Adirondacks, High Peaks Region, Trails 13 & 15
There are 46 peaks in the Adirondacks High Peaks Region that are 4,000 feet or more in elevation and there is a 46er club for those who have climbed all 46. I have now done two so still have a long ways to go. I enjoy the exercise, photographing what I see along the trails and meeting the many wonderful people who are out there on the trails doing the same thing.
I have included the Adirondack Mountain Club trail numbers in the photo titles. For those who have traveled these trails before me or with me, I hope that the photos bring back fond memories of wonderful experiences in beautiful country.
My son and I started the day fairly early at the Marcy Field airfield parking lot near Keene, NY. (location) There is a shuttle bus from there to the trail-heads at the Gardens parking lot. The Gardens parking lot fills up very early most mornings during the summer, so the shuttle is kept pretty busy all day.
Janet from New York City, Ken and his niece from the US and a couple from the Montreal area joined up with us along the way so that, by the time that we reached the highest point for the day, we were a loose knit group of seven hikers.
I stop for Bald Eagles in flight but I also stop for Caterpillars. Today, it was a caterpillar that caught my attention and just forced me to stop going uphill.
It isn’t really a large as this macro image might imply but when something like this comes rolling down a trail in the middle of nowhere and comes to rest at my feet, it is certain to get my attention.
By the time that I had stopped to take my shots of the caterpillar, the other members of our loose group were well ahead of me on the trail and I had to move along rather quickly to try and catch up. Of course, as soon as I got closer, I would find another reason to stop and take more photos and fall behind again. For the most part, this trail combination is in wooded areas, but does break out into the open often enough to offer up some beautiful views across the valley at more of the High Peaks.
The couple from Montreal joined our small group while I was stopped to take yet another panoramic shot of the valley. We tended to play leap frog along the path after that, since they would catch up about the time that I was finished photographing and, while they stopped to enjoy the view, I moved along to try to close the distance between me and the ones at the front.
It was the time of the year when blueberries were still around in some areas but even though there were not too many berries along the path, their foliage was just beginning to show Autumn colours.
After a bit of time on an open rock face, the trail once again would plunge back into the woods and lead us on to the next peak which was just that little bit higher :-).
As we climbed higher, and closer to our high point for the day, the going got a bit more difficult. Not too much of a problem for everyone else but definitely a bit of a problem for me with my camera equipment hanging around my neck. Janet headed up first, Alan followed and I brought up the rear. Two more were just ahead of us and two more were just out of sight behind us so that, by the time we all gathered at the top, we were a loose-knit group of seven.
Once we all got out into the open on the nice flat rock at the top of the climb, it was photo taking time. Alan had to back into the bushes to get the widest angel possible and Janet decided to do here best to get a self-portrait without falling off the ledge and I just caught my breath and took a few shots of my own.
 
After awhile at the top of the mountain, we all found the trail marker again and headed back to the parking lot, some taking the same route back as we had come but some of us headed back via a separate trail that took us down through a valley following a creek most of the way. Definitely easier going down than climbing up but we knew that we would need to keep our pace up in order to arrive back at the trail head before dark. As it turned out, it was dark when we got back tot he parking lot and the last shuttle had departed. We were able to arrange a ride back to our car and a long day in the mountains came to a successful conclusion.
The END
