Porter Mountain, Sunday, April 28, 2013, Adirondack Park

Porter Mountain Summit, with Cascade Peak in Distance

Most people who climb Cascade Mountain take the short, 7/10th of a mile trail over to Porter Mountain, thus allowing them to bag a couple peaks in one trip. I decided to do it the hard way. It turned out to be a wise decision, since it gave me the chance to experience a pretty cool - and seemingly lesser-used trail - to Porter from the "Garden" in Keene Valley. I encountered not a single hiker the whole day. What a difference a day makes.

I set out extra early and arrived at the Garden at 6:15 AM sharp. Only a couple cars in the parking lot... always a good sign. By 6:30, I was off on trail 16 to Little Porter and Porter Mountain. Recently rerouted away from private lands, the trail heads up over a small ridge and then down to a very picturesque crossing of Slide Brook. From there, it is uphill via long gradual switchbacks, past an old sugar shack, and up to Little Porter. A hand over hand scramble up a large boulder affords a great lunch spot for the day trekker with amazing views into the Keene Valley.

Summit Rocks, Little Porter

No time for that. I continued on and found the next stretch, which runs through new growth that came up following a forest fire, to be pretty confusing. Due to the snow melt, the trail became a stream for much of this section. Plenty of blow downs, including several trees with trail markers, made it hard to follow the trail at points. Snow bridges over streams also posed a problem, and signs of people post-holing into them were frequent.

Once arriving at the ridge trail leading to the summit, I found snow and ice and needed the spikes for added stability. I arrived at the summit at 8:45 AM, and enjoyed a full 1/2 hour in the warm morning sunshine. The peak offers 360 views, including a direct sightline northwest to the summit of Cascade, where we had been the day before.

Back to the Garden by 11:00 AM, leaving plenty of time for an afternoon hike with K at the Silver Lake Bog Preserve and Bluff Trail.

Peak: Porter Mountain
Elevation: 4,059 feet (Gain: 2,700)
Distance: 7.6 miles, up and back
Conditions: Sunny, 60 degrees F

Cascade Mountain, Saturday, April 27, 2013, Eastern High Peaks, Adirondack Park

Round Lake, from Cascade Mountain Summit

Many guidebooks label Cascade Mountain as the "easiest" peak on the Adirondack 46er list. Maybe. But on April 27, 2013 - one of the first warm spring days in the ADKs this year - that "easy" designation drew tons of hikers unprepared for the conditions.

Split to Cascade Summit

Predicting the crowds, K and I hit the trail early, around 7:30 AM, and happily found only one car in the parking lot for Trail 90 from Cascade Lades. An interesting older gentleman, who was heading up Pitchoff, warned us about hidden ice patches that had caught him off guard the day before. But we had micros and yak trax in our packs. No worries there.

Bald Summit, Cascade Mountain

The trail to Cascade is very short, only two miles, but quite steep. At this time of year, it was covered in mud and lingering ice and snow patches. Fortunately, we had the entire trail to ourselves on the ascent - encountering not a single hiker before reaching the open ledge below the summit that proved to be a perfect lunch spot. The only thing that broke our morning solitude was an odd, undecipherable sound - kind of like a motor starting. We never could trace its source.

New Sporks

From our lunch spot, it was only a quick climb up the the summit rocks. Indeed, the summit experience is the attraction of this hike for most. A bald, open summit offers complete 360 degree views. Pretty amazing on a clear sunny day.

Panorama of Lunch Ledge, Below Cascade Summit

The descent, however, was a different experience. We encountered a steady stream of people - I counted well over 60. Many were worrying aloud if they would get their white tennis shoes muddy. Others asked us "is the top much farther?" Still others were slipping and sliding on the ice patches. We stopped again and again to allow groups, couples, and individuals to pass us on their way to the summit "party" up top.

Good to see so many people enjoying the out of doors. Just a few too many for our liking.

I think we'll call this one "turnpike trail" from now on.

Peak: Cascade Mountain
Elevation: 4,098 feet (Gain: 1,940 feet)
Distance: 4.2 miles, up and back
Conditions: Sunny, 60 degrees F