Giant

December 30, 2014

Katja, Lynne, and I left the Rooster Comb a little bit later than originally intended and drove up to Chapel Pond to get on the trail a little bit after 08:00. It was icy right from the get-go, so on went the spikes. Lynne surged on ahead while Katharina was dragging, so I stuck to the middle for the most part. The trail switched-backed all the way up the ridge. There are lots of lookouts, so we stopped frequently to take in the views in the warm sunshine, but the addition of a cold breeze kept these breaks short. We also met many people, and I stopped to chat with a fellow I later learned was scalidonna from the ADK forum, and also leap frogged with a couple other women a few times as we ascended and I waited for my hiking partners. Up higher we encountered more significant ice, but we managed it all with microspikes, even though crampons would have been more appropriate in a few spots. Finally we reached the junction to Rocky Peak, and Katharina took off towards the ridge. I tried to call her back as the pace today was too slow to do this without making this hike an unwanted epic. After travelling a few hundred meters along here and seeing how far we had to climb down and then back up again (and again on the return), it was unanimously decided to just climb Giant. We ran up there and briefly enjoyed the summit to ourselves with its fantastic view, until the cold wind drove us back down to the junction where we could sit sheltered in the warm sunshine for some rest time while eating lunch. The descent took a long time as we picked our way carefully down the icy sections. With the exception of Lynne accidently walking into a dead stump and painfully bashing her knee, it went without mishap. We arrived back at the parking area in just over seven hours from the start.

The Giant Washbowl.

Icy, switchbacking trail.

A beautiful day to be in the mountains.

Standing on the shoulders of Giants, with our planned destination of Rocky Peak in the background.

Since Rocky was out, this summit will have to do.

I met these two lovely ladies on the trail. They seemed to follow me all day.

Descending back to Chapel pond in the afternoon.

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