The hike over was actually pretty easy, with minimal elevation loss. There was a steep ascent near the summit, but it didn't take long (and the views are great). A thin overcast that had cast its pall over us earlier had moved on, and bright and cheerful sunlight had returned. Peak number two of three had been successfully summited!
The Adirondack High Peaks
Algonquin, Colden, and Marcy
The hike back to Times Square was quite easy. It became apparent that Brian (or Brian's snowshoes) didn't like going downhill, and our progress was quite slow on the downhill sections. Still, we made it back to Times Square by about 3:30pm. It was going to be a long and late day, no question. However, we weren't going to give up on our third peak, Panther, because it was so trivially easy from Times Square: about 400metres of horizontal distance and about 200 feet of elevation gain.
In no time at all we were scrambling up the final rocky step to Panther's scenic little summit. It was getting to be late afternoon, however, and the sun was sinking fast. Time to head down, hopefully getting to the trail at Bradley Pond before nightfall.
The way down was slow. Brian was having a hard time going downhill, and it took us a very long time to get back to Bradley Pond (and it was well after dark when we did). Compounding things, Brian's snowshoe came off again and he had to spend time going back to retrieve it. After this, Ewart, Jenn and I decided that Brian was going to hike ahead of us, no matter what. We didn't want to be delayed by any more snowshoe incidents!
MacIntyres after sunset
We started the long, monotonous walk back to the car, finally reaching it at 8:30pm. It had taken us sixteen-and-a-half hours to do this hike, and I was not relishing the 3 hour drive back to Ottawa. Especially since I had woken up to drive down here at 11:30pm the day before! A stop at the Stewarts Gas station in Long Lake for some tasties (and an energy drink for myself to prop my eyelids open for the way back), and we were ready for the drive home. What an epic day!
Interactive Track and Photo Map - The Santanonis - double click to expand.
Start Time:
4:02a.m.
End Time:
8:31p.m.
Duration:
16h29m
Distance:
27.19 km
(16.89 mi)
Average Speed:
1.6 km/hr
(1.0 mph)
Start Elevation:
1756ft
(535m)
*
Max Elevation:
4637ft
(1413m)
*
Min Elevation:
1753ft
(534m)
*
End Elevation:
1767ft
(538m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Total Elevation Gain:
4683ft
(1427m)
*
Total Elevation Loss:
4670ft
(1423m)
*
* : +/- 75 feet
Elevation Graph
