Right Day, Wrong Trail

On Thursday, I helped a brother priest, who'd help me celebrate my 40th, celebrate his 30th birthday.  Fr. Scott and I spent Wednesday night in one of the lean-tos at Camp Guggenheim and, after a hearty pancake breakfast (and rather leisurely morning), set off on the day's adventures.

Fr. Scott's well on his way to becoming a 46er, and had chosen for us to climb both Street and Nye Mountains--two of the Adirondack's 46 High Peaks.  We set off from the Adirondack Loj rather later than we wanted to (or ought have), and continued along on the level rather longer than seemed right...until we came to Rocky Falls...which made it clear that things we very far from right.

Yes, the trail to Street and Nye is supposed to cross Indian Pass Brook (the same stream we saw here, surging along with spring melt-off), but we'd somehow blown right by our turn about 2 miles earlier, and there really wasn't any way to salvage our intended trip (at least, no reasonable way).  We ate our lunch looking at the falls, and I reminded Fr. Scott that he'd once said to me, "Any day in the woods is a good day."  (I'm not sure he was buying his own advice at that moment.)  Our error was probably for the best, since our delayed start would have made it questionable that we'd bag even one of those peaks, leave alone both of them.  And, hey--they're not exactly going anywhere.

Not wanting this mountaineer to pass such an auspicious day without reaching any Adirondack summit, I suggested a climb up Mount Jo, which Fr. Scott had never done.  We might not have climbed a High Peak, but we'd at least get a good view of a whole bunch of them.

Here you see (L to R) Marcy, Colden, and Algonquin looming above Heart Lake.  And farther to the right/northwest...

...we could, of course, also see Street (center) and Nye (right).  To be conquered another day!