2010

Saturday (Urban) Hike

Photos by trip leader Carol

Usually we are wandering around in the woods, but occasionally we do something different. Today, 16 hardy hikers spent 2 hours wandering around downtown Rochester and nearby. We peered into the old canal aqueduct and noted interesting historical architecture. Since there had been heavy precipitation the previous week, the Genesee River was full and roiling, helping us imagine the potential power of the River before the Mt. Morris dam was built. At the High Falls overlook we found a new-to-us observation deck with a see-through grate deck. On the way back we passed through the Corn Hill neighborhood, admiring the beautiful old houses.

Trip leader -- Carol

First Annual Trip Leaders Recognition Dinner

By Mary Norman

Approximately 40 ADK-GVC trip leaders gathered at the King's Bend Park North Lodge for the first annual Trip Leaders' Recognition Dinner. Some of the attendees have been leading trips since the 1970s while others recently volunteered to lead during the 2010 season; regardless, our chapter could not be more appreciative of these leaders' efforts! What a great, dynamic, and diverse group; it was very gratifying to see folks who we normally only see on the trail in a relaxed social setting and it was also an opportunity to put a face with some of the names that we have only seen in print! A special thanks to Bob Krenzer, Rich Sensabaugh, Anne Bohan, Nancy Donny, and Charlie Helman for helping us set up and clean up--and make that urgent last-minute trip to Wegmans! We are especially happy that Erv Tschanz, who leads the annual winter backpacking training, agreed to be our keynote speaker and give us an insider's view of some of the hidden hiking gems in the Finger Lakes, Southern Tier, and Pennsylvania area. Kudos also goes to Carter Thomas, Charlie Helman, Larry Telle, and Joanne Mitchell for helping us recognize the people who keep the Younger Members Committee, Waterways, and Saturday and Sunday Hikes alive and kicking. We hope this dinner turns into an annual event to honor those that do so much for the rest of us by planning, organizing and leading events throughout the year.

Our thanks to ALL of our trip leaders, whether or not they were able to attend, for their dedication and contributions. 2010 was a great year and we're looking forward to 2011!

High Tor, Naples, NY

Younger Members and Trails ganged up for an awesome hike through High Tor in Naples Sunday, October 17. The hike took about two hours, and the round trip from Perinton was another two. Many thanks to Mary and Carter for bringing the two groups together for this! Also, special thanks to Bob Krenzer who helped Mary scout the trail twice this summer and acted as our fearless leader on the trail--making sure we all took the right turns up and down the hill.

Foliage and spirits were at their peak, with 26 human hikers and three well-behaved dogs. This was the first hike for a handful of new, inactive and potential members, and they all mingled right in with active members. The weather was perfect, too! Mostly sunny with spotty clouds, a bit cool and breezy, which was very comfortable for a hike.

In addition to a few hawks, we crossed paths with a giant slug named Bob, and a hitchhiking caterpillar.

After the hike, eight of us met for lunch at the Pittsford Pub. Everyone else perished.

Trip leaders - David Schott and Carter Danforth (YM), Mary Norman (Trails)

Northville-Placid Backpack

Photos by Jim Lueining

By Judy Pitoni

The ADK Genesee Chapter sponsored a 30 mile hike on the Northville-Placid trail the last weekend in September that I was fortunate enough to participate in. The section between Wakely Dam and Piseco is very remote with the midpoint being 16 mile from civilization in any direction, and did I say BEAUTIFUL! We traversed a string of pristine lakes known as the West Canada Lakes with beaver dams, wildlife, gorgeous views, serenity, and well cared for trails and lean-tos.

From Wakely Dam we hiked into Carry lean-to and because it was early afternoon we decided to hike further to the Cedar Lakes lean-to #1 (a grand total of 9.7 miles for our first day) and settled in at 6pm. The site sat atop of a hill a short distance from the waters edge – we soaked our hot feet as we looked at great fall foliage. We had the first of our warm fires, listened to great past hiking stories and the calling of the loons! We also followed moose tracks big and small between Carry lean-to and Cedar Lake lean- to.

The next day we hiked from Cedar Lakes lean-to to the South Lake lean-to, approximately 7 rough miles, the trail definitely had more ups and downs than the previous day. It was a warm for this time of year which turned out to be a good thing. We checked out camp sites and lean-tos along the way and about midpoint met three young men who advised us that the bridge across Mud creek that had been intact last month was now washed out but they had managed to cross on a log upstream. We ran into another backpacker who gave us his perspection on crossing and made it sound easy. Hah, it was a tricky one. The water was 3-4 feet deep, moving swiftly, and 12 feet across. There was only one log over the water with not much to hang onto until you got past the middle, then it was a leap to shore (a little tricky with a heavy backpack shifting your weight). After a "trail blazer test crossing" some people walked the log, some waded through the creek. This is where the warm day came in handy because it's no fun to be soaked to the waist when it's cold! We had lunch at the water's edge after we bush whacked our way back to the trail. Again we checked out other lean-tos before crossing the wide bridge to the South Lake. Another great campfire, stories, no loons, rumbling thunder to the north, and winds that picked up and persisted all night with a noticeable temperature drop. We woke to even more beautiful fall foliage catching the sun on the west side of the lake. We chased our gear from the clothesline that had blown away during the night, nursed our feet and hit the trail again.

Saturday's weather was cooler and better suited to hiking. We started out with layers but were soon shedding them as we headed toward the Jessup River camp site 9 miles away. The day was uneventful and we made camp with everyone tenting in the woods on the banks of the river. We found an even more attractive campsite over the hill to the East but no one was moving! We had another nice fire, lots of mosquitoes, and again (some of us) soaked our hot feet in the river.

Sunday, we tended to our blisters in the morning, thanks to our trail doctor, and set off to for Piseco and our cars. The miles went by quickly; the trail was relatively flat crossing the Piseco Airport cross country ski loop before reaching the parking lot. We collected our cars from both ends of the trail, lunched at the Ox-Bow Inn and celebrated our accomplishments before heading back to the city.

Our group was very diverse; we had a gourmet chef, a great story teller, a medicine man, a scout leader, someone who completed his N-P trail on this segment, a photographer who captured the memories, a creek trail blazer, and a strong hiker who graciously battled a cold.

Many thanks to Sue Sciortino, our group leader who made this trip possible, she did an outstanding job! She scouted the route, parking, and familiarized herself with the trails, which made us all confident and able to thoroughly enjoy our trip. Kudos.

Participants: Dave, Jim, Chuck, Tony, Judy, Brenda, Pete

Trip Leaders - Sue Sciortino, Jim Luening

Adirondack High Peaks

We celebrated nearing the end of a great summer with the second Younger Members' backpacking trip of the season. Getting off to a rocky start with a near collapse of meeting place at the "Eastview Mall Park 'n' Ride" (which, it turns out, is posted near L.L. Bean) foreshadowed the climbs on the days that would follow. Leaving the city and work behind on Friday afternoon, we set up our first camp of the long weekend at the Sharp Bridge State Campground at around midnight. Rorschach demonstrated his excitement with the new surroundings with the expeditious execution of a certain ritual common to his type. The predicted rains we had readied for never came and the said ritual endured on my shoe.

With two cars, we left one at the trailhead on the north side of Giant Mountain, and the other- with beverages – by Chapel Pond where the descent from Giant meets the ascent to Dix Mountain via Round Pond. Our hike on Saturday was pleasant and leisure-filled, as we made our way through the seldom traveled north side of the Giant Mountain wilderness area. The Owl Head lookout offered us an impressive view of Giant, as well as the Green Mountain range off to the East. We got very lucky and were able to claim the lean-to for ourselves as the much anticipated light rain started in the evening. It continued sporadically into Sunday, as we carried everything up to the summit of Giant. 39 degree temperatures and a surreal experience of dense clouds obscuring and then parting to reveal a view made the summit memorable.

Two hours later, with the sun out, some of us were feeling warm enough once again to bathe in the "Washbowl" of the giants along the crowded trail which descends the South side of Giant. We all envied the adoration Rorschach received from other hikers, and decided it must have been for the lavender-hued bedroll he proudly carried on his pack. We were still feeling good by the time we crossed rt-73 and started back up again to swim in Round Pond. The water here was notably warmer than in the "Washbowl". The Bouquet River lean-to was practically a small village, and we were able to find an area just big enough to set up our four tents. Tofu-soba-curry for dinner was a big hit according to everyone; except for Rorschach who hadn't requested dinner beforehand, changed his mind, and then decided noodles were not to his liking.

We left camp up, and set out with light bags for the summit of Dix. The trail was steep and rocky- good thing we had decided against leaving a car at Elk Lake! Superb views from the top provided the inspiration for more adventures.

Participants - Andrea, David, Eric, Eric, Jesse, Tess and Rorschach

Trip leader - Eric Boxer

High Peaks Challenge

Our group set out on Friday morning for the Keene Valley, arriving mid-afternoon. We rented an ADK club leanto by Johns Brook Lodge which worked out very nicely. Saturday morning we awoke to temperatures in the 30s but the mercury creeped up a little as we began our day. Saturday's goals were 5 peaks; Basin, Saddleback, Gothics, Armstrong, and Upper Wolfjaw. With the temperature in the 60s all day and sunny skies, we had perfect conditions. So good that several of us tacked on Lower Wolfjaw for a total of 6 peaks. With lower Wolfjaw, it was about a 13 hour day. Everyone slept well that night. Sunday, we headed out for a brunch in town and back home.

Trip leader - Jim Luening

Colvin, Nippletop and Dial

Will Soles, Patrick Rault and Eric Boxer set out on a Friday morning and headed to the hills for the first Younger Members' backpack in "a while". An unexpectedly delicious lunch stopover in Holland Patent at Grande's is highly recommended for future trips. Our plan had been to camp near the Ausable Club trailhead, and we agreed that Round Pond looked ideal. The Round Pond camp thus became a mini-backpack as we started out at about 6pm from the car with light packs for one night. Once at camp, we each got the idea to go for a swim in the beckoning waters of Round Pond. We quickly realized that swimming in round pond would require walking out about a hundred feet before the water was waist deep. Definitely worth it. Great campsite.

On Saturday morning, we headed up the road two miles to the Ausable trailhead, loaded up packs again, and started up the Ausable River, hitting several waterfalls along the way to the Indian Head lookout. It's hard to describe how awe-inspiring this view is, but let's just say it's one of the great places in the state to take it in.

After setting up camp near Gill Brook, we decided we had enough energy to continue up with light packs to Mt Colvin. We hiked part of the way to Colvin with a group of young campers, most of whom were climbing their first peak. It was fun to share that experience with them and see how much a bunch on city kids with no experience were capable of, but also a little painful to see the inexperienced counselors growing frustrated. Hiking up Gill brook again in the morning, this time with full packs, was slightly more difficult than the day before. This was compounded by our 730 am start from camp extra water weight after a rainy night. We reached Elk Pass shortly, and then made the arduous ascent of Nippletop, where we were the first to summit that day. We had been expecting a slightly different form of the summit, but it was explained that it gets its name from the view at Elk Lake.

The trail down the ridge to Dial didn't look promising for views and we began to think that Dial was just named because someone wanted the recognition. The views and napping potential of the summit block on Dial were a pleasant surprise to us then, even if not well distinguished by elevation. We completed the loop hiking out over Bears Den mtn and the Noonmark shoulder back to the golf course.

After a long day of hiking, we made it down to the Noonmark Diner by 4pm for outdoor BBQ on the back deck where the 19th hole had been waiting all along.

Trip leader - Will Soles

Catskill Park Sampler

By Joe Roth

On Friday afternoon Margaret O'Keefe, Eric Oogjen, Shannon Pattison and Joe Roth met at the Bushnell's Basin park and ride to carpool to the Catskills. We caught the start of the camping season and were forced to camp outside the park near Saugerties. No problem, as long as we had hot showers!

The hiking Saturday and Sunday was about the same for distance and elevation: 7.5 miles and 2500 feet respectively. We climbed Thomas Cole, Black Dome and Blackhead one day; Indian Head and Twin the other. Each day's weather was the same: high 80's and humid. We ducked the thunderstorms that cruised by, so it was dry hiking and dry camping. Yippee!

The campground had Wi-Fi, so we could Google the restaurants and brew pubs the area had to offer. The beer was tasty, but the real surprise was the cactus sauce at El Rancho restaurant.

The trip description promised no black flies. Indeed that was the case. But it did not promise no house flies. There were clouds of those critters on all the sunny spots near the tops of the mountains. They were never a problem, but one always wonders with buzzing on summer hikes.

The other "animal" story involved an attack turkey. Here is how Shannon recorded the event:

"It seemed like a harmless day of mountaineering. Up in the peaks of the Catskills, we trudged down a path unaware of the menace lurking ahead with her brood. One of our companion mountaineers wandered from the safety of our small group, and forged ahead on the trail alone. Shortly after she disappeared from sight, we were all startled when she came running back yelling, "A TURKEY'S ATTACKING ME!" For a brief moment, I thought this might be somehow related to our conversation about Geodon the previous evening (a whole other story). A moment later, the terrible meaning of those words were revealed when a fierce ruffed grouse came charging in our direction. With her feathers ruffled and her beak sharp and menacing, she clearly intended to peck our eyes out! It was shear luck when the fowl menace became unnerved by our numbers. She veered off the path and ran along our flank as our shocked looks thwarted her attack. Once again, we had survived yet another day of perilous mountaineering in the magnificent Catskill Mountains. Beware of the menacing ruffed grouse!

Before driving home Sunday we took a cool dip at the Big Deep, a natural swimming hole created by a gravel dam on the Saw Kill near Woodstock. It was a fitting end to a good sampling of what the park had to offer.

ADK Outdoor Expo

Dix Range - Photos by Reinhard Gsellmeier and James Fetten