Upper New England- Part 1

July 28, 2013

I've been in Vermont for a little more than a month now, and I've been hiking ridiculous amounts the whole time. I've also been taking pictures the whole time (naturally), so I have a lot to post. I'll be breaking this up into two sections, since there's too many for one go. The first big hike I did was in the Adirondacks with my friend Jack, up Mount Colden. It's in the middle of the High Peaks region, and even though it's not extremely high (though it is one of the 46 peaks above 4,000 feet) it's pretty steep, with a great view of some other big peaks in the area. Jack and I are both very, very fast hikers, so we made it up fairly quickly (albeit exhausted).

Marcy Reservoir on the way up- Mount Colden is the peak at far left with the large slides.

The only problem was getting to the top and realizing we were at the lower edge of a cloud. The peaks of the higher mountains nearby were mostly obscured, but we still had a really spectacular view of the valley below and the high peaks region.

I wish I knew the name of these flowers- I see them at the top of every high mountain in New England, and they're always beautiful.

We decided to take a loop hike instead of hiking back down the way we came, which was nice, except for the fact that the south face of the mountain is about a mile of really steep, slippery rock and mud. We were only lucky we were descending, not ascending. I'm not sure we'd have survived. However, there are a few really beautiful lakes at the bottom with amazing views up Mount Colden.

And you can tell they were beautiful because I took way too many pictures.

This is Trap Dyke, a really steep chasm going most of the way up the mountain that some people with a death wish decide to take up. It's apparently a lot of really sketchy climbing and scrambling, and several people have died on it. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it does look absolutely terrifying.

The pond on the way down- Alas, sunset wasn't as great as I was hoping.

Farewell Colden, you magnificent bastard.

My next hike has been up to Sunset Ledge, which is an easy mile-long hike to an exposed ledge in the Green Mountains (Vermont). I did this as a quick weekend getaway with my friend Janet.

Snack on the ledge- unfortunately not ours, because wine and cheese would have been wonderful. They did share some of their bread and tomatoes though.