PHOTOS: Mount Colden & Noonmark Mountain in the ADK
In search of winter weather! Here in the southern New York area we’ve had very little to no snow. Nov. & Dec. started out promising, but Jan. Feb. have lacked very little to no accumulation. We simply couldn’t take it anymore so we headed north to one of our favorite places, the High Peaks of the Adirondacks.
We gathered a crew from the MPF RNR Trail Running Team and adventure club and set out for a fun weekend of snowy adventures. It’s pretty amazing that an entire landscape can change with only a 3.5 hour drive by car.
Day 1, the goal of the day was to be out for a long day, so we chose to start at the ADK LOJ with our sights on traversing over Mt. Colden (4,711) to Lake Colden then to Avalanche Lake, a nice 14 mile (6.5 hours) loop wearing snowshoes. The weather hovered in the 20’s with strong gust high on the peaks, pretty perfect for a day out.
Day 2, With half the crew leaving, we chose to do a lower yet aggressive peak called Noonmark in the Dix Mountain Wilderness. The temperatures started to rise forcing us to strip down to a single layer, pretty interesting... The grade of this climb was pretty intense and offered tremendous views of the Great Range Traverse and other high peaks.
Winter is not that far away, get out before it really is over! Happy Trails!
