HIKING TO MOUNT NIPPLETOP

Every time I plan a hiking trip to the Adirondack high peaks there are several important factors that have to come together fairly well for the trip to actually happen. The following are increasing in the level of importance. First is the time off from work. Second is a hiking buddy or buddies. Third is family arrangements. And fourth, most important of all, is the weather. Nevertheless, with all of these factors inline, my next hiking trip became a reality.

The hiking group included Nate (work colleague), Jim (Nate's friend), my brother David, and myself. David and I came up earlier on Friday to squeeze in an extra hike, while Nate and Jim came up later on Friday night.

There are three ways of getting to the high peaks from Syracuse and I have tried two out of the three so far. This time I decided to try a new route going through Rome, via 365 East, 8 North and then 87 North. In conclusion this will be the preferred route from now on.

We drove into Keene Valley at noon and decided to check into the Ausable Inn before we went hiking just in case we returned really late. After a quick check it was a 5 minute drive to the hiker's parking lot 0.5 miles from the Ausable Club. It was a nice warm-up walk to the Lake Road where we signed hikers log.

After a few words with the ranger and a couple quick photos at the wooden gate/arch we set out at a good pace to the Gillbrook Trail Cut-off where we started our initial ascent to the Elk Pass.

Half a mile into the hike on Gillbrook we came to this intersection. The trail was easy with minimal rocks. At this point we didn't weren't sure if we would take a detour to Fish Hawk cliffs and Indian Head.

Shortly, 0.2 miles, we came to another intersection. After looking at the map, a detour of 1.4 miles to the cliffs and Indian head would probably add another hour to our hike and leave us hiking in the dark, so we decided to skip it this time. This little scenic detour would be great when hiking Mt. Blake and Colvin. 

We came across this little campsite just below 3500 feet on our way up. I have never tented in the high peaks before but it may be a good idea for the future. 

Taking a break for a quick second breakfast of a Quest Bar, Powerade, and Succeed Caps. 

For previous hikes I mounted my GoPro to a chest harness but this time I mounted it to the hiking pole and it was very convenient to turn it on/off and take some short videos along the way. 

This was quite the show the trail--a snake dragging a toad off the trail and into the brush. We stayed and watched as nature took it natural course of predator and prey. 

Two hours into our hike we came to Elk Pass. This was the steepest part of the hike, a 1300 feet vertical rise on the western part of Nippletop Mountain. We met a couple making their way down who complained about hurting knees. After a slow hike for 1.5 hours we came to the intersection that indicated Nippletop summit was 0.2 miles to the right. Another 5 minutes of walking brought us to the summit and its spectacular views. Although the views were hazy, it was easy to distinguish the different peaks on the horizon.  

(Looking down Nippletop--slide to the left)

(center) Gothics and Armstrong (foreground) Sawteeth 

(center left) Upper Wolf Jaw (center right) Lower Wolf Jaw

(left) Blake (right) Colvin

Nippletop Summit (anchor in front of left boot)

David enjoying the views

(background left) Giant (background right) Rocky Point Ridge

Dix Mountain

After enjoying the views, eating a lunch (chorizo, bread and tomato) and relaxing we were ready to tackle the next part of the hike, Dial Mountain. We also met another hiker who was doing the Colvin Range (Blake, Colvin, Nippletop, Dial, Bear Den). For the remainder of the hike we didn't see any more hikers. 

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

ADK 46er TALLY

#16 Nippletop (4593 ft) #15/46