Owl Head to Owls Head
Owls Head in Keene easily beats the Owl Head in Elizabethtown for vistas, but the latter has a better hike.
Sean Carpenter – Photographs and Work
Personal Photography and Work
Owls Head in Keene easily beats the Owl Head in Elizabethtown for vistas, but the latter has a better hike.
Round Mountain’s summit, thankfully, is gorgeous. Dominated by the perfectly-shaped Noonmark, the Great Range extends to the West and the Dix Range to the South.
We had previously hiked Mount Skylight in 2012, the year we started tackling the 46 High Peaks in earnest. It was our hardest hike. Ever since, we have been looking to go back. This hike was our primary target for 2015. Then we both got injured. Well, so what?
The climb up Rooster Comb from the eponymous trailhead is straightforward and over soft forest for almost the entire way. Sporting a few switchbacks, it is still steep enough to get the blood flowing – in all, a decent day hike.
Back in 2012, we hiked Sawteeth in conjunction with Gothics in our first Adirondack traverse. Gothics was the star of that hike, with its (in)famous cable route and sprawling vistas. Sawteeth was a half-mile out-and-back-again tacked on somewhat as an afterthought.
Today our late hike was an absolute gem, with dramatic clouds and “our mountain” – Mount Colden – the highlight of the view.
The forecast on our final day in the Adirondacks called for afternoon thunderstorms. While we had considered Cascade Mountain or even Dial Mountain as nice easy hikes, the overcast skies led themselves more towards waterfalls…
Wright Peak is a slightly lower summit on the way up to the popular Algonquin Peak in the MacIntyre Range. Looking for another relaxing day (and having summited Algonquin twice previously) it was chilly as we started, but not nearly as cold as the previous day.
Our first time up Phelps, we climbed the north side of the mountain to a socked-in and windy summit. This time, we took the marked trail from Marcy Dam and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.
I hiked about 20.1 miles, gaining 7,200 vertical feet over 8 mountains. It wasn’t quite a full Great Range Traverse, but I got to hike some new trails and re-summit some of the most picturesque summits in the Adirondacks. It was a good day.
One of the best views we never saw in our initial round of Adirondack 46 was Big Slide Mountain.
We had accomplished a goal set 5 years prior, through adversity and joy, in a simply perfect day for hiking in these beautiful Adirondack mountains.
Our penultimate peak would be 4,120-foot Seymour Mountain, the last in the Seward Range.
After two long days of hiking, we enjoyed having a day for a relaxing hike with friends & family.