I started the day out with high hopes of getting both Cliff and Redfield checked off my list on the last day of winter hiking. We started off from ADK Loj and it felt weird to be hiking in just microspikes to start the hike. The hike in to Marcy Dam was the typical quick jaunt. As we crossed the bridge to the south side, the snow made a subtle but noticeable change from the firm ice to a more slippery slightly deeper and softer snow. That is when I switched over to snowshoes and they didn't come off until I hit the car at the end of the day.
The last time I went to get these peaks, I had driven through horrible snow and the nerves just got bad enough that my body determined that it wasn't happening that day. I hiked in to marcy dam and turned around. This attempt, I came in from upper works. It was a very wet day, and was predicted to be a wet day with on and off drizzle in the morning and warming temps in the afternoon. The drive in had a couple spots of black ice, but it wasn't a horrible drive in.
At this moment, I have 19 high peaks left to complete my winter round of 46. I went out on the first day of winter and got Colden, and found that winter hiking is what I remember, and did better than I expected on the hike. That is good because I have a bunch of long hikes ahead of me. At the moment, this is what I have left, and my concerns on each of the hikes.
My next trip will have a lot of hiking and hit 13 peaks over a week. The first 3 nights I'm saying at ADK Loj, so I'll have a soft bed and shower available each night. The next 3 nights, I'll be in the backcountry, hopefully at Lake Arnold, camping.
So my next trip is going to involve camping and forming a base camp to hit a total of 8 mountains.... well, actually, potentially forming 3 base camps. This is to hit everything that comes out of the Upper Works/Tahawas area of the park. The plan is to hike in to the flowed lands or lake Colden and set up camp.