath the falls, taking the second to filter and drink our fill.
It was 8:30 am and the solar was effectively above Haystack at this level. After some debate, earlier than we venturing up in direction of the slide, we determined to unfold out and head north for a pair hundred ft in the hunt for the notorious Mount Marcy Cavern.
In response to studies, this cave has a big entrance and comprises over 440’ of passages inside, which might for certain be the most important cave system I’ve ever been in. The precise whereabouts to this cave aren’t shared anyplace on-line or in any e-book, solely basic factors of elevation and its proximity to Panther Gorge Falls, so discovering it might be no straightforward job.
Whereas the others stayed excessive beneath the mountain’s steep partitions, I dropped down a pair ft in elevation to discover. Nearly instantly, I got here throughout a big talus slope crammed with rocks the dimensions of small homes. As I rigorously stepped across the rocks to not fall between them, I peered down into some deep, darkish holes, reaching shut to twenty ft.
After we spent half-hour navigating across the talus, I may hear the others say they had been heading again to the falls to recuperate and proceed on our journey. I reluctantly additionally started to climb again up the dilapidated forest, whereas maintaining my eyes out for any massive openings within the earth. Though I discovered many smaller caves, some large enough to crawl into, none had been even near the dimensions of the Cavern primarily based on earlier studies. Thus, I’ll absolutely be again to the Gorge one other day in the hunt for this seemingly-mythological entity.
As soon as we met up again beneath the Falls, I spotted we had taken over an hour trying to find the cavern, for much longer than I had hoped. With Brian in lead, we hurriedly to bushwhack south of the falls up the steep slope to achieve the underside of the slide. What we thought was going to be a cake stroll was something however.
The slope was riddled with steep ledges and choices far too uncovered for consolation, so we backtracked to decide on a brand new path a number of occasions earlier than we had been lastly happy with our choice. Whereas nonetheless not straightforward, we scrambled up the rocky sides of the mountain, clinging onto branches and weeds as we made our approach upwards.
After bushwhacking by reasonably open woods for a pair minutes, we got here out onto the slide perhaps 50 ft above the highest of the waterfall. Haystack loomed excessive within the distance as we started to stroll up the timid rock. The slide was principally dry with easy anorthosite slabs fastened about.
Little did we all know that this might be essentially the most gratifying a part of Grand Central, as a result of after about 10 minutes of climbing, the slide shrank into brush because the vegetation had swallowed the trail forward. I pulled myself by the bushes and grass with anticipation of it opening up once more. Fortunately it did, however not what I anticipated. The slope of the slide elevated because it started to twist to the south, however what lay at our ft wasn’t slab however none aside from my arch-nemesis in terms of slide climbing: rubble.
As we had been scrambling over the grapefruit-sized boulders, Joe dislodged a large one above me. He shouted “rock” because it got here crashing down in my path. I lurched to the correct because it barely handed by me, tumbling all the way in which into the comb beneath till we didn’t see it anymore.
I don’t like climbing over rubble. Along with the bombs dropped from above, rubble strikes beneath your ft with virtually each step, as Brian put it “two steps ahead, one step again”. Exhausted, we pushed ahead to the highest of the slide, precisely 11 miles from after we began about 6 hours earlier. All of us agreed that the slide wasn’t the very best we’ve seen, but it surely was superb because it was solely a minor spotlight to the day’s journey.
After a a lot wanted lunch break, we had a fierce bushwhack forward of us, so into the timber we went. Our subsequent goal was to go over to the highest of the Previous Slide on the south facet of Marcy and descend again to the path. Based mostly on our GPS, we had roughly .3 miles of thick bushwhacking earlier than we reached the slide. Though we weren’t excessive sufficient in elevation to run into the impenetrable krummholz most frequently seen close to the summits of the peaks, the going was something however straightforward.
As we bushwhacked in a line, the particular person forward of you’ll disappear in the event that they acquired even 10 ft away from you, so we continuously known as out to one another to ensure we caught collectively. Loads of occasions the one possibility ahead was crawling on arms and knees, a sluggish however essential course of.
Inside quarter-hour, we had made our approach onto a ridge stuffed with cripplebrush the place we got a view of the summit. From right here, we started to go barely downhill heading in the right direction for the slide. To our shock, the woods started to open up a bit round 4650 ft. We had been in a position to quicken our tempo till reaching the highest of the Previous Slide, 45 minutes from after we left the highest of Grand Central. Our appetites grew throughout the strenuous ‘shwack, so we shook the pine needles out of our shirts and loved lunch with recent views of Skylight.
From what I’ve learn, this slide is aptly named because it’s theorized to be lots of of years outdated. There was vegetative development all the way in which all the way down to the underside, fortunately solely in clusters so we may nonetheless take pleasure in some rock to descend. Within the distance, by the haze, I may see Macomb Mountain with all of its rubble slides, an expedition I’ve deliberate for subsequent summer time.
Within the foreground, Pinnacle Ridge regarded just like the again of a disfigured dragon from our angle. Haystack sat to our left, and Skylight to our proper. We may even make out small figures transferring above the treeline heading in direction of the summits, and I puzzled if they might see us.
The temperatures had been now into the 60’s and a slight wind blew because the solar was excessive above us at this level. It was the right circumstances to sit down atop the slide and soak in our final views for the day earlier than the lengthy trek out.
Though it was solely midday, we had been anxious to get again to the trailhead as we had been all climbing the next day. We completed our lunch and commenced to stroll down the rock. The beginning of our descent was all flat slab not going exceeding 40 levels, but it surely didn’t trigger us any points because the floor had first rate grip. There have been a pair steep ridges in direction of the center of the slide that required us to crabwalk down.
The underside of the slide maintained the identical pitch as earlier than, and inside 10 minutes we reached the tip of the rock. Trying again up, I may see how far this slide stretched left and proper as we solely explored a small part of it. The following time I’m again, I plan to be on skis to take a look at extra of the terrain.
A brief bushwhack ensued till we reached the path simply above the Panther Gorge leanto from earlier within the day. The time was solely 12:30 however we had over a 9 mile hike again to the trailhead. Now that we had been touring within the mild, the path appeared to meander for for much longer below the colourful cover than it did at midnight.
Filled with electrolytes and gummy sweet, we nonetheless had numerous vitality, so our tempo was nothing in need of 3 miles per hour. Actually, after we solely had half a mile left to go, we determined to jog the remaining path to hurry issues up a bit. After practically 11.5 hours and 21 miles, we had been again on the car parking zone.
Trying again, though it was unlucky we didn’t discover the Cavern, being in Panther Gorge felt surreal. I do know that I’ll return to discover it extra!
