The quest to finish 46 peaks in 10 years continues! This year makes year 2 of our quest and we decided to conquer the Santanoni Range which is 3 peaks, Santanoni, Couchsachraga, and Panther and the following day we planned for Giant and Rocky Peak Ridge. Since these are very far apart, we stayed in Schroon Lake at the Maple Leaf Motel. It is roughly 45 minutes from Santanoni Range and 20 from Giant and Rocky. It was one of the cheapest places and they were kind enough to take out one of our nights because we canceled hiking due to weather!
We decided to start hiking by 7 am since it is roughly a 17 mile hike. We arrived at the parking lot to find one other car there with 3 gentleman who also said, "It's supposed to clear up right?". It was pouring rain... Of course this hike is known for how muddy it is and the difficulty of finding the trail due to it being unmarked and not maintained. We were hopeful that it couldn't be any worse than the Dix Range last year... but I think in the end we both agreed, the Dix Range was easier.
We started our hike on a wide trail following the blue markers. The rain started to stop and we started getting bit my mosquitoes. We had spray, but I don't think it was enough. Once we got the first fork we met again with the 3 guys and there was a couple coming up behind us. We all were trying to figure out where was best, the couple flew past saying they were going to Panther first. Us 5 decided to go the same trail, to the right, and then at the next fork is where we would go left to head to Santanoni first.
The fork to head to Panther or Santanoni is pretty obvious with a huge cairn. If you go left, you'll head to Santanoni and right takes you to Panther. Soon after this, we met with the 3 men again because there was a large stream we needed to cross. Chelsea and I packed our keens and since Chelsea had already gotten one foot covered in mud, we switched to our keens. Then we found perfectly put rocks to cross it easily. Then we headed along the water... which then turned into us hiking up small waterfalls for probably 2-3 miles.
Finally we could look behind us and see peaks! We were beyond happy that the weather cleared up.
Once we reached Santanoni Mountain, we all exchanged names and laughed that ironically two of them are physicians (trying to retire) and us two are nurses! Well, we had a lot to talk about naturally.
One of their friends headed back down and the rest of us kept going to the next peaks. The decent down Santanoni is pretty, but very steep!
Once we got to a fork we were a little confused. 'Times Square' is a term on this hike describing an intersection to all the peaks. When hiking down Santanoni you'll find that the break off for Couchsachraga is before 'Times Square'. So at the next fork go left to Couch and go right for Panther.
Couchsachraga is the shortest peak of the 46 and is less than 4,000 feet elevation. When the 46 peaks were established they thought it was 4,000 feet, but the advanced technology today has proved it is not. They kept the 46 peaks the same and everyone who wants to become a 46er, has to do it. Going to this mountain was difficult as Chelsea started to develop multiple blisters and us 4 worked together with mole skin and other methods to cut down on the irritation. The hike to cough is a tease. You decent steeply and then go back up and of course there is this thing called a 'bog' you have to cross. This is what it looks like.
Well... the tree stumps are great if you don't slip off which I did. I had mud up to my knee... I couldn't believe how deep it was! We had to keep going and finally we reached the peak!
Then we had to head back through the bog and to the real Times Square. Once we got there, look for the rocks pointing to Panther to lead you the right way! Going to Panther was not as muddy as the bog, but truthfully the entire trail was pretty bad from the rain the day and night prior. Getting to Panther is really quick and the views are worth it.
Due to shoe changes, trying to soak up views, and trying to find the trail we soon realized we would be hiking in the dark on the way down. Our goal was to get to the blue marked trail before sundown and we did it! Trying to find a trail in the dark was not something any of us wanted to do. Chelsea and I were very happy that we met John and Joe since hiking in the dark alone would have been terrifying! It was almost 14 hours of hiking, Chelsea had blisters, a tree branch ripped my pants, we were covered in mud and blood, but in the end, it was a difficult hike with great people!
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