I did 20% of my 100 NY NCT miles in the Adirondack Park section. I hiked a total of 32.5 miles to get those 20 since most of the hikes were out-and-backs. Except for July 11, I kept hikes short and fairly flat to better rehab the knee.
Did 7.5 coming into NY from VT (earlier post).
The rest were as follows. But first, a few notes. The ADK section does not go over or through the high peaks. It stays south of the 46ers and passes over a few hills here and there. Almost half of the trail is roadwalking. Mainly asphalt, and many high traffic roads. The woods and the logging roads are currently filled with fierce deer flies.
July 11. Five miles (ten roundtrip) Raymond Brook Ski Trail from Route 28. 1800 feet of total elevation gain.
My body felt a lot better today. Did the initial 1400 feet of elevation gain with no problems and no breaks. Knee handled everything well. Carrying a light pack and not worrying about resupply or where to sleep makes a huge difference. My body got the message that I am dayhiking instead of LASHing, and my body approves. There weren’t any views on this stretch outside of a beaver dam/bog and a marsh. Lots of bugs though! Deer flies. Blech. Enjoyed the day anyway. Love the sounds of the birds and the “rubber band frogs” by the water.
July 12. Two and a half miles (five roundtrip). Shaded gravel Crane Pond Road. More deer flies. Walked with my hood and hat on, that helped. Saw quite a few other folks, which I thought odd for an early Sunday morning on such a remote road.
July 13. Three miles (six roundtrip) along the remote gravel Elm Lake Road. Swarmed again by deer flies. Hooray for the sun hood and baseball cap. The road had small ups and downs, so I had a wee bit of elevation gain and descent. Maybe 350 ft each total.
July 14. Heat advisory today, and the deer flies are in full Terminator mode, so I just did two miles of original trail (four miles total as out-and-backs) with a combination of the following: a small bit of Moose River Road, some gravel trail/road on McKeever Road/South Branch Trail, a smidgeon of forest on Stone Dam Trail, and some of the asphalt North Lake road. Deer flies everywhere. I also drove the 37 straight miles of busy road that is the NCT between Brooktrout Lake Trail and McKeever Road, and though the road passes through the cute touristy towns of Inlet and Iron Forge, I am very glad not to be walking all that. Bright sun, traffic, hard asphalt for at least two long days. Ack.
So ends my sample platter of the NCT through NY’s ADK Park section. Knee is feeling back to how it was before I started VT. Starting to feel strong again instead of broken.
