Climbing Log: Mt. Redfield & Cliff Mtn.

Mountains Climbed: Mt. Redfield and Cliff Mtn.
Date of Hike: Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
Hikers: Seth C. Burgess, Adam C. Chapin, Tanner W. Burgess (People: 2, Dogs: 1)

Trail Conditions: Frozen mud, ice patches on rock at higher elevation.

Comments: We arrived at the Upper Works parking lot late Tues. afternoon and hit the trail shortly thereafter, at 16:40. Having to do the second half of our hiking in the dark, we reached Calamity Lean-to No. 1 around 20:00. I imagine this 4.7 mi. section usually does not take 3 hrs. to do in full daylight. There is a new re-route along Calamity Brook that must be about 1 mile long or so--nicely done and soft on the feet.

Wed. morning we awoke after a good night’s sleep and hit the trail at 08:40. The overnight temperature dropped below freezing, but probably not by much. Adam and I were comfortabele in our sleeping bags in the Lean-to; I set up a small 1-man tent for Tanner (Golden Retriever) to sleep in to help reflect his body heat a bit. The tent seemed to help Tanner as most of the water that collected on him from wading through streams etc. had evaporated by morning. Next cold weather backpacking trip I’ll bring a ground pad for him, also.

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Climbing Log: Seward Mountain

Mountains Climbed: Seward Mountain
Date of Hike: Saturday, 21 November 2009
Hikers: Seth C. Burgess, Adam C. Chapin, Jessica L. Burgess, Tanner W. Burgess, Zach Hussion

Trail Conditions: Muddy. Some ice on rock near Seward's summit. Did I mention Muddy?

Comments: Our group left Wayne County, NY on Fri. night (20-Nov-09) and drove partway to the High Peaks, stopping for the night at Adam's Camp on the Independence River. We had plans for a meal on the drive so instead of shooting up I-81 N as we might otherwise have, we broke over toward Rome and stopped just north of it at Okey Dokey's Restaurant for some Friday Night Fish Fry. This was our 2nd time at Okey Dokey's as we had stopped there on our "Santanoni Revenge" trip in March 2009. At Okey Dokey's we were intrigued to find "Buffalo Haddock" on the menu--a fried haddock filet smothered in Buffalo wing sauce and served with a bleu cheese dip. Delicious! We watched the 2nd half of the Syracuse vs. North Carolina men's college basketball game there and SU was victorious in a move that would push them up in the national polls.

We continued up Rt. 12 into Lowville, stopping at the Walmart there for breakfast food and a Sam Adams winter pack. A short drive to Adam's Camp from there, we settled our gear indoors while Adam started poking his fingers around in the high-voltage electric box on the power pole in order to get the lights & heat to stay on. We stayed up altogether too late, although the Sam Adams was enjoyed (except for the Cranberry Lambic).

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Climbing Log: Wright, Algonquin, Iroquois

Mountains Climbed: Wright Peak, Algonquin Peak, and Iroquois Peak
Date of Hike: Friday, 23 October 2009
Hikers: Seth C. Burgess, James Zeger, Tanner W. Burgess

Trail Conditions: Icy wet, muddy

Comments: We left the parking area at the High Peaks Information Center (HPIC) on Adirondack Loj Rd. ($3 ADK member parking fee) shortly after 0800. The trail was mostly dry and soft walking up to the Whales Tail ski trail. From there, the trail became increasingly frosty and eventually icy. We barebooted nearly all the way to the split for Wright Peak's summit trail before strapping on our Stabilicers.

Frosty Trail

The ice on the rocky trail was the type that had frozen the night before and was melting underneath--so that a good strong step with Stabilicers might break free a chunk of ice which would then slip on the watery rock surface beneath. Tricky situation.

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Climbing Log: Santanoni, Couchsachraga, and Panther

Mountains Climbed: Santanoni Peak, Couchsachraga Peak, Panther Peak
Date of Hike: Saturday, March 7th, 2009
Hikers: Seth C. Burgess, Adam C. Chapin, Jessica L. Burgess, Tanner W. Burgess

Trail Conditions: Ice on road, hardpack on Blue Trail on way in, powder after crossing Santanoni Brook, rainy wetpack on the way out

Comments: Spent the night in Long Lake on Friday 6 March in order to be able to get an early start out of Upper Works the next day. We needed pet-friendly Adirondack accommodations and made arrangements for a room at the Shamrock Motel--we arrived late after having grabbed dinner at Okey Dokey's in Floyd, New York.

Sign for Okey Dokey's Restaurant

The next morning we made the short drive to Upper Works and unloaded from my Av into the Santanoni trailhead parking a few minutes shy of 0800. We skied the 1.8 miles in on the private road until we caught the junction with the Blue Trail, followed by the rising sun. The road was the iciest stretch of the day.

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Climbing Log: Mt. Donaldson and Mt. Emmons

Mountains Climbed: Mt. Donaldson, Mt. Emmons
Date of Hike: Saturday, October 18th, 2008
Hikers: Seth C. Burgess, Jessica L. Burgess, Adam C. Chapin, Colleen E. DeCracker, Terry Monje, Tanner Burgess

Trail Conditions: Dry, some ice on ridge

Comments: A group of 5 people and 1 dog. We started from the Seward Range trailhead off Corey's Rd. and were planning on camping at the closest lean-to to go for Seward on Sat. and then Seymour on Sun. A group of returning hikers were so enthusiastic about the trip they had just done up the Calkins Brook herd path that we changed our minds to mimic their trip.

8:27:48 AM - Grizzly Adams leading the pack

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Climbing Log: Allen Mtn.

Mountains Climbed: Allen Mtn. (4,340')
Date of Hike: Thursday, February 26th, 2009
Hikers: Seth C. Burgess, Adam C. Chapin

Trail Conditions: Layer of powder on hardpack, transitioning to wetpack

Comments: This long dayhike was a spur of the moment idea. At 2152 on 25 Feb 09, I sent my climbing partner, Grizzly Adams, a Gmail Chat message declaring Allen Mtn. as the destination. He replied, "give me an hour". We were on the road from Wayne County, NY at 0200 and on the trail in Upper Works at 0805.

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Climbing Log: Mt. Marcy & Mt. Skylight

Mountains Climbed: Mt. Marcy & Mt. Skylight 
Date of Hike: Friday, February 6th, 2009
Hikers: Seth C. Burgess, Adam C. Chapin

Trail Conditions: Crud & Powder, absolutely great for skiing & snowshoeing

Comments: Started out from ADK Loj parking area a little after 1300 on Thurs. 5 Feb 09. We skied with full packs to the Beaver Point Lean-to on the south end of Lake Colden via Avalanche Pass--a challenging task with quite a bit of uphill climb prior to reaching the Pass. We met about 5-7 others on the trail, no one seeming to have attempted any summits that day.

Fullpack skiing across Marcy Pond

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Climbing Log: Wright Peak

Mountains Climbed: Wright Peak
Date of Hike: Sunday, December 28th, 2008
Hikers: Seth C. Burgess, Jessica L. Burgess, Adam C. Chapin, Joseph P. Burgess, Brendan Eckner

Trail Conditions: Icy, extreme wind on summit

Comments: Started out from ADK Loj around 1130 and made fast progress on the iced trail. Donned Stabilicers at the trailhead and never switched out for the rest of the hike. Fairly warm air for December, with mid-40s at the bottom ranging into the low-30s as we ascended toward the junction to Wright. The waterfall was running strong with all the snowmelt caused by the past few days' rain.

Grizzly Adams in front of waterfall

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