Panther Gorge Hike - Day 1

May 19, 2012

Katharina and I drove down to the ADKs early on a Saturday morning. Arrived at the Elk Lake trailhead around 10:00. It was full so we dumped the packs and then I took the car back about three kilometers to the gate where I found a spot to park in the snow plow turnaround. Walked back and signed in the trailhead register, noticing that our friend Hilary was hiking in here as well. The first several kilometers of trail were easy going on a wide road like path. In fact all the trails today were quite easy, but a fair amount of blowdown plus a lot of debris of branches littered the path, indicating that not many others have used this area lately. I spent a good amount of time throwing branches off the trail to clean it up a little. The blackflies were bad so lunch was eaten very quickly. The day also got very hot. I ended up drinking about four liters of water in a six hour hike. When we got to Marcy Swamp, the bridge was out. I managed to get across the river using a skinny tree that had fallen across, but this was very sketchy and I almost fell in. With a lot of screaming, Katharina forded it, the river only being about 3 feet deep at the worst part. We continued on. As we climbed higher, the bugs subsided and we began to get views of Marcy and Skylight mountains. Finally we arrived at the campsite which was deserted. I found a nice tent pad in a little secluded spot, set up camp and cooked up supper. After eating our fill we wandered up to the lean-to to see if Hilary was there, and indeed she was, along with Debbie. Lots of laughter ensued and we hung out together until dark.

The first river had a nice sturdy bridge.

Easy, but somewhat boring trail.

This was the sketchy bridge I used over the second big river.

Taking the smarter route, Katharina fording the river.

Cool bit of artfulness employed on the handrail of this swamp crossing.

Our campsite for two nights.

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