Allen — 46 Hiking Highs

I’d been dreading this peak for a while. Mostly because of the length of the hike, and its remoteness (kind of off by itself, and out of the way). We ended up pushing this out one day later, since the weather for the previous morning was iffy, but today looked to be great. We stayed in the southern Adirondacks the night before, got up at 4:45 a.m., and were on the road by about 5:10. The drive threw us off, since it was light already, and we’re so used to driving to the trailhead in the dark. In the car, we had some breakfast sandwiches that we’d prepared the night before. We got to the lot on Upper Works Road (just past McIntyre Furnace), with just a handful of cars in it. It’s good to note that there’s a conveniently located outhouse just past the trailhead. It was 49 degrees outside - delightful for a strenuous summer hike. We decided we’d start out in sandals, since we’d read that we needed to ford the Hudson on foot (just 500 feet from the trailhead). A lot of the initial logistics ended up slowing us down a bit, so we really didn’t hit the trail in earnest until 6:40 a.m. We estimated the hike would take us roughly 14 hours, so we should still be alright with daylight.

When we arrived at the Hudson, we were surprised to find that there was a bridge crossing it. In fact, the wobbly, slanted suspension bridge looked quite old, and didn’t give us a lot of confidence as it bounced up and down while we held the side cables, with just a metal screen loosely thrown on the sides to keep us on the structure. After crossing, we strapped on our boots and gaiters, and headed along the trail. The old floating bridge that used to span Jimmy Pond was long gone, and the trail clearly now headed left, and around the pond. The trail was flat and loaded with the usual muddy stretches here and there. We very quickly got to the non-descript turn off for Mount Adams, and took the East River Trail to the right, passing by the abandoned blue-green ranger cabin. Passing Lake Sally, the trail became downright pleasant. It was a narrow herd trail that was quite flat and surprisingly very dry. I’d read a posting earlier in the week that the trail was all mud and bugs. Not the case for us - very few bugs (probably due to the lower temperatures). We commented several times about how perfect the weather was for this hike—a rare cool, dry, clear summer day. A solo hiker passed by and noted that the sandals hanging from our packs would be good for crossing the Opalescent River, which was a few miles ahead. He continued past us at a faster pace.

Suspension bridge over the Hudson River

An easy, pleasant stroll, a bit past Lake Sally

At 8:15, roughly 4 miles into our hike, we reached the Opalescent River. We scouted it out, wondering if we could do it with our boots on, but found no great places to cross. After a few minutes, a couple of guys also came to this spot, telling us about how one of them had fallen in at this location last year, forcing them to turn around. All four of us searched for the best options, and finally, Alex and I strapped on our sandals and easily just walked through the stream. The other two took off their boots, and did similarly, with bare feet. On the other side, we toweled-off and as we began rebooting, a solo woman came by on the same route, in just running shoes, and walked right through the stream and past us as if nothing and no one was even there! We all got a big laugh out of it, and joked that she was probably whispering, “Pansies!” under her breath. All told, the crossing probably took us about 25 minutes.

Alex in the middle of the Opalescent, hoping to find a way across without removing his boots

After crossing, we headed uphill (the East River Trail), opting to bypass the route towards Fujacks Road, which is shorter, but reportedly a much more difficult trail, in lousy condition. The more northerly trail we took towards the Allen Mountain trail was very nice, and again a nice easy flat trail through the woods, with just a couple of relatively simple rock-hop stream crossings. We made a hard left on the abandoned Opalescent Road, where it intersected the trail, then an immediate right into a large clearing at 9:23. This is about 5.5 miles in, and the clearing has been said to be an ideal parking area, if the roads are ever restored, although it seems like that plan has been killed (the lengthier hike certainly makes this more of a deterrent). AllTrails indicated there was a trail register here, but we looked around and found none.

The clearing just past the intersection with Opalescent Road (the arches are lens flares)

A gentle uphill hike began around here, and lasted for a while. It was a nice warmup for what was to come. Alex and I took our time at a slower pace than usual. After passing Skylight Brook, the trail noticeably steepened for the last 3 miles. A handful of groups of two or three people passed us on the way up. I kept apologizing to Alex for my slow pace, but he indicated that he wasn’t quite up to his usual pace either and rather enjoyed the pace we were hiking. Our path crossed by several waterfalls and streams, and right around 1:00 p.m. we hit the base of the landslide—a large slab of bare rock covered with infamous wet, red algae that is extremely slippery. We followed the advice of others, sticking to the right until we got to the main expanse of the open slope, then following the rock cairns, stepping over the wet spots, and over to the left side, where we pulled ourselves up along the trees (while two guys descended, bitterly cursing the difficult descent). There were great views to the east at this spot. I’d read it was only about 15 minutes from the slide to the summit, but it took more than that for us. There’s a deceptive flat ridge towards the top, where the trail heads northeast and you feel like you’re there, but there’s one more area to haul yourself up another 20 feet before you find the summit marker.

Beware of the red algae on the rocks!

We summitted at 1:37 p.m., exhausted. Alex’s knee was strained, and we were both quite hungry. We unceremoniously passed the summit, and continued north a short distance to the viewpoint, where we sat down to eat, rest, and take in the beautiful views of Redfield, Skylight, Marcy, and Haystack to the north. A very fit man and woman probably in their 30s joined us after about 5 minutes. The man was a competitive runner in these mountains and the woman had just completed 44 of the 46 High Peaks. After about 20 minutes, each pair took photos for other two, then we left and took some more photos from the summit. We took a few moments to see if we could find the supposed trail to a viewpoint to the east, but both of us were tired, and really wanted to get on our way back.

Another one bites the dust!

Viewpoint from Allen

More views

The hike back was long, and painful. Alex’s knee and hips hurt, and I slipped and fell a couple of times, cutting a finger, and hurting my shoulder (though, not badly). It was a long hike down, but we knew it would be. At least we knew that most of it would be flat. We commented how every person we’d spoken to on the trail was an aspiring 46er who was close to completing all 46. There weren’t many people on the trail either - probably only about 8 groups, totaling maybe 15 people. That seemed appropriate for this hike. Perfect hiking day, but only the 46er-wannabes bother with this one. We were on a mission to get to the Opalescent, which was a relieving joy to cross this time, we cooled our feet in the water, then doctored up some wounds on the other side. When we passed the abandoned station, we took a quick peek inside, but it was almost empty, with nothing too remarkable. Very weary, we finally returned to the trailhead at 8:43 p.m. - right at dusk, and almost exactly 14 hours after we’d started. Just as we’d estimated it would be. The temperature on the car read 60 degrees. Perfect weather, and mission accomplished, but the mountain certainly took its toll on us. We were very relieved when we finally arrived back at the house at 10 p.m.

Abandoned ranger cabin