So, this weekend, Michael and I spent the weekend at ADK Loj and did some hikes.... Well, the weekend weather turned back to winter, or so it seemed.  Saturday it rained all day as a drizzle and was in the 40's with wind chills on the highest of the peaks being well below freezing.  So, with that in mind we did a couple of the Lake Placid 9.

First up, in the morning, we did Pitchoff and Balanced Rock.  Overall, the trail was rather good, with a dozen or so blowdowns along the way, but nothing too bad to get around.  Around the 0.8 mi mark, there was an awesome view of the Cascade falls.  Sadly, that was the only view for the day.  The views from the peak, cloud.  The views from Balanced Rock, cloud with high freezing winds.  So, we went back down without any great views, but I could see the potential for them to exist.

Next up on Saturday was Mt. Van Hovenberg from Meadows Lane.  The hike in to the beaver pond was amazingly good.  Then there was mud, mud, and more mud.  I joked that the DEC had just removed the mud advisory... not that this trail was ever covered by that advisory.  We got the the ledges and our hopes were smashed as the ceiling had dropped in the time since we were on Pitchoff.... again, view was all clouds.  But, it was a beautiful hike none the less.

Sunday was a different animal.  It was clear skies and cold.  The trail up to Wright was in pretty good condition.  The mud was minimal, the scrambles were mostly dry.  Overall, I can't complain about the trail.  As we got close to the trail junction to Wright, the views opened up, and it looked icy on Algonquin.  We heard shortly there after that it was icy on Algonquin.  At that point, we decided that our day would just be Wright, not the whole range as originally planned.  We found out later that the ice was only on the trees and not on the trail itself.  Still, the hike up to Wright was blustery when we got out of the trees, and was oddly calmer on top.  Needless to say, the views from Wright were beautiful.  In searching for the plaque memorializing the crew of the bomber that crashed on the mountain, we did see a little bit of the wreckage, but we didn't actually find the plaque.... it was too windy and cold to spend too much time to search.

Overall, amazing weekend, and the hikes have given me more confidence with my plans for hiking in the Catskills.