LOCALadk Magazine

Summer 2016 LOCALadk Magazine 22 LOCALadk At the herdpath near Uphill Lean-to we took the first of many reenergizing breaks, we were making excellent time. The herd path is not an opportunity to make time, but it does gain elevation. We had posted about our upcoming ad- venture to a Facebook group, however, no one replied. A mile up the herd path we ran into a couple friends, they had seen the post and knew they might run into us. They had already been on Cliff and were coming off Redfield and heading over to do Gray, Sky- light, then out over Marcy. We finally reached the split in Uphill Brook and continued our forward motion. With a quick check of the GPS we scrambled over the open rock. Numerous hidden waterfalls and pot holes afforded us some of the finest beauty we had seen in a while. Our climb narrowed as we approached Skylight. We reached the final split in the brook and followed it a bit further toward Moss Pond. Moss Pond is noted as some of the thickest forest known to man and beast and has often been used as a gateway between Red- field and Skylight; we DID NOT want to go there. We continued up the stream as it became a two foot causeway through the black spruce. Now a quarter mile from Moss Pond, we could see the historical rumors were in fact, not rumors at all. Break time, we had to refuel and consume some electrolytes before we started swimming through the dense boreal forest. We were now at about 4200' in elevation with nearly 800' left to climb in less than a half mile, it would be steep. Tree trunks were mantled in moss; others stood dead as snags, Charles Ernest Fay was once asked, "Why bushwhack?" His re- sponse was, "To prolong the luxury of the forest to the last possi- ble moment." Luxury might be stretching it a bit, but I know what he means: it is hard to give up the forest's beauty at the end. This might explain why I prefer to bushwhack. I used to say, "Because it is there," when I was asked, but since I read the Fay quote, my answer is just too vague. My motivation to bushwhack the 46 High Peaks was actually quite easy. I picked up this book called, "A Bushwhackers View of the Adirondacks," by John Winkler and that sparked the inspira- tion. He was the first person and the only person known to have bushwhacked all the 46, I was driven to be the second. Skylight on this day that I am about to tell you about was my #46 to com- plete that journey. It has been a few years now since Corenne and I endeavored on this nearly 18 mile trek in the High Peaks Region, but it remains fresh in our minds. The other 45 High Peaks seemed much easier as a whole in comparison to what we would encounter on this 4926' peak, which just so happens to be the fourth highest in the state. We anticipated a long, hard day and started with headlamps at full beam. The intense moonlight showed us the way. The beams of the headlamps de- tracted from the moonlight ambiance, as all we could see now was what was right in front of us. The forest awakened: branches cracked and leaves rustled. We were blinded by the light in front of us and we couldn't realize what was so curi- ous around us, squirrels and nut hatches I'm sure, anything more than that, doubtful. The weather was looking to be perfect; we had been waiting for a forecast like this for some time, but would the weatherman be accurate in his "draw from the hat" predic- tion? We shall see. The trail passed beneath us in prime fashion even with the re- cent rains we had experienced. It was beginning to warm up, but maybe that was just us in our hot pursuit to put some trail behind us. The headlamps came off a bit before Flowed Lands and we collectively stashed them back in our dilly bags for later. The trail section around Flowed Lands always catches us by surprise; we never remember it being such a chore. Now in our long pants we were starting to feel the summer heat rise as the sun started to create some serious humidly. We splashed our face in the river to cool off a bit before we started the climb up along the Opales- cent to the herd path for Redfield. My study of the map and knowledge of the Redfield herd path gave me the notion that following Uphill Brook would be a grand route for success. If you are at all familiar with the herd path for Redfield you may recall where it splits and the herd path takes a hairpin turn to the right, this is where we went straight toward the western slopes of this massif. Inches felt like feet, feet felt like yards, and yards felt like we were finally getting someplace.

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