Heading for the Daks

[Teledancer]

Hay Folks
I'm heading for the Daks first week of Aug,
looking for suggestions for cheap places to camp (primitive tent sites,)
good "cheap" restaurants
plan to hike *Marcy* and, Whiteface
would like to hike something other than the tourist routs
Suggestions welcome!
will be crossing at Essex
Thanks TD

[samthaman]

NOONMARK DINER!!!

http://www.noonmarkdiner.com/

seriously, it's like half the reason I would go to the ADKS sometimes

[bristlecone]

ah the noonmark. It really is good. While you're at it, hike the restaurant's namesake for a spectacular view (and a way to work off the extra order of bacon that you just couldn't resist).

I seem to remember various unofficial little tentsites off rt. 73 between the rt 9 jct and st huberts, but it's been a while. And they were a bit highwayside.

As for hiking, slide heaven! There's a prominent slide on the south side of whiteface, easy to spot from the lake. Or skip that busy summit and head for the relative wilds of the dix range - start at elk lake, pass the summit trail, take the main drainage on the west face of dix, and take your pick of the big, long slides most of the way to the summit. Spectacular. For Marcy, approaching via elk lake to panther gorge, then shwacking up panther gorge to some itty bitty gully slides on the east side of marcy will definitely avoid the tourist route! If it's a clear viewing day, do the rocky peak ridge - giant traverse.

McMartin's "discover the high peaks" guide is worth it for revealing the extensive network of unofficial paths that lead to the "trailless" 46ers, tramped down by folks working on their lists.

[Affix Snow]

Free camping off of South Meadows Rd. which is off of Loj Rd. You can then take the truck trail into Marcy Dam and you are good to attack whatever else you want, Marcy included. Plus, it avoids the fee for parking at the HPIC.

I'll 2nd the Noonmark Diner.

If you are camping at South Meadows, head into Placid and try the Lake Placid Pub and Brewery. Great food and especially BEER! Downhill Grill is also good.

[yuckster]

Nice to know there are some places to eat in LP that aren't steak houses... we never really found any. ;)

I second the vote for Noonmark. Also very good is Baxter's in Keene on 9N

[StuckInJersey]

As far as hiking routes, the Gothics loop is a heck of a hike with some cool slides to hike up. You can bang it as a day loop or break it up by camping at either the Ore Bed Slide or Lower Wolfjaws Lean-to's. The best way is to park at the Garden (Keene Valley) which is a little drive from Placid but you can also hike it from LOJ area just need to add a couple more steps to your planning.
Nice views
http://www.techsourceconsultants.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/10038/normal_DSC_8654.jpg
Easy relatively flat Trails
http://www.techsourceconsultants.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/10038/normal_DSC_8642.jpg

[andyzee]

From what I've heard, Marcy ain't all that. I agree about the Gothics suggestion. I'll post a couple of more as well.

Peak: Gothics

Date(s) Hiked: October 16, 2007

Trails(s) Hiked: Blue trail to yellow and back to blue

Total Distance: 12.7 mile Loop

Difficulty: Medium-Difficult

Vertical: Approximately 3500 feet.

Conditions: 45-50 degrees and sunny.

Special Required Equipment: None

Trip Report: Well, really loving the Adirondacks, this is our third trip in a month. Two weeks ago we hiked Big Slide, this time we decided to try a different Adirondack peak, Gothics (10th highest peak in NY at 4736 feet).

Initially, as always, I plotted the course at home before starting out. This was supposed an 11.3-mile track, however I didn’t take into consideration how far the parking lot is from the actual trailhead, .7 miles. For anyone considering this hike, the parking lot is on Ausable road in Keene Valley, NY. Ausable Rd. begins and ends on RT 73, the parking lot is on the southern intersection of Ausable Rd and 73.

As a result of parking further away, the entire track came out to 12.7 miles. The first part was a fairly simple steady uphill, first on a paved rd for .7 miles and then an unpaved road for 2 miles. At the 2-mile mark you will see a sign for, Beaver Meadows Falls. You make the right on to this trail (Blue) and start the steady uphill hike to the falls which are approximately .5 mile up the trails, the falls are real nice, when we got there, there was a miniature rainbow going across the front of them.
http://killingtonaccess.com/cpg/albums/userpics/10002/normal_IMG_0325.jpg


Once you leave Beaver Meadow Falls the trail, you get back on the blue trail. After a little bit you come to a ladder that goes up some rocks, the climb is fairly simple and the uphill grade remains moderate until you get to about the 1.8 mile mark of the blue trail. After that it gets a bit steeper, nothing to bad, but steep. You get to a balance rock at about 2.5 miles:

http://killingtonaccess.com/cpg/albums/userpics/10002/normal_IMG_0341.jpg

After this we actually started finding snow:

http://killingtonaccess.com/cpg/albums/userpics/10002/normal_IMG_0347.jpg

And started hitting some rock scrambles up to the peak and along the ridge. The trip to the peak from the parking lot was approximately 5.75 miles. Once on top we were rewarded with some magnificent views of the High Peaks Range:

http://killingtonaccess.com/cpg/albums/userpics/10002/normal_IMG_0357.jpg



Near the peak, the trail turned from blue to yellow. Going back down we followed the yellow trail past the peak of Gothics and down to Pyramid Peak. This peak also had some magnificent views of the High Peaks Range, the lakes and the valley. Eventually the yellow trail turned back into a blue trail. Trip down was fairly steep and narrow with some rock scrambles. Near the bottom we ran into Rainbow falls:
http://killingtonaccess.com/cpg/albums/userpics/10002/normal_IMG_0391.jpg

t_ZL8D-47vo

Very impressive waterfall, I’m sorry we didn’t get to see it from the bottom. There was a trail going to the bottom of the falls, but it was getting late and I wasn’t sure how far it was to the falls. We eventually got to lower Ausable Lake and then took and nice flat smooth Lake Rd back to the car. Hike took us approximately 9 hours, overall it was an impressive hike with some great views.

[andyzee]

This one was my favorite, great hike:

Peak: Algonquin

Date(s) Hiked: September 17, 2007

Trails(s) Hiked: Blue trail to Yellow and back to Blue (Sorry, couldn’t find the names)

Total Distance: 11.5 miles Loop

Difficulty: Strenuous

Conditions: Perfect weather, some wet spots (and streams) on trails.

Special Required Equipment: Suggest a headlamp since this is a long hike and if you're not careful you may get stuck in the woods at night.

Trip Report: This was our first time in the Adirondacks and we loved the area. Initially we tried hiking this trail on Saturday when it rained most of the day, bad idea. There are plenty of rocks and it gets slippery. We did get in 7 miles on Saturday before turning back, so it was a nice warm up for this hike.

We started at 9am at the Adirondack Lodge near Heart Lake. The hike started nice and easy. At first I was concerned that we were going the wrong way since the first part of this trail was a bit of a downhill. For those not familiar with it, Algonquin is NY's second highest peak at 5115 feet. Wasn't long before the trail flattened out and then started going up hill. This is a very well maintained trail going up to Algonquin Peak. Before reaching Algonquin, you pass Wright Peak, the trail to Wright was fairly easy most of the way, then a short distance before
Wright you reach some good size rocks the required a scramble, nothing to bad though. Once we got past Wright, the trail got a bit tougher; it turned into mostly steep granite slabs (not something to do in the rain) and rocks. Once on top of Algonquin we were rewarded with some magnificent views of Whiteface, Lake Placid, Mt. Marcy, and the Adirondack Park, what a vast terrain of mountains this is. Also found some ice on top of Algonquin, pretty cool for someone that’s jonesing for winter!

We hung out on top of Algonquin for about an 45 minutes, took in the views, ate some, and relaxed before continuing on. Avalanche Lake and Pass seemed like a nice alternative to tracing our steps back, I always prefer a loop. It was a bit tough but by no means disappointing. Coming down Algonquin we found nothing but nice wide slabs on granite, steep but not at all too tough. We turned off that trail and onto the trail that would take us down to Avalanche Lake. Here we found a steep trail of rocks that was very narrow and continued on for close to two miles. There were parts were it got wider this was areas where there were streams and waterfalls J We crossed these a few times as the trail zigged zagged across the water, down the stream and in places the stream just ran down the trail.

Eventually were got to Avalanche Lake and were rewarded with some really beautiful scenery. A very tranquil lake with cliffs on either side. By now you would figure that we’re down at the bottom hiking back to the trailhead and that it would be nice and easy going back. Oh no, not on this hike. Here you hit some nice big boulders with ladders, steps and wooden walkways all along the lake. After the lake, you get to Avalanche Pass. Seems it got it’s name from trees falling off the cliffs. There had to be a good 20-30 foot pile of trees going into this pass. After that the trail did flatten a bit and thank God for that, Vee looked like she was ready to kill me, she’s a real trooper but not used to this kind of hike.

We started this hike at 9am and finished at 7:45pm, sunset was 7:05. It gets a little scary being stuck in the woods at night with no light and a partner that’s complaining that she tired and hurting. I just got done ordering a couple of headlamps on Amazon.com, we’ll be more prepared when we go again in two weeks. It was tough but we loved it. Vee said, it’s not for her, last time she’s doing that hike. Last night she was already agreeing to the next trip, damn, I love that gal! Here’s some pics and more can be found at: http://killingtonaccessrd.com/cpg/thumbnails.php?album=99

Algonquin is the highest peak in this pic, that's Wright Peak in front of it:
http://www.killingtonaccess.com/cpg/albums/userpics/10002/P9170143.JPG


A small watefall along the way:
http://www.killingtonaccess.com/cpg/albums/userpics/10002/P9170160.JPG

Me :) Whiteface in the background:
http://www.killingtonaccess.com/cpg/albums/userpics/10002/P9170197.JPG



Looking at Iroquois Peak:
http://www.killingtonaccess.com/cpg/albums/userpics/10002/P9170215.JPG


Trail coming down:
http://www.killingtonaccess.com/cpg/albums/userpics/10002/P9170220.JPG

Avalanche Pass:
http://www.killingtonaccess.com/cpg/albums/userpics/10002/P9170249.JPG

http://www.killingtonaccess.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=493&g2_serialNumber=1

[andyzee]

Another really good one with great views is Big Slide via the Brothers:

http://www.killingtonaccess.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=591&g2_serialNumber=1

http://www.killingtonaccess.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=647&g2_serialNumber=1

http://www.killingtonaccess.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=688&g2_serialNumber=1

http://www.killingtonaccess.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=691&g2_serialNumber=1

[Teledancer]

wow, thanks for tips! noonmark sounds like a must do!
as this is my first excursion into the park..... all info is priceless!
will post when I return.... marcy for sure then someplace else
Have been advised to avoid White Face by several folks, so probably
somethihg on the east side or..... paddling! (probably both)
have a great summer
TD

[wooley12]

Hike, schmike. My favorite ADK secret stash. 28 miles of coastline. 100+ foot sandy beach. Secluded island campsites. No tan lines camping (Maybe more than you wanted to know) 9.9 Evenrude acessable. FREE !!!

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_f2TfBe5Km1s/TE48OWlhIZI/AAAAAAAABQk/YIQAQJdnb_M/sunsetboat.jpg