Happiness on Hurricane Mountain.

  As the weather slowly changes from dog days of summer to a cool, comfortable and colorful autumn climate, we headed out to Hurricane mountain in the northeastern territory of the Adirondacks in N.Y. for, what I considered to be, the most colorful and entertaining sunset/ sunrise adventure yet.

Evan is very excited about the Fall foliage...

   We started our hike from the Crow Clearing trail head, which is on the north side of the mountain. The trail started smooth with a gradual incline through hardwoods until it reached a junction for the Soda Range trail, where we continued to the right, crossing a gently flowing stream. There's a few designated tent sites and a lean-to in this area for those looking to stay a night, but we were attempting to camp as close to the summit as possible for easier access for a sunset/ sunrise, but it was comforting to know these sites were here if all else fails.

The colors were high and low

   The trail continued as an easy hike, with a few rocky areas sprinkled in between, until we approached a slightly technical rock scramble, before the slopes of the summit, where we were surrounded by strong winds and nothing but the white cloud scenery as the summit was engulfed within the clouds.

The cloudy summit, before IT happened...

   Clouds were being pushed along by strong winds, which produced glimpses of rolling hills and mountain peaks, with small pockets of color in the trees spread throughout the surrounding Adirondack Park. As these  glimpses of scenery captured our attention we heard faint sounds of laughter and yelling coming from the summit, when we noticed it... The Yahoo train!!

Evan's grimace at THE sound!

   The peaceful solitude of the woods and mountains are sometimes broken when large groups of people venture off the concrete trails of society into the vast wilderness, destroying the tranquility of the forest. When the winds on a summit are strong enough to quell the conversation between two hikers, but you are able to hear the yelling, laughter and sounds of a mass group of people, that's when you know the Yahoo train has loaded and is in full steam ahead mode!

  We quickly found shelter from the winds behind a huge rock outcropping and waited for the train to slowly, and noisily, meander it's way through the open faced summit destroying the peaceful sanctum of the outdoors.

One of the many naps Lucy took.

   When the outdoor sanctum became quiet once more we emerged from our hidden bunker and walked the hundred yards or so to the abandoned fire tower which marked the summit.

Evan returned to his happy self when the caboose passed by.

   After realizing the clouds and winds weren't subsiding anytime soon we headed down the trail in search of a place to camp. We found a very small flat area approximately 150- 200 feet off trail that sufficed for a one night stay.

Lucy was helping setting camp... Maybe she was just staying out of my way

Our camp off the trail.

  We set up camp, cooked some dinner and returned to the summit area where the clouds had dispersed and the winds were at comfortable levels later in the afternoon.

The view from the tower.

As the sun was setting...

   The sunset was phenomenal, although the sun wasn't fully in view, the clouds, colors and sun rays, casting into the tree tops on the valleys below, changed by the seconds with the winds.

Hunkered down with Lucy resting once more

The layers of clouds morphed by the second

   After the bright orange glow set on the horizon and the darkness was approaching we knew any hopes of star gazing was useless with the amount of clouds still floating overhead, so we returned to camp and hunkered down for the night as the winds blew across the treetops over us until morning.

Where does Lucy end and Evan begin?

   The morning came quickly, but luckily we had a five minute scramble to the viewing area for the morning show. The approach was pleasant, with clouds still moving aggressively with the winds, but fortunately most of them were well above the 3500' elevation we were at with some fast floating ones at different elevations below, which usually make for fantastic colors.

   The sunrise was one of the most fantastic ones that I've encountered yet, due to the winds, clouds and the cloud levels within the atmosphere. Every second the view morphed into scenery that was more grand than the one before.

   We enjoyed the morning and returned to camp to have some Markle Morning Mocha Maddness breakfast cereal, trademark pending, and break down camp.

The morning madness.

   With the hike down being only a couple miles of easy hiking we took our time and enjoyed every moment on the trail with the colors of autumn beginning all around us.

Lucy did make it out... with help.

Evan's Blog:  evanhike.blogspot.com
 

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Hike Down: www.strava.com