chapter 573

11/19/2020

Ampersand Mountain

& north & country

link to 2020 Ampersand Mountain 32 pics

For my 75th Birthday we thought it would be fun to struggle up Ampersand Mountain. The hard part was the long steep ice covered trail. Otherwise it just a 5.5 mile round trip 6 1/2 hour trek that this guy calls the Queen of the Saranac Six. It's a 1800 foot elevation gain to the summit at 3353 feet. We reached the bare rock top but the 40-50 mph estimated wind speed was just on the verge of blowing me over on my then weary legs. Not wanting to suffer any broken bones for either of us, we went back down to beat darkness. A couple young guys were just beginning to head up an hour before sunset; have no idea what their outcome would be but I'd guess they would not make it very far.

In her rush of packing Colleen neglected to include her more aggressive microspikes. I hope she learned a lesson here, a hiker has got to depend on and have faith in her equipment. She coped but had to take some alternate foot placement techniques.

Here it's easy to take the lateral switchback traverse technique minimizing the incremental vertical lift up past the icicle waterfalls which is the trail itself.

Closer to the top there are a couple spots where it is unavoidable, you have to go vertical awkwardly about 7 feet in one bite. Luckily there are some Birch tree roots to grasp onto. Met a guy from Long Lake going thru this section with his small but mighty little black one foot long doggie "Dacks", he had to place him on top of this notch. Dacks was scared of the wind at the summit and they only stayed there for one minute.

Then there are some squeeze situations between the massive granite boulder and outcroppings.

I'm not showing the easier first mile or so of trail, it's the second half of the vertical that makes all the difference. Neither of us wanted to say it out loud, but there was a little trepidation at the thought of "we gotta make it back down too".

It may look pleasant here near the top but mountaintops always have more wind and on this day high winds were forecast and realized. 

Life is a Struggle. No risk, no reward. We often take the easy boring paths but this was a special worthwhile occasion.

We were the first people to stay at the brand new Saranac Waterfront Lodge which just did a soft opening. Baker Mountain in the background from last February's Chapter 550.

There were only 4 other couples staying there but they are sold out for Thanksgiving week, 30 or 40 of the allowable rooms of their total of 90.

Also visited Specialty Wood Products in Bloomingdale a terrific sawmill to get some Adirondack style wood products. Since Grandpa and Dad both were involved with sawmills I had to visit. 

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