Whiteface and Esther

June 24, 2023

Hike-a-Palooza VIII had thirty-nine ACC Ottawa members descend down to Keene Farm for a fun filled weekend despite some very wet weather in the forecast. On Saturday, I led a group of six on an ascent of Whiteface from the Willmington reservoir. Many other groups went out to tackle Nippletop and Dial, Sawteeth, Big Slide, Jay, Nun-da-gao ridge, Hurricane, and the Starbucks in Lake Placid.

Katharina, Qudoos, Judy, Paul and his daughter Abby (11) joined me for this romp. We started out in a warm mist and Abby set a quick pace for us to follow. I tended to stick to the front with her, pausing occasionally to let the others catch up. After about an hour we reached the junction with the Marble Mountain trail, and as we took a short break here, it started to seriously rain.

The shelter is getting worse. The hole in the roof would not have kept Judy very dry.

The bad weather meant we had the trail to ourselves all the way up, and at least it was warm. No views as we scrambled the last bits of rock along the ridge, and finally the summit castle surprised us with its appearance nearly right in front of us. I guess we are here! Abby ran ahead and tagged the summit rock, marking her first peak of the 46.

Happy but wet hikers crossing the ski trail on the upper mountain.

Base of the Willmington switchback into the fog.

Whiteface castle appears out of the gloom.

Abby's peak number 1. Fourty-five to go.

The rain fortunately stopped as we checked out the summit and then went inside the castle which was undergoing some extensive renovations. We chatted with the workers and learned that we could get some hot food down at the lower castle. As the staircase was also closed for renovations, they directed us to the elevator and we all piled in and descended twenty some odd stories down into the bowels of the mountain. A long and very fridgid tunnel brought us out to the roadway, where we wandered over to the food truck. An elevator ride inside a mountain is definitely a new hiking experience for me!

Lunch consisted of our packed food, french fries, hot coffee, and cold beer (both IPA and root). As we finished up it started to rain again, so we hiked back inside the mountain and rode the elevator back up to the summit to continue our hike down. Again Abby motored as we struggled to keep up, and in fairly little time she had led us to the Esther junction. While waiting for the others we chatted a bit about the 46 peaks, and Abby made the decision that she did not want to have to come all the way up here again. That settled it, we were going to climb Esther today.

Freezing inside a mountain, waiting for the elevator.

A slight clearing in the weather on our way down has us sneak a glimpse of Esther.

Qudoos and Katharina were not too keen on the mud wallow, so they head back down, while Judy, Paul, Abby, and I went for it. The mud lived up to expectations despite a short stretch of the rare Adirondack boardwalk and finally we arrived at the plaque in a downpour. We took a photo, ate a quick bite, and tried to imagine the view of Whiteface to the south in the fog.

Top of Esther. Only 44 left for this gal!

Back across the mud and a bit of a slip-sliding adventure over the boardwalk, we then had just the long walk out. On our way down we met many still somewhat dry people coming up from the ASRC, including one trio who were a bit dismayed when I told them they were substantially more than the hopeful thirty minutes from the top of "White Hat". We reached the parking lot in just under ten hours, Abby running ahead near the end to sit on the gate to waiting for us slow pokes as we drenchedly stumbled out of the woods.

Back at the farm, we learned that everyone else had a successful (but wet) day as well, though I think the Starbucks hike may have manged to stay reasonably dry. The chilli dinner and company was a blast as usual. The partying went on late (a few of us managing to stay up past 10pm!), before folks drifted off to their bunks and tents.

The whole gang, dried out and well fed.

June 25, 2023

The rain drizzled itself out overnight and we fortunately woke up in the morning to a gorgeous day! Shorter hikes abound, and we had groups go to Pitchoff, Ampersand, Catamount, Clements Pond, and the Mountaineer. I joined the Catamount hike with nine others, and we all enjoyed this short but sweet mountain in the sunshine with great company before driving home. Another successful HAP in the bag!

Relaxing on the summit of Catamount, soaking in the view we missed yesterday.

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