Heart of the 'Daks - Day One
Day one started out at 6:00am as I rose out of bed in Lake Placid, hopped in the car, and started on the road to the Upper Works trailhead. It was about a 75 minute drive from Lake Placid. If I had a hovercraft, I could probably get there sooner, but there are no direct roads that go from Lake Placid to the trailhead - bummer.
So, I arrive at the trailhead with my pack and a day's worth of traveling goods. I wasn't sure if my family could carry everything into the campsite that I would meet them, so I also carried a tent and my sleeping bag, even though I would not need them (yes, I really am a "bad-ace", but that's what being a Glacier Bandit is all about).
7:30am - I park the car and set out from the Upper Works trailhead, destination about 12 miles away at the Heart Lake campground. I will meet the family there. But first, I have to cross through some of the most remote country in the 'Daks. At least it seemed remote that morning, since I didn't see anyone for the first 9 miles, and the only conversation was in my head. Never mind that it was telling me that Paris Hilton has a brain and is not a media whore. But I digress...
An hour later, I'm making good progress through the woods, and come across a familiar sight in the 'Daks - the log bridge. These are built throughout the High Peaks Region, to aid hikers crossing the streams. Wouldn't want to get those fancy waterproof North Face boots wet now, would we? I have heard that bears use the bridges as well, though I cannot vouch for the authenticity of that claim.
10:00 - maybe I was expecting a little more from Indian Pass, but this is it. Sure, it's impressive, but I was hoping for a wall rising up 800' that was 10' away from me, not across a valley. One gets a better sensation in Avalanche Pass (tomorrow's blog). There was also a lot of boulders to climb over on the trail just to get to this point, which made for slow going.
10:00 - I turned around to look at where I hiked from, and this is the view that I saw. It's what I would consider a textbook view of the 'Daks - green, never-ending, and hilly. Today's trek was a little different in that the family was catching a cab to the Heart Kae campground with the rest of the camping food and supplies for 2-nights. Yes, yes, yes, I did say that it was a one-night one-way hike, but I had to drop the car off and hike back to the starting point, and that took the entire day. And while I could have gone another 8 miles, I really didn't feel like it. So there!
10:30 - It took quite a while to get through the entire Indian Pass. Here's a view looking north. The trail at this part winds up and down the side of the valley. There are several parts in which one could easily get lost. I knew that I had to travel in a NNE direction, but still, there were some points during which I really had to be very attentive of the trail markers.
11:00 - It was right about this part of the hike (keep in mind that I have been alone all morning) that I heard something very large moving through the woods across the stream. Something larger than a wolverine. Larger than a human. Larger than a deer. I'm thinking bear or moose (moose are more uncommon in the 'Daks, though). I started singing something, what it was I don't know. But I can tell you that whatever was making the noise went further back into the woods. Whether it was due to the noise I made, or that I sing terribly that caused it to leave, I do not know, but my money would be on my terrible singing.
12:25 - I reach a swimming hole populated by the human species! This means that I am getting closer to my destination of Heart Lake. I chose to hike in my Keen Sandals today, and at this point, my feet are killing me. I should have worn my Keen boots - they provide much better foot protection and arch support. So I jump in the water and swim around to cool off before heading off to the campsite.
13:00 - Here it is! The night's campsite. We had backpacking tents for the trip, because everything that we had at the site we would be packing up in the morning and carrying through the 'Daks.
How did we do it? Well, since I had the car, the family took all the gear that I did not have and had a taxi drive them to the campground. So while they were able to sleep in at our house, rise late, and then head off to the campsite, I trudged through the backcountry to the site. Once at this point, we were ready to start the next day's journey.