The easiest way to reach the Lake Road from this part of the hiking trip was to continue hiking north across Bear Den mountain which stands at 3399 feet above sea level. Bear Den mountain is not one of the 46 but nevertheless a good size mountain. It was 1.3 miles from the Dial summit. At this point in our hike we just wanted to get back to the Lake Road before complete darkness. We reached the tree covered summit in 45 minutes were we found these two signs. After a couple photos at the summit we began the final descent to the Lake Road.
Little did we realize that we still had a couple of hills to cross before the final descent. There was 2.5 miles between us and the road with only less than one hour before sunset. We came across the area where a fire burned a beautiful birth glade in 1999 when an immature hiker started a fire near the trail. It took firefighters and professional sawyers 10 days to put it out. The trail goes right through 8-9 foot saplings that are now grow in the ash covered soil. It is also among a massive rocky bluff that over looks the valley. David and I took a 5 minute break as we watched the sunset over Upper Wolf Jaw.
Sunset a minute prior taken photo
When David and I saw this sign on the stump of one of the chopped birch trees in the fire line cut during the fire we literally ran the 1.7 miles down the mountain in 25 minutes. We came out at the Lake Road next to this sign "H.G. Leach Trail to Dial and Nippletop".
We made it to the Lake Road at the point when a flashlight should be used but since we were on the road we enjoyed the walk in the darkness. At the Ranger cabin we checked out at 8:57 pm.
Back in Keene Valley we quickly realized that all the restaurants and cafe's had closed for the night so we made a quick trip into Lake Placid for some chicken wings and garlic bread. When we came back Nate and Jim had arrived and were waiting for us.
HIKE TIMELINE
Parking Lot: 1250
Gillbrook Cut-off Trailhead: 1402
Elk Pass Trailhead: 1511
Nippletop Summit: 1639
Left Nippletop Summit: 1720
Dial Summit: 1820
Left Dial Summit: 1844
Bear Den Summit: 1927
No break
Checked out: 2057
HIKE SUMMARY
Date: July 2014
Duration: 8 hours
Elevation Gain: 3200 ft
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