The accessibility of the Keene Valley area and its hiking possibilities makes me a regular visitor. I like to combine mountains, with Giant (Roaring Br. or Ridge tr.) being my go-to peak to start: Giant-Noonmark, Giant-Pitchoff, Giant-Cascade, Giant-Snow, Dix-Noonmark, Giant-Hopkins, Bennie's Brook slide-Big Slide. My goal is to find a combo that gives me high elevation gain within a reasonable accumlated total distance and and time (driving between peaks excluded haha): 4300' to 5000' under 15 miles. Yesterday, a new combo was born: LWJ-Noonmark from the AMR parking. My goal was a minimum of 5000' elly gain.
I arrived at the AMR gate (with reservation) at 4:40 am and signed in at 5:20 and made my way to the Ladies Mile and West River trails. Water levels were extremely low. By the time I reached the Wedge Br. trail I was sweating profusely...and not because of fatigue. The mountain was sitting in a moisture laden cloud or fog. A white mist permeated the open forest, providing a nice contrast with the numerous ferns and moss-covered boulders. Serious climbing at around 3000'. No views at the summit, just a wall of white. But I had LWJ to myself. It was 8:10. One of the perks of starting early.
It was a slippery descent even though the trail was relatively dry...the stones and roots were greasy. I took a break near the cascades, filled my Sawyer and crossed the valley over to Noonmark. Sign-in:11:15. The climb was slow but purposeful. Met some nice people who were heading down.The summit views are great as usual. Rested for a while. The descent was a little slow. I recently turned 67 and my knees aren't what they used to be. Signed out at 3:05.
Did I attain 5000' elly gain?
Here are the stats: (using Gaia)
Time: About 10h30mins
Distance:23 km or 14.3 miles
Elevation gain LWJ: 861 meters or 2824'
Elevation gain Noonmark: 663 meters or 2175'
Total :4999' or 1524 meters
I think I'll round it off to 5000'