Are you the supervisor? I’d like to talk to the supervisor, please. My identify is Karen, and I actually need to complain in regards to the Deer Brook Path. How are you going to even name this a path? I broke the heel on one in every of my Jimmy Choos. My Kate Spade bag is roofed with mud. I need a refund.
After the warmth wave earlier within the week, we anticipated numerous quantities of rain on daily basis within the Tri-Lakes. Friday seemed like essentially the most benign climate, so I drove to Keene Valley with Snow Mountain and the Rooster Comb in my sights. As I descended Route 73 into Keene, rain got here down like water from a bucket.
I’d handed two dozen triathletes coaching on the bike route of the Lake Placid Ironman on this deluge, so I saved driving. Simply previous the Snow Goose Mattress and Breakfast, the rain abated as I parked the Lucky Son.
I stuffed two hats, a fleece vest, and different objects into my pack. It might sound extreme for summer time solstice, however I received rattling close to hypothermic on Santanoni over July 4th weekend some a long time in the past. Higher protected than sorry.
I shrugged into my hydration pack. A small inexperienced and white signal denotes the Deer Brook path to Snow Mountain and elsewhere. Crossing Route 73, I hopped the guard rail and went into the woods.
Fifty toes in, an indication admonished hikers to remain on the path. A lot of the Deer Brook path is traversed through an easement throughout non-public property. The following signal, Tough Path, is the understatement of the yr. The primary half mile took half-hour to finish. Strolling on the sting of the brook, and in some locations in the midst of the brook, on steep pitches.
On one part, I clambered over boulders the dimensions of Subarus. Moist, moss-covered rock. Not nice footing. As your third grade instructor would possibly ask, is that a sensible choice? Anyway, the stiff vertical needs to be good preparation for July’s Whiteface Sky Race. I continued uphill, crisscrossing Deer Brook a number of instances.
The advantage of a Friday hike with intermittent rain on an obscure path is solitude. I didn’t see one other soul on the entire tour. The path ramped up steeply till it intersected with an previous highway. I handed a flip for Decrease Wolfjaw, one of many 46 Excessive Peaks, and one other for the path head in Saint Huberts. Rain resumed, however I remained undeterred. After one other mile, there was the flip for Snow Mountain.
At 2360 toes, Snow Mountain is merely a bump on this a part of the Adirondacks. However I’d by no means been on it… certainly, earlier than this hike I hadn’t tried the Deer Brook path both. I veered off the primary path for the 0.3 mile ramble to the summit of Snow. The ultimate little bit of the climb concerned scrambling up some spectacular rock ledges.
The summit was largely tree coated, and low cloud cowl obscured a lot of the panorama. I received an honest {photograph} of Rooster Comb from an open ledge. As I ready to descend, rain resumed. The rock steps that had demanded scrambling required rather more circumspect descent. Decaying knee cartilage, being a card carrying member of AARP, extreme warning since I used to be solo… regardless of the purpose, any ledge with greater than an eight inch drop required a very long time to navigate.
I returned to the junction and because the path adopted a contour line, I ran to the subsequent intersection. Right here, my decisions have been Rooster Comb or descend to the path head by Keene Valley village. Did I would like Rooster Comb unhealthy sufficient to commit an extra 80 minutes?
I’d been on it as soon as earlier than, and in the long run, I made a decision I didn’t. I dropped in to the descent to Route 73, and the 1.5 mile run again to my automotive. The technical bits on the Deer Brook path had been nasty sufficient going up that I didn’t belief myself to get down them safely. Street working sucks, damaged bones suck worse.
After benign, non-technical days on Jenkins and Saint Regis mountains, Snow was a get up name to the realities of strolling within the Excessive Peaks. And to get in a extremely huge day, I have to get out of the home earlier. All in, a worthwhile journey on terrain that I hadn’t beforehand traveled.
