Northeast Adventures :8-6-16
Blake Peak, Dial Mountain, Colvin and Nippletop #25-28.
After another adventure in Vermont I had found myself back in the Adirondacks before I knew it. Me and my best friend Simon headed up to the St Huberts parking lot for what would be another amazing hike. We headed down the all familiar wooden gate at the beginning of AMR lake road. The plan for this adventure was to tackle, Dial Mountain, Nippletop Mountain, and Blake and Colvin Mountain. This adventure includes a couple of bears(hope that grabs your attention). We walked on the very worn and beaten path sometimes opting for the grass as it was softer on our feet. We were just about to make it to the first junction when we saw a pair of hikers turn around in front of us. A father and his son turned around and looked very disappointed. The sons shoe sole had completely fallen off. They told us that there were gonna do the great range until that happened, better safe than sorry. After we talked for a bit we soon headed out on the HG leach trail. It was still early in the morning, it was a humid morning but the forest smelled fresh. Walking into spider webs was hard not to do. We soon made it to Bear den mountain, which had a nice view but no bears. The sun was starting to illuminate the ridge line and the paths in front of us. Up to this point we had been hiking with our head lamps on. The clouds still low, were just rolling over mountains like a wheels to a smooth bump.
We soon made it to Dial mountain, where we took our next break. The cloud coverage was very strong, but through openings in the clouds we got our views of the great range. It was such an impressive view leaving you speechless. After we took in the views we were soon on our way to the next destination. We soon found ourselves going for a while before we hit the junction leading to Nippletop mountain. We made the final push to the top, both energetic and hungry for a view we pushed on, roughly .2 miles later we made it to the top. We headed over to the vista/view point and were greeted with a wonder view of the great range and beyond. We took in the views while we enjoyed our break pointing out the mountains that we could name at the time. After our break we headed back down to the junction. Instead of heading the way we came we beared left down elk pass trail.
The next step would be Colvin and Blake sometimes also known as the elevator shaft. We started making our way down. Going downhill was nice for a change but that would soon change just as quickly as it started. We passed 2 primitive campsites. The sun was starting you shine down at us projecting very nice glares off of the lake that we were passing. Both campsites were packed, bear canisters were pretty close to their camps. Hopefully they didn’t get any bear visitors the previous night.. After a short trek we made it to the colvin/ gillbrook junction. From here it was straight up, we climbed a couple of short ledges, the knee to chest kind. We were soon starting to pass hikers along the way. We soon saw a lone backpack on the side of trail. Soon after this we saw a hiker making their way off trail back to the pack. We continued on, it was a short climb until we made it to Colvin. We weren’t the only hikers up there. There were about 5 other hikers up there. One of them happened to be complaining about his heavy pack and others were looking at the mountains trying to identify them. We chatted for a bit and then we were on our way. We continued on way on the marked trail and we saw the trail starting to go gradually down and down. We both knew what hikes down, doesn’t always hike back up. We started to level out after we saw a junction that leaded in another direction. We had just headed down and now we were going straight back up. It was moderately steep going up and we had passed several hikers passing us, not looking forward to going back up. We were soon passed by 2 women dressed in pink completely mud free. Just about everyone else we had passed had been covered in mud and looked pretty dirty and tired. We soon made it to the top of blake. For those who know Blake, its definitively a memorable mountain. We got to the top and we saw a bunch of hikers sitting around at the view less mountain. We also sat down, and still to date has to have been one of the more awkward summits as everyone was eating and not a word was said. After eating each group left with simply a nod.
We soon left the summit and headed back down the steep trail and back up the other side. We definitely uttered words about the trail under our breaths. After working our way back up to Colvin, we took in the view one more time. It was just as breathtaking as before. After taking the view in we headed back down taking the Gill Brook trail back to lake road. As were were making it to the lot while walking on the road , I see 3 bears. I see 2 cubs and an adult. We quickly shout bear so that the hikers in front of us are aware. We ended up scaring the bears pretty quickly and they were gone as soon as we shouted. However that always isn’t the case. After walking the last bit of the AMR road we soon found ourselves at the lot and to another great chapter of an adventure.
