MACINTYRE WEST skiing

Feb 25, 2023 - MacIntyre West from Bradley Pond trailhead. The original plan was to go to Lake Andrew & loop around on the Sucker Brook & Overlook trails. 5F at the start but no wind, got up into the teens later. The blue trail was well-packed by snowshoers heading for the Santanonis. A small brook had to be crossed, lucky that some of it had good ice (the temp had dropped to minus 16 overnight). At 1.8 miles, all tracks headed R into the woods - we continued straight on the woods road - breaking trail was not too difficult. The gate is no more but that sign is still at the bridge. At a Y, we bore L (the R heads uphill to the N). Soon reached the first of many spots where DEC had removed culverts, creating a ditch with humps on either side - ok visually with 15-20" of snow but I can imagine that they look unnaturally ugly when there is no snow - DEC's plan is "reforestation". At one spot the road had been washed out deeply & it was a scramble with some bushwhacking to get around it - DEC plans to either repair it or erect a bridge. For the most part, the trenches were not too hard to get past but they did slow our progress. The mindset reminded me of paddling Adirondack streams that had beaver dams every 100-200 feet - how many dams am I willing to pull over before I decide to turn around? We decided to turn around after going 2.6 miles & explore the R fork, Fish Pole Rd, back at the Y. There were trenches here but they weren't too bad & made the return ski a bit more interesting. At the top of the hill, I saw lovely open woods to our R, so we skied to the top of a 2,250-foot hill - it had been snowing lightly (a hazy sun still tried to let its presence be known), otherwise, we may have had some interesting thru-the-trees views. Back down to the woods road & headed NE, found a way to cross a stream & found some more open woods for some play, then headed back out. Gross el gain of 770'. 7 miles, 4.2 hours.

    

Mar 1, 2019 – MacINTYRE WEST ski, from Bradley Pond trailhead. High Peaks Wilderness. 6” powder on crunchy base, a bit sticky in the sun. At 1.8 miles, snowshoe-packed blue trail turns R – I continued straight ahead breaking trail on the Upper Rd. Passed old register box for the Santanoni Club at 2.2 miles – I picked up a map of the trail network here in 2016, none this time. Mostly uphill, but trail is wide & smooth (like Camp Santanoni). Most camps have been removed but I saw 3 that remain as of now, 1st at 3.4 miles. At 3rd camp, 3.6 miles, I turned L on Lake Trail (no signs or markers), soon reaching a clearing where a camp had been – great view of Santanoni Peak. Gain of over 500' from start. Went a little further, the route to Lake Andrew becomes more trail-like & less road-like, turned around before the lake. View of Algonquin/Colden/Marcy from top of hill on way back. 8 miles.

Reports to come but here is a map, there are a lot of trails in there, Upper Rd comes in from Bradley Pond trailhead in Tahawus:

2-1-2016 Upper Rd to Lake Trail & Lake Andrew + Bowl Trail.  Today's Adirondack ski was in the MacIntyre West tract (recently purchased by NYS) from the Bradley Pond trailhead in Tahawus. Most of the time spent on the Upper Road, a wide dirt road, but also on the narrower Bowl Trail & Lake Trail to Lake Andrew. Camps in the tract are to be removed in a couple of years. Covered over 12 miles today.

2-21-2016 Upper Rd to Doodle Bug Trail. Adirondack Mountain Club Albany Chapter trip in the MacIntyre West Tract in Tahawus, south of the High Peaks. From the Bradley Pond trailhead we skied up on the Upper Rd & down the Doodle Bug Trail to a clearing at the Lower Rd. No snow in the Albany area but over a foot here. 1,600' of gross elevation, 12 miles round-trip.

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