Mount Jo

Last winter was our first foray into winter hiking in the Adirondacks, and since we loved our jaunts up Baxter and Big Crow, we booked another weekend trip this year.  We still don't have proper mountaineering snowshoes, so plan to stick to smaller peaks for now.  Mount Jo has perhaps the most classic of High Peaks views, and I was very excited to see it in the winter.  And I was was excited to share it with Frankie again.  We last hiked it 2014, when he was just 3 years old, so I doubt he remembers much (if anything).  We took the loop in the same direction, up the short trail and down the long trail.  The trail was nicely broken out with great snow conditions as we set out along Heart Lake.

As we got a little higher, the snow was stuck on all the trees in the most magical way.  Erwin and I continually exclaimed about the incredible beauty the entire way up the mountain.  Frankie's appreciation was more physical: sliding, climbing, leaping, etc. 

Some snow tunnels, a taste of steep climbing, and then we were there: the summit in all its glory.  It wasn't windy, so we were able to hang out and enjoy the views for quite some time.  Frankie had a Pringles summit snack, and Erwin and I took a million pictures. 

Then we finally headed back down.  Frankie enjoyed the descent immensely, butt-sliding at every possible incline.  We eventually had him remove his snowshoes so he could slide faster; the trail was very well packed and he was not post-holing. 

When we got back to the bottom, we took the first opportunity to cut down to Heart Lake, on which we snowshoed back to the Loj and parking area.  We always like being out on the ice, as it affords different views, including back up to Mount Jo where we'd just been. 

Mount Jo is a fantastic little mountain winter, spring, summer, or fall.  It has not been a good year for snow at home, and it was just spectacular here.  We had so much fun on this little adventure!  MapMyRide tracked the figure 8 loop at 2.7 miles with about 580 feet elevation gain.