Winter Weekend in Keene (Avalanche Pass hike)

This past weekend Sarah and I visited one of our favorite places in the world, the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks. I booked the weekend for the two of us and put it under the Christmas tree for Sarah, although it's just as much a present for me, too. We stayed at the shiny new Dartbrook Lodge in Keene. As is to be expected at an Adirondack lodge, rustic is the theme, and they pull it off nicely.

We arrived to bitter cold temperatures on Friday night. It was the kind of cold that makes you cough when you take a deep breath and freezes whatever may be in your nose at the time. The temperature gauge read as low as 16 below on our return trip to the lodge after dinner in Lake Placid. Despite the cold, Saturday morning we planned a hike through the spectacular Avalanche pass. The hike starts slowy, departing from the Adirondack Loj and heading to Marcy Dam. The sun did try and fight through the trees from time to time, giving us some nice shots along the trail.

Eventually we began the steep climb up into the pass and saw the results of a recent avalanche, evident by the barren slopes above and the tangled mess of trees in the pass.

After climbing down from the pass, we emerged on to the frozen shores of Avalanche Lake. It was an incredible sight, sheer cliffs rising directly out of the lake on each side. We ventured out on to the lake just far enough to get a view of the famous Trap Dike on Mount Colden, but were forced to turn back by the bone-chilling wind (that really doesn't do it justice...it was more of a bone-freezing wind). Fortunately, we were able to snap a couple of pictures before our hands became entirely useless. We returned the way we came, completing the 9.2 mile hike in just shy of 5 hours. Of course, we rewarded ourselves with a beer and some soup from the Lake Placid Pub & Brewery before heading back to the lodge.

Well, I've just finished my beer (from the LPP&B, of course) and it is getting late, so I will get to the remainder of the weekend at another time. For now, enjoy a few more pictures from the hike (the whole album is available via the link in the margin above) and we'll be back with more soon.