Jay Mountain

I had wanted to hike this for quite some time. In fact, I had tried a few years ago in the winter, with no success. Today was forecasted to be a nice day early on, then overcast with rain later. I was able to get the hike in before the rain, without any problem.

I was hoping to get some company on this hike, and I had reached out to a couple local friends but they were scheduled to be out of town. I had then resigned myself to a solo hike, not a big deal as I generally solo anyway. Well, I didn't expect one of my buddies from Washington D.C. to be up in the area, so when I found out, I asked if he was interested. We made tentative plans on Thursday night, to hike Saturday morning. We both agreed on a start time of 7 a.m. and I would pick him up.

Friday night he texted me that he would meet me at the trailhead instead as something came up. He would hike up behind me, catch up on the trail and hike back out together.

I had resigned myself that I would be hiking alone and prepared accordingly.

I got to the parking area around 8 am. The parking lot was empty, how lucky could I be to have this trail to myself? I did have two of my dogs with me, Dingo and Misty, so technically I wasn't alone. I no sooner got out of my truck and started getting ready, when a small car with Quebec plates pulled up. It wasn't anyone I knew but was three young ladies who were also going to hike Jay mountain. It didn't take them long to pass me on the trail. Oh to be young again.

I left the truck and signed in the register and on the trail at 8:12 am. For the most part, the trail was in pretty good shape for spring like conditions. There were minimal areas that had water covering the trail, but nothing that couldn't be managed by stepping around. In fact, the trail was mostly dry, with a few areas of mud, and some sections had ice (the ice that was present was on the upper sections on the ridge) but it too was manageable.

It was a bluebird day for most of the day. The clouds really didn't start coming into play until later in the day, say 1-2 o'clock.

I made it as far as the second to last outcropping at which point I decided to turn around. I was running low on water, and today was a day you really needed to have it. It was a breezy day, temps in the upper 60-lower 70's. I was very pleased with what I accomplished.

On my way back I ran into a couple of small groups heading up. There were a couple guys from Toronto that took a fancy to my dogs, asking questions on the breed, etc. They mentioned there was a couple back on Jay mountain that was waiting for me. They described them, and I was happy to hear that Justin did make it, and brought his lovely girlfriend too. I soon was on my way and came upon them laying on the rocks enjoying the day. We had a nice visit while I re-hydrated and they snacked. Soon we continued on our way back to the parking area. Justin was a sport too, as he lightened my load for me.

We laughed and talked about past hikes, and soon found ourselves at the trail register.

We were back at the parking area at 2:04 pm

A beautiful warm day in the Adirondacks.

My GPS logged 7 miles, my average speed was 1 mph, total elapsed time of 7h01min.

Lyon Mountain

Took a hike up Lyon Mt today with great company, and earn the hike towards the winter Adirondack fire tower challenge. My son had mentioned he'd like to hike this gem at some point, and I needed no further excuse to take the time and oblige him.

The forecast wasn't to be a bluebird day, but it also wasn't going to be brutally cold, or to warm either. The previous warm weather we had created a lot of snow melt. That along with some who hiked during that time without snowshoes did a fair amount of damage to the trail.

We were able to drive all the way up to the trail-head without any problem, it did require 4 wheel drive though. The road was in good shape with about 6 inches of new snow, and there was no blow down so it made for a good passage.

When we arrived at the trail-head there was about 4-6 inches that had fallen over night. That accumulation increased to about 8 inches on the summit. The light fluffy unconsolidated snow covered the snow spine of the trail, and the post holes. Going up was a lot better than going down. We wore snowshoes the entire way. With the continued cold tempts this weekend hopefully others will do the same.

We took the new trail up which made for a nice 6-7 mile round trip hike.

Only Dingo came with us today as Hattie and Misty are both on the side line as they recover from knee surgery in August, and more recently the other has a lacerated paw pad. So today was a boys day out.

We started at 9:05am took our sweet time reaching the summit at 12:45. We were back at the truck at 3:05pm.