Sara Hikes... But Not Enough : Colvin and Blake

Colvin

4,057 feet | ranked 39/46 in height | 23rd peak climbed

Blake

3,960 feet | ranked 43/46 in height | 24th peak climbed

Although we were disappointed not to have managed any May hikes, Erin and I were super excited to finally get up to the Adirondacks for our first hike of the summer. We decided on Colvin and Blake for our season opener because our four High Peaks hikes last year had been at four different trailheads, but none of them were from the AuSable Club. We have several hikes left that are traditionally accessed from the Club lands and don't want to leave too much Lake Road for the end. We selected Colvin/Blake over Nippletop/Dial and Sawteeth, because I'd read on the Forums that both Elk Pass and the Scenic Trail along the Lake were flooded, and avoiding wet feet is certainly as good a reason as any.

We met at the park-n-ride at 4:15 am, and drove north, making excellent time, if I say so myself. I always take the general lack of traffic and development on Route 8 as a personal invitation to drive excessively fast. It is such as fun road with all those twists and turns, so different in character from the campers and boat trailers with their gravy trains on Route 3. We geared up, walked uphill on the road through the golf course, and signed in at the register shortly before 8 am.

We decided to take the Gill Brook Trail up after reading about its many elfin charms, and it definitely lives up to the reputation. It undoubtedly slowed us down a bit, all the oohing and aahing and picture taking, but so be it. We embrace slowness: it's all part of the journey.

We'd also read that there were some scary rock scrambles on the ascent of Colvin, so were actually a bit surprised when we popped out on the summit without encountering anything too frightening. So much perspective on these climbs is dependent on conditions, and we had a really awesome day for our hike. Colvin has a small summit, but there are stunning views. We had it to ourselves for much of the 45 minutes we spent there, eating lunch and taking pictures and trying to prepare ourselves mentally to tackle Blake. The daunting part is nothing specific to Blake itself, but the simple fact that it is an out and back. Once on the summit of Blake, it is NOT all downhill to the car; the only way back out is to climb all the way back over Colvin again.

We steeled ourselves to the challenge and departed the Colvin summit. A short ridge walk, and then down down down. The col between the peaks is very deep, and the trail is very steep. Several strategically placed ladders got us down the trickiest parts. The summit of Blake is wooded, with no views and no official summit marker, although some jackass took it upon him/herself to carve one into a tree. The clearing is tiny, and quickly became crowded after we were joined by a noisy group as well as several more ordinary folk, so we snapped some evidentiary photos, ate some chocolate, and headed back down to the muddy col. This hike is no joke. It took about an hour and a half between Colvin and Blake in each direction.

By the time we made it back to Colvin, I definitely needed another rest. I was bitterly disappointed that the same noisy group was occupying a scenic ledge I'd been looking forward to on the summit ridge. Their volume was so seriously off-putting that we didn't even bother taking our packs off, and pushed on to the true summit before taking a proper break. Maybe someone is the group was hard of hearing? Trying to be kind here, but it really rubbed wrong. From here we re-traced our steps back to car, stopping to splash icy Gill Brook water on our faces right before re-joining the Lake Road. The Lake Road was a relief, evenly graded, with no roots and rocks for our tired legs to stumble over.

Changing into dry clothes back in the parking lot, we discovered that one of my tires was frightening soft. Not a welcome sight after 12 hours of hiking and a long drive home ahead! We detoured into the Keene to stop at Stewart's, and were super relived to find they had an air pump. I remedied the tire situation and filled the gas tank while Erin went inside to get us some sherbet coolers. Most refreshing drinks ever! By this time it was getting quite late. We made the decision to drive home via the Thruway, but that turned out to be a terrible mistake when we hit gridlock traffic north of Albany. The Northway was essentially a parking lot for miles. It was 12:45 am when we finally got back to the park-n-ride lot, and after 1 am when we arrived at our respective homes.

Our statistics for the day: approximately 14.5 miles hiking with approximately 4,300 feet elevation gain, and approximately 450 miles of driving. It was a VERY long day. The horrible traffic added unnecessary time to the adventure, but we also learned that our drive-and-hike day trip approach will not be a viable option for some of our longer remaining hikes.

Read Erin's trip report here.