September was fast closing in and a group of us had been planning a hike to one of the more rugged, remote high peaks in the Adirondacks, Allen Mountain. This mountain is 4340 feet high, roughly 10 miles to the summit. The first 8.5 is marked and is fairly flat terrain with the last 1.5 being a herd path (unmarked) where you gain most of your elevation. There is a water crossing of the Opalescent River which has to be at a low level to navigate across.
Why you ask, would someone want to do this hike? Well 76 year old Mary Murphy was working on her second round of hiking all 46 high peaks and Allen was one of them. Joyce Phillips only had Allen and one more mountain to finish her first round. Me, I had just a few left to finish my 4th round and of course I had left Allen till the end. Kelly Moody, well you have to know Kelly, all you have to do is ask Kelly and she is in.
The week before consisted of many phone calls, texts and research of weather and water crossing levels. Some time was spent looking for first hand reports of anyone who had just completed this hike. There were none to be found. Our backpacks included water shoes for the river crossing, two headlamps with extra batteries, extra power chargers in case our phone batteries were low and plenty more. Kelly and I both had our Garmin Inreach Minis (used in case of an emergency and also to contact family members in case we were going to be getting out later than expected).
At 5 am, after a two hour drive, we arrived at an empty parking lot and the start of our hike. Twenty minutes later, with headlamps on and enthusiasm high, we were off. The trail is well marked and fairly flat. With four headlamps guiding the way, we had no difficulty navigating. Soon we were crossing a ‘bouncy’ suspension bridge over the mighty Hudson. Before we knew it, we had reached scenic Lake Jimmy and Lake Sally. Four miles in, we reached the crossing of the Opalescent River. We were happy to see the water was not too high or flowing too fast. After a bit of investigating, we found our spot to cross. Off with the hiking boots and on with water shoes. With water up to our knees, one by one, we carefully chose our footing. The water was a bit chilly but the crossing went great.
Back on with hiking boots and we were off again. We had multiple, small water crossings and blow down to go up or over or under. The leaves were so pretty as the sun filtered through them. There were lots of mushrooms and unique fungi. Our pace was steady but we made sure to stop regularly to hydrate and have some snacks. At 9 am we reached the end of the marked trail and the beginning of the herd path. We would gain most of our elevation from this point on.
The last 2 times I did this trail it was winter and you just walked on top of the snow covered rocks and roots and trucked right up the slabs of rock. It was a big difference this time. The blowdown and roots were not bad but the numerous rocky slabs had running water over very slippery slime. and that is putting it mildly. Carefully we climbed and climbed, sometimes getting off the herd path when it looked too dangerous. We each had our turn of slipping and falling. Luckily no one was injured. After a few hours of “Watch that spot there or try going over there.” We had a brief discussion as to whether we should turn back. A decision was made to keep on going.
I will say those slabs were terrifying. At 2:30 we were half way up a slimy slab where we had to cross it on a small crack. Kelly crossed first. When Mary crossed Kelly reached out and took hold of her arm and pulled her across. Joyce was next. This definitely was not fun. As Joyce began to cross, Kelly again took her arm. Joyce slipped but thankfully Kelly was able to hold her and Joyce made it across. I stood there looking at the 3 of them already across and just said, “I can’t go across that. We have made a huge rookie error. We did not choose a turn around time before we started our hike.” We had been hiking 9 hours, you could see the summit in the distance but it would have taken us almost 2 hours to climb to the top. We probably had only ⅓ of a mile to go.
It was unanimous that we had to turn around in order to get off the slick terrain before it got dark. As the Kenny Rogers song goes, “You have to know when to holdem’ and know when to foldem’”. Luckily, we had cell phone coverage and a text message was sent to a good friend who was going to let family know that we were all fine but it was going to take a long time to get out of the woods. Usually descending, we can make time but on this hike it was worse going down than up. I soon realized that it would probably be 11:30 pm before we would reach the parking lot. I had no cell service but I used my Garmin Inreach Mini to message my daughter to have her let her dad know just how late we would be.
We all felt good about our decision to turn back even after 9 hours of hiking. Descending was slow as we all had a few ‘yikes’ moments so we were being very careful. With a bit of daylight left, we were finally off the tricky slabs. With the days getting shorter darkness soon enclosed us and it was time for headlamps. For the most part, the trail was easy to follow even in the dark. We trudged along chatting and only stopping for a brief rest and to hydrate.
At 7:30 pm and 14 hours of hiking, it was comforting to finally reach the marked trail. We took a little longer break here as we still had a bit over 5 miles to go. I was pretty impressed with our group as everyone was just ready to get ‘er done. Noone complained and it was just one foot in front of the other. Maybe 2 miles before the trailhead, we spotted a headlamp in the distance coming towards us. Low and behold, it was Joyce’s husband Jim. I think he got tired of waiting and worrying so he decided to start heading in to meet us. There were a lot of stories to tell as we trudged along. I guess Mary didn’t have enough drama as she misstepped and ended up to her knees in mud. If that wasn’t enough she fell right back. Jim took hold of her poles and pulled her out of the mucky mire. That was the icing on the cake.
After hiking almost 20 miles in 18 hours, at 11:30 pm we arrived back at our vehicles. We were safe and sound and in pretty good shape considering the hike we just had. One of my biggest fears was to have to call for a ranger rescue as this one would have been our fault for not turning around earlier. Yes, we were tired and dirty but we still had a 2 hour drive home.
You may have heard the saying, ‘Of all the paths you take in life, make sure one of them is dirt.” I think the four of us can cross that off our bucket lists.
Happy Trails.