I've only been to the Adirondacks a few times over the years, so when Evan planned our sunrise hike for May at Pharaoh Lake Wilderness in the Adirondacks, I was anticipating another fantastic trip with different scenery.
Pharaoh Lake Wilderness is a 46,000+ acre piece of the Adirondacks, which is located in between Schroon Lake and the Vermont border of NY. Our hike started from Crane Pond Road onto Crane Pond Trail, which is a quintessential old Fire Warden, or logging road, in the Northeast. Rolling through old growth pines while following Alder Creek to Alder Pond, passing Goose Pond trail on the right. Most of this old road was still passable with four wheel drive and moderate grades for easy hiking.
The trail ended at the intersection of Long Swing Trail and Pharaoh Mt Trail, which was to the right, where we had planned our stealth camping destination somewhere close to Pharaoh mountain summit.
Shortly after taking the right onto Pharaoh Mt. Trail we came to Crane Pond where designated campsites and a privy were established. The area was beautiful and definitely appeared as a possible place to return and explore... But our mission lay a few more miles up the trail.
After approximately three miles from the trail head we were approaching the base of Pharaoh mountain where the trail climbed approximately 1300' in less than a mile and a half.
We approached the summit rewarded with splendid views of the High Peaks to the Northwest, when Evan did his usual peak naming while pointing off into the horizon.
The summit was unique, having ledges with stunning views on all sides and enough area with trees in the middle to offer a designated camping area out of the wind. If every summit was formed like this our sunrise hikes would be easy!
The weather this May hadn't cooperated with us yet and this weekend's forecast wasn't predicting skies for a perfect sunrise, but with clouds in the forecast it gave us unique shades of colors for the sunset and sunrise with easily reached ledges from the tent, so no extra time for hiking was needed.
The morning brought steady 20-30 mph winds with chilling temps, but after the summits of the last 5 winter months it was pleasant not to worry about frostbite...
With the early morning wake-up call, and practically rolling out of the tent with no warm-up hike, Evan hunkered down behind a rock outcropping to be out of the wind while awaiting the illuminating clouds hiding the sun beyond the eastern horizon.
Without the proper camera, and skills to operate, the photos captured with an older smart phone are difficult to show the beauty of the uniqueness of clouds as the vibrant shades of color lit up the early morning sky on the horizon.
After breaking down camp we slowly meandered down the southeastern side of the summit on Pharaoh Mountain trail until we arrived at the quiet shores of Pharaoh Lake. We headed northeast for less than a mile along the shore where there was plenty of peaceful designated campsites within steps of the water until we came to the junction of Glidden Marsh to Pharaoh Lake trail, where we headed Northwest along the eastern base of Pharaoh Mt.
This part of the wilderness was mostly flat with some water crossings until we arrived at Glidden Marsh, where the trail ran along the shore with the slopes of Pharaoh mt across the picturesque marsh. We rested here for a while before we slung the packs onto our backs and finished the loop returning us to the intersection of Pharaoh Mountain Trail, which we followed back to the trail head where our vehicle awaited us.
The Route: Day one
Day two
Evan's Blog: EvanHikes
Enjoyed the write up & pics...
ReplyDeleteGreat tent site!
The photos of the white water flowing through the dark colored rock & green moss is really neat.