Once up on the height of land at the herdpath junction, we dropped our packs and headed over to Nye. The herdpath continued to be excellent - well-defined, solid, no blowdown. We were at Nye mountain's summit sign in no time at all. Winter 46er number 23 for me - halfway!
The trek over to Street was similarly quick and uneventful. We decided to have our lunch at the excellent (and really, the only) lookout just beyond Street's summit. From here, you are treated to an excellent and close-up view of the entire MacIntyre range: Wright Peak, Algonquin, Boundary, and Iroquois ( Marshall, too, since that is also technically part of the MacIntyre Range).
While eating lunch at the summit, two other winter hikers arrive at the lookout, and I recognize them as the same two hikers that we encountered on our last hike (up Seymour) two weeks ago. They recognize us, too, and we exchange pleasantries, names (hi, Danielle and Dave!), and a few pictures. (Note: if you guys are reading this, and would like the high-res source image of the picture we took of you guys, just drop me a line using the 'feedback' button on the left).
After a good little break and a tasty lunch, it is time to go. We head down with our snowpants on in hopes of a bit of trail-sliding (which was so succesful on Seymour two weeks ago). When we get to the steep parts, though, we find that the snow is not quite as fast and not quite as steep as on Seymour, so there are only limited sections where we can butt-slide. Danielle and Dave have zoomed on ahead of us, intent on perhaps summiting Phelps today (in addition to just doing Street and Nye - good show, guys!).
Our own pace, while not as fast as they, is still pretty good, and we are back at the Brook in only about an hour and a half after leaving the summit. My Camera (a Canon 20D) develops an error code and will not take any more pictures, which concerns me a bit. I figure perhaps some sort of condensation problem [update: later on at home I discover that it was probably because my lens wasn't quite mounted properly].
After the brook, it is a fairly leisurely 30 to 40 minutes back to the trailhead, which we reach at 2:30pm.
Oh, and, Ewart - many thanks for those purply alien-looking licorice men. yummy!
Interactive trackmap with photo points - click map to expand
Start Time:
7:56a.m.
End Time:
2:34p.m.
Duration:
6h37m
Distance:
13.82 km
(8.59 mi)
Average Speed:
2.1 km/hr
(1.3 mph)
Start Elevation:
2120ft
(646m)
*
Max Elevation:
4261ft
(1299m)
*
Min Elevation:
1956ft
(596m)
*
End Elevation:
2180ft
(664m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Total Elevation Gain:
2835ft
(864m)
*
Total Elevation Loss:
2747ft
(837m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Elevation Graph
