We left town at 10 a.m. on September 30 with two cars to facilitate our planned traverse. Without being told, the border guard guessed that we were travelling together, but was confused why we had matching cars. We stopped for lunch in Malone at a new to us place called Something Different Pizza and Sandwiches. We picked up groceries at Price Chopper and headed to the Heart Lake campground at the ADK Loj for our stay at Canvas Cabin #7. This was a nice new tent, but being right across from the High Peaks Info Centre and parking turned out to be quite noisy in the early morning hours.

Matching whips

Canvas Cabin #7

After arriving, we enjoyed a (Giant mountain-branded) beer down by the lake. We had booked dinner at the Loj. When we asked the front desk what was on the menu, she said whatever it was, it would be delicious because their new chef Ray was great! Promising! Dinner turned out to be soup, salad, bread, flank steak, garlic mashed potatoes and roasted squash and asparagus. Yum! Dessert was bananas foster.

On the next day, our wake-up time was 6 a.m. because we had a 45 minute drive to New Russia where we would be finishing the hike that day. We would leave one car there and then all drive together in the other car to the starting point. But first we had to stop at Stewart’s for a great big coffee.

Sunrise from the field at Loj Road

After successfully dropping off the first car, we continued to Giant Mountain Ridge trailhead on Route 73 where there was plenty of parking space available along the road.

On the trail

Giant’s Washbowl

We hit the trail at 8:40 and immediately starting climbing. Pretty quickly we came to the first lookout where we could already see the Ausable Club and lots of other High Peaks. We arrived at a pond called the Giant’s Washbowl by 9:15 and then passed several other really great lookouts, which were especially impressive because the fall colours were out in full force. The trail featured lots of open slab climbing with amazing views all around.

Open slab climbing

Passing the junction with the trail to Rocky Peak Ridge, the final approach to Giant’s summit was almost flat for a couple of minutes. Despite stopping to take plenty of pictures and we arrived at the summit at 11:10, after only 2.5 hours. We think this hike gives exceptional bang for your buck!

Approach to Giant

The summit was spectacular, with views of 36 High Peaks. It was a large summit with lots of space for people to spread out and it wasn’t busy at all while we were there.

After about a 30 minute break, we continued on to Rocky Peak Ridge. This part started with a very steep descent, including a couple of long drops. After going down so far, Rocky Peak Ridge looked distant, but the climb back up was pretty easy. We arrived at the summit at 12:45, after just about an hour.

RPR might have been the best summit yet, with views in all directions. The colours were perfect – red, orange and yellow popping out against the remaining greens. When we arrived, there were two other groups of all women – pretty cool! One group of three was from Ottawa and later a group of three men from Gatineau showed up. Guess we shouldn’t be surprised to find 100% of the hikers from Ottawa-Gatineau.

We took a long break in the warm sun with a nice breeze. We left around 1:30 to continue 6.7 miles to the other end of the traverse. The trail took us along the open ridge with great views of other mountains ahead. We could see all the way to Lake Champlain.

After only 20 minutes, we arrived at Lake Marie. After that we popped up on an open peak, which we assumed was Bald Peak, but that was premature. As it turned out, there were about five other open outcroppings before we actually arrived at Bald Peak. All were amazing. We were spoiled with views.

Lake Marie

Crossing the little lake

Some of the descent was steep, but manageable over boulders. Despite the amazing views, the descent felt long. After climbing up and over several Blueberry cobbles, the trail turned to soft earth through a forest.

Easy trails

Getting close to the car!

Finally, we arrived at the car at 5:25. We swung back to pick up the other car and we were back at the big field at the Loj Road by sunset – ultimately bookending our day with views of the rising and setting sun over the field.

The next morning started with a hike up Mount Jo just after 8 am. We carried the stove for coffee and breakfast at the summit. We took the short trail up, which is reasonably steep, with big boulder steps. There are nice stairs up to the summit. We were up in 30 minutes.

Fall mornings at Heart Lake

Climbing Mt. Jo

After a nice breakfast, we learned that there was an even better lookout below, so we went to check it out. Wow! The view of the colourful leaves reflecting in Heart Lake was spectacular.

At that second viewpoint, we chatted with a young woman from Kingston who was hiking with her dog Todd. We hiked down together with Todd excitedly running laps back and forth between us.

Todd and a hiking companion

Back at the site, we packed up and ate lunch there. Then we enjoyed a few final moments down at the lake writing in our log book and eating apple cider donuts before starting the drive home.