October 25, 2009 - Nye & Street Mountains

The weather forecast called for a mostly cloudy, dreary day. Jack and Rich wanted to squeeze in another hike before the weather really went south, and since there is no view from the tops of Street and Nye, we decided it would be a perfect day to cross them off our list. We started from the ADK Loj parking lot on a surprisingly warm morning; there were reports of snow earlier in the week and there was heavy rain the day before. All of the above made for a very wet hike and tricky crossing of Indian Pass Brook. We quickly discovered that waterproof boots also mean that the water can't get out.

There were a lot of leaves on the ground, and as this is an unmarked trail, we were concerned that we wouldn't be able to find our way to the top (and back). We had to backtrack a few times when it was apparent that we were no longer on an establish route, but we eventually found our way to the top of each peak. It got a little exhausting trudging through the muck for so long, and the views did match our expectations (zero), but we had a good day.

 

We were rewarded at the end when the sun came out and we were able to soak up a few minutes of warmth sitting on a bench next to Heart Lake. The total trip was about 8.5 miles and took about 7 hours and 45 minutes. Sixteen (16) High Peaks down; 30 to go.