Nye Mtn & Street Mtn

Date:07/25/2011

Hikers:Frank, Matt, Me

Peaks:Nye Mountain (3895') (#45), Street Mountain (4166') (#31)

Trailhead: ADK Loj Parking Lot, Heart Lake

Trip Time:7 Hours (5 minute break on Nye and 20 minutes on Street)

We departed from Albany at 5:30 having our eyes set on possibly hiking the lower range. We knew that the weather was calling for showers and thunderstorms throughout the day so an 18 mile hike could be a long stretch. We didn’t have a fall back plan so decided to figure it out when we got up into the Adirondacks. We pulled over at the ADK rest stop and pulled out the map. The skies didn’t seem that bad but the more we talked about it the last thing we wanted was to be on top of a range in a thunderstorm. Also since Gothics supposedly has the best views we thought there might be a possibility of overcast at the summit. So we made a quick switch and decided to hike Street and Nye out of the ADK Loj. I had seen online that Street and Nye don’t have the best views so if we got to the summit and it was overcast we wouldn’t be too disappointed.

Me, Frank, Matt

After a quick stop in the Loj, we embarked on trying to find the trailhead. The path starts just alongside the parking booth. Frank signed us in at 8:45. The trail registry is located on the Indian Pass Trail which follows the parameter of Heart Lake. Just down the path we hung a right down the Old Nye Ski Trail. The trail was flat, smooth, barely any rocks and the tree coverage was heavy. After a relatively fast trek through the woods we approach a stream that was easy to cross because there hadn’t been too much rain recently.

Frank and Matt crossing the stream

After crossing the stream two more times and then passing a small wetland area we arrived at an old lumber jack site around 9:30. It’s a very interesting site that I wondered how long it’s been around for. After a small snack and some water we abandoned the lumber jack site for the summits.

Me at the lumber jack site

Shortly after leaving we finally started the ascent of Street and Nye. As we started our ascent we were passed by a group of 10 kids that were part of an ADK 46ers camp. The councilor explained to us how the camp is a two year long program, only taking two weeks out of each summer with the kids hiking 22 peaks one year and then hiking 24 the next year. Sounds like an ambition program but at the same it would be nice at the age of 13 to say that I’m a 46er.

Matt hiking up Street and Nye

After a back and forth battle on the trail with the camp kids we arrived at the cairn representing the split to the summits shortly before they had. To the right of the cairn there is a carving on a tree showing the direction to each summit. While we were trying to make our decision on which summit to climb first the camp kids arrived and quickly decided to hike Street. So by default we would hike Nye.

Matt at Street & Nye cairn

Little did we know, 20 minutes after leaving the cairn we would be on the summit of Nye. We reached the summit at 11:20. We literally only spent 5 minutes on the summit and decided to go directly to Street.

Me, Frank, and Matt on Nye Mountain Summit 

The hike from the cairn to split was much longer to the summit of Street. One bonus was there was a lot more trees for us to climb over (Yeah I haven’t mention this yet but if someone could count on this hike how many trees you have to climb over, I would love to know. I’m thinking it has to be around 40 trees from the trail registry to both summits). We arrived at the summit of Street around 12:15. We looked all over for the sign but couldn’t find one. We knew it was the summit because at the top the trail splits to a couple of lookouts and then drop down right off the side of the mountain. It wasn’t until I got home that I read the yellow tag is about 10ft up in a tree (Geez we weren’t looking that high up!).

Matt, Frank and Me on the summit of Street Mountain

We had lunch on top of Street and took maybe a 20 minute break. We were excited about getting out early so we were ready to go. The Nippletop and Dial Mt hike the week before was such a long day getting out early meant getting home in time for dinner and having time to relax. We hiked down the mountain with relative ease while jumping over the trees in our path (so many trees!). Behind us we could hear the camp kids hiking down signing “Lean on Me” and other songs.

Heart Lake

Matt signed us out at 2:30 and we decided to take a small break on a bench down on Heart Lake before leaving. So it rained for maybe an hour the entire trip with no thunderstorms. Thank you weather channel app on my cell phone for once again an inaccurate forecast.