08/15/2016
Weather: Unpredictable, apparently. (mostly sunny, some clouds, 75 degrees)
I’d been planning to climb these two on my birthday (tomorrow!), but weathermen said it’s supposed to pour all day, so I decided last minute that we’d go today. It was supposed to be sunny in the morning and overcast in the afternoon, which didn’t really matter to me since there aren’t views from either summit. So, with our (my) bags packs and boots on, we left the house at 7am to arrive at the Adirondack Loj sometime before 9. It’s a Monday, and it was already packed at the Loj! Luckily most people were doing the more popular peaks. We took the trail back behind the welcome center, and got a nice view of Heart Lake along the way, and thought maybe we’d take a dip when we were all finished!
We passed a cute little museum that I’d seen when I climbed Mt. Jo back in June, but it still wasn’t open š¦ The flowers and their little description signs were cute though!
I didn’t reaaaally know exactly how to get to the mountain trail, I just assumed I’d figure it out along the way. The last time I stayed at the campground, I walked the trail all around the lake, and I thought I remembered a sign with “Nye” on it somewhere, so that’s all I was going on. At the first junction, I continued straight and passed the trail up to Mt. Jo. Soon after at 9am on the dot, I came to the register for Street and Nye, and signed in. While I was signing in and taking an only somewhat creepy photo of myself (took me 4 tries to get a decent one, so it was obviously going to be a really photogenic day), I heard loud splashing in the lake to my left…Juno had taken it upon herself to catapult through the brush, down the bank, and take a dip in the lake…twice. So she was pretty much soaking wet right from the get-go.
At first, I really did try to keep her on leash, as you’re supposed to do with dogs. The problem became that she is just really bad on a leash. She’s really not great off-leash either, but she usually comes when I call her, and she at least can’t pull me down when she goes charging off after chipmunks.
After a few more minutes of walking along the rocky trail, I came to the sign I had remembered! Except it said “Old Nye Ski Trail,” which really threw me off. In retrospect, I have no idea why it’s called that, I couldn’t possibly imagine anyone skiing down that trail. No way. Upon closer inspection, however, I saw someone had thoughtfully scribbled “& Street” onto the sign, so I was feeling a little more confident. And if I was wrong, well, at least I’d be on a trail somewhere, on some mountain, maybe. Who knows. Better than being at home all day.
So apparently I missed the sign saying the “Trail is not maintained after this point,” which I thankfully knew already and had an idea of what to expect. For being unmaintained and trailless though, it was a decent trail and definitely looked cared forĀ (puncheon, sawed logs, etc.). I’m not sure how I missed the sign, it is literally in the picture I took of the sign for the other route up Mt. Jo (on the left, cut off). I made it here only 10 minutes after signing in. Time to start the real trail!
About 20 minutes later, we came to our first little stream. Actually, it was not-so-little, thanks to all of our recent rain! The trail up to this point was a little damp, but no real mud issues, and I was optimistic the rest of the trail would be the same (lol) and bug free (LOLOL). Juno enthusiastically jumped in and splashed around a bit, and we continued on our way. Up until this point, the trail had been just a nice (albeit uneventful) walk through the woods.
Not more than 5 minutes later we came to a much more boisterous…creek? River? Brook? I don’t know, but it was pretty. It was this point that I was sure we were on the right trail, as I’d read that you have to cross the water just by your own will…there is no bridge, fallen log, or stepping stones, just a cairn to tell you that you do indeed have to cross. We hung out for a few minutes and shared our first snack (cheese crackers!) while a group ahead of us took their time getting their boots back on after crossing. After being thoroughly SOAKED by Juno leaping out of the water, carrying a veritable wave of water with her which of course landed all over me and my pack, I took off my boots and double-layered socks, and VERY carefully stumbled my way ungracefully through the cold water. I was not looking forward to doing this on the way back! We safely arrived at the other side, and while I was drying my feet and stuffing them back into my boots, Juno pulled her leaping-water-wave thing again. So if I wasn’t already soaked, I was now, and I might as well have just swam across the freaking river.
At any rate, we continued on, and soon came to another stream crossing, though this one was a lot more lowkey. There was an impressive tree to cross over on for those more confident in their balance, but I wanted to live, so I just crossed in the shallow water 2 feet away.
After this point, the trail followed several more streams, and we had to rock-hop across one or two of them, but it was easy going. We hadn’t even started to climb yet, and it had already been over an hour!
Finally, after about an hour and 20 minutes, the trail started to climb along a brook or stream or creek or something, as it wound up the mountain. It was getting muddier the farther up we went, and I stopped to bathe myself in deet, which of course didn’t bother the flies at all but it made me feel better about ticks. There were tons of little waterfalls and crystal clear pools of water, so we stopped frequently so June could play in them.
It was about this time that Juno started to drive me NUTS. The trail became a literal mudhole, stinking wet glopping mud, and she LOVED it. This meant that she would gallop from in front of to behind me, splash around in the muck, then go sprinting past me, spraying flecks and globs of muck all over my legs along the way, and then do it all over again. Sometimes she’d pass too close and slam right into my legs. I have no idea how I made it out of this hike relatively unscathed! I put my camera away so it’s life at least would be spared, and we continued to climb…and climb…and climb. I was getting hungry, and Juno was starting to snack on bits of grass sticking up out of the mud, so when we reached a flatter area a little before noon I decided we should take a break and enjoy our gourmet feasts: kibble and dehydrated chicken for Junybean, PB&J sammich and apple for mom! I was so glad I had actually prepared food this time, and wasn’t just stuck eating crackers and trail mix!
About 5 minutes later, we made it to the junction between Street and Nye. I took my camera out of its pack, snapped a picture of the handy (but illegal?) carving in the tree to denote which path is to which mountain. We took a brief break, drank some water, and headed down the path to Street. Of course, I was able to catch a glimpse of the mountain in the distance, and it looked leagues away. Like literal years away. I knew it was closer than it looked, because they always are, but it was still demoralizing to say the least.
The trail got even muckier after that, with just puddles of water hanging out on the trail. We passed some cool forests though and enjoyed the overwhelming greenness of the leaves and moss and ferns. It was absolutely lush! *burning into my memory to remember come winter*
After going down, and then back up up and up, we came to the summit of Street Mountain and chatted with some people we met along the way (they go to a university right by me,Ā go figure!) They were super nice, and the girl (Rhea?) even shared some handpicked crabapples with me, and they were surprisingly tasty! We took pictures for each other, and took our turns at the “lookout,” though there wasn’t much to look out on. June and I took a little break to have a summit snack, then we said our goodbyes (or see-ya-laters, since we were all headed to Nye) and took our leave.
We made it back to the junction after what felt like forever of sludging through the mud, and met a lady there who was just coming off the trail to Nye and heading up Street. We talked for a moment, but were too exhausted to speak words well, and just shared how long it took us to get to the junction from each peak. Luckily for me, Nye was only a 10 minute jaunt away! We made it there in no time at all, and hurriedly took a picture. The place was swarming with flies for some reason, the sun was beating down (overcast, my butt, weatherman!) and there were no views to speak of. Side note: it took me like 5 tries to get a decent picture; every time I took one, my face looked like there was something foul-smelling under my nose (well…flies). I finally got a semi-decent one, and we got the heck out.
On the way back, I spied a little trail leading off from the main one that I hadn’t seen coming up; Juno led the way, and found a nice little overlook! I climbed to the top of a large rock and got the best views I had all day. Better than nothing! I snapped a few photos, left, and ran into my new friends from Street mountain, the friendly crabapple people, and informed them of the little offshooting trail. We said our goodbyes, and carried on.
I didn’t take my camera out again until we were at the bottom. After we passed the junction, we came across a nice Bulgarian man (the father of the crabapple girl) who had just finished having a snack; Juno ran up to him, and STOLE the plastic cup that his snack had come in! I couldn’t believe that! What a brat. She ran around a bit, he laughed like it was the funniest thing, I told her to drop it, and she did. I felt bad, so I offered to take the slobbered-on garbage back down with me (my pack was already 40+lbs, it wouldn’t make a difference) and he obliged. We continued on our way, very carefully slipping and butt-scooting down the mountain. We had been going for more than an hour when I realized: I NEVER HAD MY VICTORY CHOCOLATE! Juno and I had just shared some fig newtons next to the steep brook, and I saw my little chocolate in my pack, scared and alone. Of course I took that victory chocolate out and crammed it straight into my cakehole, no-regrets style. As I was chomping on a mouthful of dribbling, melting chocolate (with raisins and peanuts and omg) I looked up to see a troupe of like 8 teenage boys slogging their way up the mountain. So as each one miserably greeted me, I had to reply with a mouthful of chocolate. No wonder they looked so miserable though, they were thoroughly unprepared! No hiking boots, no packs, minimal water, and no victory chocolate. I shrugged my shoulders at their naivete, and carried on. When we got back to the big river, it was actually really nice to put my shriveled, blistered feet in that cold, cold water and slip and slide my way across. We rested up for a minute and had another snack, and carried on. My goal from here was to make it back to the trail register by 4pm, so we hurried along. We eventually made it, after getting turned around once or twice, at…4:05. UGH so close! Oh well, close enough for me. We continued down the path all the way to the Heart Lake docks, where I tried to get Juno to swim. She plopped all 4 feet about 2 inches into the water, and looked back at me scornfully, as if to say “You have got to be joking. After what you just put me through, you want me to SWIM?” I nearly jumped in myself, but thought better of it by imagining the freezing soaking 2 hour drive home.
We got back to the car at 4:25, after 30,000 steps, 270 flights of stairs, and 7.5 hours of hiking (according to fitbit). I opened the door, and Juno passed out triumphantly, with paws and legs sticking every which way. Side note: after I snapped this final picture, I didn’t see her head pop back up for the rest of the drive home, except twice: Once to lean forward suddenly, lick my cheek, then disappear just as suddenly to the back seat, and again after I had opened a trail mix bar to eat while driving, and I turned my head and saw her snout-deep into my pack looking for morsels. She sniffed my face, then resumed her nap. After this successful, if muddy day, I decided I’ve learned 3 things: chocolate is to me as spinach is to popeye, never trust weathermen, and I am officially an Adirondack 4-er! Woohoo! 42 more to go!
Street: 4166′ Elevation Gain: 2300′
Nye: 3895′ Elevation Gain: +400′
Round Trip Distance: 9.1 miles
Total Duration: 7 hours
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ADK Trail Tales and Tails 