We’d planned to hike Esther Mountain, but due to a lousy forecast, decided to hike Street and Nye instead, since we’d have no views there anyway, and we’d get to hike two of the trailless peaks. The weather was as forecasted when we got to the HPIC parking lot. Under very heavy rain, cold temperatures, and very strong winds, we hit the trail at 9:00 a.m.

The early portion of the trail had a lot of blown down trees from heavy winds the night before. The trail was completely covered with leaves but was identifiable, since there was an obvious trail to follow; It just wasn’t maintained or signed. Somehow, I’d imagined that the trailless peaks had no trails whatsoever and involved simply bushwhacking. I was glad that wasn’t true. I led the hike for the first half hour or so. Since the trail is unmaintained, the Indian Pass Brook crossing (1.4 miles in) was tougher than anticipated, with no bridge or large steppingstones. After unsuccessfully seeking alternatives, we walked through the shin-deep water, drenching our feet and ensuring that it felt like we walked on sponges for the rest of the hike. The weather stayed around 45°, though, and the hiking did keep our wet feet warm. The rain continued on-and-off, and the wind eventually abated. Although not a difficult climb, I slowed to take up the rear. The trail was just a big muddy, slippery slog. About 3 miles in, it appeared we were at the Street/Nye saddle, and we made a sharp right turn, and continued up some very steep terrain. As I thought we neared the summit of Nye, I was surprised to find we had just reached the real junction! We decided to ascend Street Mountain, the tougher climb first.

The hike from here wasn’t too bad, and we summited Street Mountain at around 12:20 p.m. It was cold, wet, and windy, with only clouds visible through the few breaks in the completely treed summit, which was identified by a sign high up on a tree. We descended back to the col, where we ate lunch in a downpour, then ascended Nye Mountain very quickly (in 5-10 minutes) at 1:15 p.m. This summit was also tree covered.

Summit Marker for Street Mountain

Due to the rains the descent was very muddy and slippery, and the trail turned into a small stream. We didn’t see any others on the trail during our entire hike. When we returned to Indian Pass Brook, around 3:20 p.m., the water was a torrent, and had risen about 2 feet since we crossed it 5½ hours earlier! We fruitlessly looked for other places to cross and consulted our map, which showed no bridges anywhere nearby. We (tentatively) attempted to link arms and cross the 50’+ wide stream using a chain procedure but turned back after four of us got in the water and found it way too high, cold, and fast. Jeff asked if anyone had a rope. I did have a long, sturdy nylon rope in my pack, but didn’t fess up to it. This was too wide and too dangerous, and I was not about to attempt any crossing here.

We regrouped on a low ridge and discussed creating a fire (Jeff was sure he could do it with the wet birch bark) and shelter to avoid hypothermia. Jeff called the Adirondack Emergency Help Line for assistance. He had a very weak signal and made broken contact, then his cell phone died. I tried my phone and was able to talk to the ranger (Joe LaPierre) who told us to follow the brook downstream to a private bridge about 2½ miles to the northeast, where he would secure permission for us to cross. The bushwhack downstream was difficult with extremely thick brush and many smaller feeder streams to cross. Eight of these streams were dammed by beavers, which turned out to be a boon for us. All dams were about 6' high and ranged from 15’ to 300' long! We crossed the streams by walking along the top of each of these dams. John was in rough shape with a slightly injured leg but managed along. I was in periodic contact with the rangers so they could monitor our progress.

Two hours later, at 6:00 p.m., we heard the rangers calling to us in the woods and made contact. They escorted us over the bridge at the “Last Chance Ranch” property, just as night fell. We were loaded into the covered bed of a pickup truck and driven back to the parking lot, where they filled out reports at the HPIC. We drove away very tired and wet, but very much relieved.