Labour day weekend 2022. We left Ottawa around 11, stopping at Riley’s Bakery in Cornwall for sandwiches with extremely thick slices of fresh brown bread. Did not get ticketed in the Police station visitor parking before heading to the water to eat. Picked up groceries in Malone and headed back to the Wilderness Campground at Heart Lake.

We booked canvas cabin #4 this year. After some upgrades to the campground, the cabin is now very close to the High Peaks Centre as well as other sites. In the future, the other pod of canvas cabins would definitely be better. Prepared our classic tin foil tex mex for dinner. Delicious as always.

6am wakeup with a record breaking 6:30 departure. We stopped by Stewart’s in Keene for coffee and ate yogurt and banana bread with PB for breakfast in the St. Hubert’s parking lot. Ultimately, not sure it saved us much time.

This was our first time using the reservation system through the Adirondack Mountain Reserve. It was easy to get a reservation (opens up 2 weeks in advance) and definitely mandatory. We noticed several people arriving at the parking lot by foot and having long conversations with the attendant. It turned out walk-ins could wait until a car arrived with fewer hikers than listed on their reservation and take those spots. There was also a second check-in at the trail register, which is reached after a walk through the private Ausable Club.

We signed in the trail register just after 8 am to head down the Lake Road. Like on previous trips, we spotted a deer along the road. We learned from our Nippletop and Dial hike and managed to successfully turn onto the Gill Brook Trail this time. The trail follows the brook past several waterfalls. We enjoyed the signs pointing to the the scenic and easy routes. The scenic routes were not significant detours, but took us closer to the falls. We appreciated the easy option on the way back though!

Waterfalls!

The trail was very pleasant – a moderate incline, with some easy trail totally free of rocks and roots. The climbing started more steeply with some rocky scrambles after the turnoff to Fish Hawk Cliffs, just before the junction with the trail to Nippletop (1.1mi from Colvin).

At 11:30, after ascending a short ladder, we arrived at the summit of Colvin, our 28th high peak. The summit was small, but had good views through the trees to Lower Ausable Lake, Indian Head and across to the Great Range. We spent some time identifying each peak – finally with some degree of confidence!

Up the wee ladder (this one was actually the most worrisome… it moved around)

After eating our salami sandwiches, at 12:15 pm we continued onward to Blake. To arrive at Blake, you have to descend 0.8 mi down the backside of Colvin to a col, then 0.5 mi up to Blake and then retrace your steps to return. At first the trail was fairly flat, but soon it turned into a steep descent with lots of ladders and a view across to Blake in the distance. On our last ladder we met a man who said this was the worse peak he’d done… not promising! We agreed that more ladders up Blake would be great. The final ascent was steep and scrambly.

We arrived at the viewless summit of Blake at 1:40 pm. It is entirely treed, since it’s actually only 3960 ft. There is just a rock that someone had scratched the name Blake onto.

We turned around right away and started the worst part of the day. Climbing Colvin for a second time felt brutal. Part way up Blake we passed a group of three men for the second time (including one with a pretty big instagram following for his hiking adventures). It turned out they had taken a different approach to Blake and Colvin – starting at Elk Lake and bushwhacking up the Blake Slide. On the summit of Colvin, we would meet someone who started at St. Hubert’s, but hit up Sawteeth before descending all the way down to the lake and up the col between Blake and Colvin. He was hitting up Nippletop and Dial on his way back. Good to remember that there are countless ways to bag these peaks!

We finally made it back to Colvin at 3 pm and enjoyed our chocolate bars on a little lookout just before the summit itself. It had a slightly different view of Upper Ausable Lake and the Great Range. The descent down Colvin felt tough until we reached the Gill Brook trail again with its more moderate grade (and easy route option).

We made it to the Lake Road around 5:30 – felt long but the flat felt good. We checked out of the register at 6:10 and made a stop at Stewart’s for superior quality firewood and ice. We saw a nice sunset on the way back at the field on Adirondack Loj road and then enjoyed a filling dinner of sausages and grilled veggies.