Adirondack High Peaks
9-15 July 2017
I spent a number of boyhood summers hiking and canoeing in
the Adirondacks. I have many wonderful memories of those summers in the woods.
But after 1975 my travels took me regularly to New Guinea for my research work,
and I rarely got back to the Adirondacks. This year, I decided to spend a week
camped at the Adirondak Loj at Heart Lake--hiking, mountain climbing, and
birding. I wanted to immerse myself in the best of the Adirondacks, and this
was a great place to do that.
[Myrtle Warbler]
I set up my tent camp in the Adirondack Mountain Club’s campground adjacent to the High Peaks
Information Center on the evening of the 9th. Before dinner I hiked
to the summit of Mount Jo to get a glimpse of the High Peaks and to start
thinking about where to walk over the next week. While I was on the summit I
was visited by a curious Myrtle Warbler, a Dark-eyed Junco, and an Eastern
Chipmunk.
[Eastern Chipmunk]
On my first morning I biked up to the South Meadows Road
and, dropping the bike in the woods, I walked the trail to Mount Van Hoevenberg,
a northern outlier that offers a nice warm-up hike. The trail took me through
some flat woodlands, then some flooded beaver swamp, and finally, a gradual
climb to the rocky overlooks of the mountain’s summit. Here I was serenaded by
a Winter Wren and Nashville Warbler. I looked down across the boreal wetlands
of the South Meadows to the rugged ranges on either side of Mount Marcy. Over
the next few days I would be climbing several of the summits I gazed at from
Mount Van Hoevenberg. On the hike back, I heard the songs of Black-throated
Blue Warbler and Mountain Warbler.
[vista from Mt Van Hoevenberg]
In the afternoon I hiked several miles up the trail to
Indian Pass, where the high rocky vertical cliff of Wallface dominated the
scenery. This hike took me through some very fine old growth forest with grand
Yellow Beech, Sugar Maple, and Red Spruce. One of the surprises of this week in
the High Peaks was my discovery of just how much old growth forest remains—readily
accessible by the various hiking trails that radiate out from Heart Lake.
[Nashville Warbler]
The next morning I climbed one of the Adirondack 46—Phelps Peak.
It is one of the subsidiary summits not so far from mighty Mount Marcy. Its a
four-mile hike up, with a nice stiff climb to the summit. Phelps provides great
close-up vistas of Marcy and Colden. The upper balsam forests of Phelps were
home to Bicknell’s Thrush, but this elusive species only called a few times for
me, and never sang. One of the highlights of the climb was passing through a
gentle rain of tiny white snowflake-like petals of the abundant American Mountain-Ash
trees that were just dropping their flowers. The trail was covered in these
little white flakes.
[Algonquin summit vista]
On Wednesday I climbed Algonquin Peak, perhaps the finest of
the Adirondack 46, and, at 5,114 feet, second only to Marcy in height. It is a
great climb and the summit views are breath-taking. It is also a nice
elevational transect through the vegetation zones. After quite a long walk
through old growth hardwood forests, one transitions first to White Birch mixed
with Balsam Fir, then to almost pure Balsam First, then a dwarf forest of
Balsam Fir and Red Spruce, and finally a low alpine bed of recumbent firs and
spruces. I was lucky to have sunshine with minimal wind at the top. The summit
birdlife included juncos, whitethroats, Myrtle Warblers, and ravens.
[Bicknell’s Thrush]
On Thursday I climbed Nye Peak, a nondescript summit that is
best climbed in the rain and cloud. I arrived on the summit at a bit after 10
AM and the mountain was enveloped in Scottish mist. At the very summit, I was
treated to the songs of Bicknell’s and Swainson’s Thrushes. The singing birds
were no more than fifty feet apart. The summit forest of small firs and spruces
was quite birdy. I noted Magnolia Warbler, Nashville Warber, White-throated
Sparrow, Winter Wren, both kinglets, Boreal Chickadee, Yellow-bellied
Flycatcher, and Blackpoll Warbler.
[Blackpoll Warbler]
On Friday I birded the South Meadows in the morning and then
climbed Ampersand Mountain in the afternoon. South Meadows is a boggy wetland
with beaver swamp mixed with stands of spruce, fir, and tamarack, as well as
some planted Red Pine. The Klondike Notch Trail took me to the Mister Van Ski
Trail that passed through more nice old growth mixed forest. Here I found
Ruffed Grouse, Brown Creeper, Hermit Thrush, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and Purple
Finch.
[Ruffed Grouse]
The hike up Ampersand Mountain had a major surprise. The
first mile of the trail passed through a large tract of old growth Eastern
Hemlock mixed with spruce and hardwoods. I passed by scores of giant softwoods
and hardwoods—trees two or three hundred years old. The rocky summit of Ampersand
offered views of the High Peaks to the southeast and the lake country to the
north, including a big flat basin of boreal conifers that looked like prime
lowland birding country. I would like to explore that area on a future visit to
the Adirondacks.
[view south from Mount Elba to Algonquin and the High Peaks]
No comments:
Post a Comment