Panther, Couschsachraga, and Santanoni 37'th, 38'th, and 39'th High Peak Ascent

Panther, Couschsachraga, and Santanoni Peaks

The 18'th, 46'th and 14'th highest peaks in New York State with elevations of 4,827 and 4,515 ft.

   Climbed Tuesday 8-18-15 with my son Nathan. We left Speculator on Monday 8-17-15 around 1:00 PM and arrived at the Upper Works Parking Lot and hiked into and camped at the Bradley Pond Lean To.

Because the Santanoni Range is remote we planned to hike the first 4.8 miles in and camp overnight in order to get an early start on Tuesday.  The Lean To was occupied but there are numerous other nice campsites in the area.

We set up camp, cooked dinner, and turned in early around 7 PM.

Tuesday morning we got up, ate breakfast, broke camp, and hiked back about a half mile to the trail head. I dropped my overnight pack there and just took my daypack with me. Nathan decided to keep his full pack with him for the day. These three peaks are considered trailless peaks which means the trails are not marked or maintained. The path from the parking lot to Bradley Pond is maintained and in good shape. From this point on we will be hiking on “heard paths” and in many places literally just a narrow path between trees, brush, and rocks. Kind of cool to think that these trails may be some of the same trails that Native Americans and early settlers also walked on. The first part of the trail around Bradley Pond was muddy and inclined gradually.

There were a couple spots that we weren’t exactly clear which direction to go but fortunately we chose correctly and didn’t waste any time walking in the wrong direction. This hike from the start of the heard path to “Times Square” was a bit longer than I expected and you do gain about 1,250 ft in elevation. Near the end it is very rocky which is not as easy as typicall trail hiking. There is a lot of up and down and over boulders which is tough on the knees. A lot of this climb was also in or along a running brook so there is plenty of spots to cool off or get water to pump if necessary.

Eventually we reached the junction where the heard path to Panther Peak veers off to the right and is marked by a cairn. We took the trail at this point and in a short time and with little effort were at the summit. Near the end there was a very steep, rock faced, and muddy section that was a little tricky but not impossible.

After a few pictures we backtracked to the cairn and then headed to T.S. and then straight to Couschsachraga.

I don’t have much to say about this part of the hike except it was long and a lot more down than I had expected. It looks like you give up about 500 ft in elevation in between T.S. and Couschsachraga. I actually don’t mind down on the way out but knowing that all the down on the way to Couschsachraga I had to go back up when we backtracked was discouraging, which I tried not to think about!

The col in between didn’t disappoint and was as muddy and deep as had been reported in every other trip report I had read. Fortunately I hike with poles which were invaluable.

I thought I was at the top of Couschsachraga a couple of times before we actually got to the summit. Again after a few pictures we turned around and hiked all the way back to T.S.

From there we went to the right around the large bolder over to Santanoni Peak. From the map it doesn’t look like that far of a hike but when you actually see Santanoni looming in the distance in front of you it is in reality a long way away.

Again there was a lot of down before you go up to the summit. It appears that there is about 350 ft in elevation difference from T.S. but you do go down at the start so you actually have to climb more than the 350 to get to the summit. Also the climb to Santanoni is over a shorter distance which translates into a much steeper ascent. Fortunately we were going to take the Santanoni Express trail back down to the Bradley Pond trail so we didn’t have to do this down and up again. This was really slow going for me but eventually I did get to the summit and then it was down the Express Trail. Yes Nathan is hiking in sandals. 

The express trail was extremely steep and slippery basically all the way back to Bradley Pond. I took a couple tumbles but nothing too serious. After a couple hours and at the bottom I felt very fortunate to have not had any serious falls.

I kept thinking if I got hurt how in the world would any help to come get me. Hopefully I will never have to find out. When we arrived at the bottom where the Express Trail meets the main trail the only thing left to do was to hike out. I had dropped my pack back up near the start by Bradley Pond. Nathan offered that I should take his pack and strap my daypack to it and start hiking back to the car. He would then backtrack and get my pack and the other cooking stuff we had dropped and catch up with me on the trail. So that is what we did. Even thought I keep a steady pace he did catch up with me before we got back to the dirt road. When we met up we switched packs because his was heavier than mine. I was struggling at this point even thought the last bit on the road was 1.8 miles and pretty flat. At the end of a long day this was not easy for me and I had to keep telling myself the parking lot was right around the next bend. We did finally sign out at 5:30 PM which was 10 ½ hours from when we broke camp this morning. All in all a good couple of days camping and hiking with my son and three more peaks down. I have nothing new to share that hasn’t already been reported by others. The Santanoni Range is long, muddy, and without great summit views. I took lots of pictures because I don’t think I will be coming back to these any time soon.

Basin and Saddleback 35'th and 36'th High Peak Ascent

Basin and Saddleback Mountains

The 9'th and 17'th highest peaks in New York State with elevations of 4,827 and 4,515 ft.

Climbed Sunday 8-2-15 with my good friend Paul and his son Peter.

I decided after my last climb that when I returned to climb Basin and Saddleback I could not do it in one day. I thought that it would be a great time to try a stay at JBL.

So I went on line and made reservations for a one night stay. I e-mailed ahead and requested three trail lunches for Sunday morning pick up. We then would return for dinner, spend the night, and then leave after breakfast on Monday morning and drive home. On Sunday morning we left Speculator at 5:00 AM and arrived at the Garden Parking Lot around 7:00. We were lucky to get one of the few spots left in the Garden lot. The shuttle was running but it is still nicer and quicker if you can park there. We signed in at the register and then hiked straight in towards JBL. It was a clear and sunny day and the trail was a lot dryer than a couple of weeks ago when Josh and I had hiked this same route. We signed in again at the T intersection for the Interior Outpost and arrived at JBL around 8:15.

We stopped in at JBL for a few minutes to get our trail lunches and to drop off our overnight gear in our room. At JBL there are two bunkrooms for sleeping 10 and two that sleep four. We had one of the four bunkrooms but since no one else came in our room we three had it all to ourselves which was nice because the rooms are cozy.

We got to hiking again and we arrived at Slant Rock around 10:00.

After Peter climbed Slant Rock we hiked a very short distance and took the much maligned Shorey’s Short Cut up and over towards Basin. This was as bad as I had remembered it.

Paul was really feeling it and was bringing up the rear with me in the lead.

Peter was in the middle and did a nice job kind of bridging the gap between the first and third members of our party. After we headed towards basin Paul and I would switch places as he got his second wind and I began to drag.

Peter again stayed in the middle not loosing sight of the head or the tail. We summited Basin at 12:00 PM.

We had seen several people between the Garden and Slant Rock but hadn’t seen anyone since Slant Rock and the summit of Basin. But while we were on Basin another single hiker showed up from the Saddleback side and said he was going to meet his wife who was climbing Marcy. Seemed weird to me that they were both hiking in the same area climbing different mountains at the same time but not together. Oh well to each his own. He reported to us that the cliffs coming down off Saddleback were dangerous. The way down Basin towards Saddleback wasn’t too bad but it was steep and wet in a couple places and I did take a little slip banging scraping up both knees and forearms pretty good.

It had been a long time since I took a spill like that and it reminded me just how dangerous this could be and how important it was to always be aware and careful. If you get hurt there is no quick or easy way out. We also passed a group of boys with full packs climbing up Basin who had also descended the cliffs of Saddleback. The two leaders told us about the danger of the cliffs. Having now gone up them I have no idea how those kids with full packs got down them without someone getting killed! 

The ascent to Saddleback wasn’t too bad until we reached the “cliffs” directly below the summit. I’m not sure what I thought the cliffs were from talking to other hikers or from the trail reports I had read but this was not it. The cliffs looked more to me like a steep rock slide with absolutely no hand or foot holds in several places. In fact getting onto the cliff was such a stretch that I don’t think I would have been able to get onto it unless Paul had literally pulled me up onto it.

Unfortunately I had my camera in my front pants pocket and the lens got damaged and my pants got a couple holes ripped in as I got pulled up the rock face. The next part of the ascent up Saddleback was so terrifying and hectic that words can’t express my impressions. Paul took a couple of pictures of me on the cliffs and although it shows what we were doing still nothing can do justice to the danger and the fear that we experienced on this ascent.

Up until this point climbing the trap dyke on Colden was the most dangerous thing I had ever done in my life, not just climbing but ever! I think the cliffs of Saddleback were even a notch above the danger of the dyke. 

At one point I asked Paul to take a few pictures of me and he said “ok but you better make it because I’m not going to show these pictures at your funeral” I don’t think he was kidding either. He also said “I’m getting vertigo just taking these pictures”.

Well obviously everything worked out and we all three made it to the summit of Saddleback at 2:30.

The descent down Saddleback and back to JBL was long but not difficult and I was extremely grateful to not have to hike out the last 3.5 miles to the Garden that night and to be able to get a good nights rest. We came down via the Ore Bed slide and without question the largest set of steps in the Adirondack Mountains. This is a truely unique feature and we were very glad to have them.

Without the stairs the descent down the slide would have been much tougher.

We arrived back at JBL at 4:00 PM. We then had a couple hours to wash up in the river, change clothes, and to rest until dinner at 6:30. At that point we were all famished but dinner was a nice spread of garden salad, bread, green veggies, and shepherd’s pie. After dinner we hung out and played cards and turned in after 8 PM. Breakfast was served promptly at 7:30 and was scrambled eggs, bacon, canned peaches, biscuits, orange juice, and coffee.

After breakfast we packed up and left JBL at 8:00 AM and hiked back to the Garden and signed out at 9:45.

This was another great experience in he High Peaks and will be remembered for the comfortable JBL stay and the terror of the Saddleback cliffs. In all we hiked 13.1 miles in 9 hours on Sunday and 3.5 miles in 1 ¼ hours on Monday.