Panther Gorge Hike - Day 2

May 20, 2012

Awoke to the view of Skylight mountain at my feet, the summit just starting to glow in the early morning light. Got up and fired up the stove for some coffee and oatmeal. Hitched up our now much lighter packs and started hiking out of Panter Gorge towards the four corners. Within fifteen minutes we were stripped down to t-shirts. Yeah, it was going to be a hot one. We climbed up enjoying the views of Marcy and Haystack, and by 09:00 were on top of Skylight, my 43rd peak, and also the first Adirondack peak to have defeated me several years ago. I had always planned to finish the 46 on this one, but I guess this is not to be. We had the peak to ourselves and thoroughly enjoyed the views off in every direction until we decided that it was time to move on to Marcy. There was a bit of snow on the trail down to the four corners, but nothing needing more than the occasional careful foot placement. The climb up Marcy on the west aspect was new to me (I have climbed the east ridge twice before), and I think I like it better. Long stretches of slab rock with the occasional step. Before long we found ourselves on the summit along with another couple who took our picture for us, and the summit steward who chatted with us for a bit about the alpine environment. We descended down a little ways and found a spot to have a short lunch. We could see lots of other people now climbing up the east ridge, indicating that the summit was soon going to be crowded. According to the steward, we were the 10th and 11th people on top this morning. Two of the people coming up were Debbie and Hilary so we chatted a bit and then parted ways. They had gone over Haystack first, and were continuing on for Gray and Skylight. A long descent followed to the base of Haystack, and then a great scramble up the trail, and more scrambling to the summit. This is the third time I have been up here in the past five months and I am really beginning to feel I know this mountain well. I also think that it is one of my favorites. At the summit we took a long break to eat and take in the views. Met a few people up here too, all of them quite friendly. One fellow with a dog warned us that the descent down the south face was quite steep. He was not lying. The next 1000 feet was very steep slabs, down climbs, and scrambles. I had fun but Katharina was getting tired so did not appreciate this challenge. At one point there was a hand line which was made of a piece of hardware store webbing tied to a sketchy anchor made of a dead tree. A granny knot extended this to a frayed piece of twisted cord, and finally a stick tied on the end for good measure. We used this contraption for balance, but did not trust it to a significant load. Finally we got down to the junction and the last several hundred feet descent into Panther Gorge was fortunately much easier. Arrived back at camp about 8.5 hours into our day. Went for a wade in the stream to cool the feet off, and then had supper with Debbie and Hilary at the lean-to before heading to bed as the sun set behind Skylight.

Summit of Skylight gloing in the early morning light.