Mt. Colden

This past weekend I summited Mount Colden with a group from the outing club as part of HOC's 46 peaks weekend. This was my first time hiking Colden and my first time back in the High Peaks since last spring so it was interesting to see a region of the Park other than the 90 course. We left before daybreak on Saturday and the first hour of our drive was foggy and dark--I was driving and I was having enough trouble following the road so I didn't take in much of the scenery. However, once I switched to navigating, the sun came out, and it seemed as if the world had turned to autumn overnight. The leaves on the trees were brilliant shades of orange, yellow, and red, which seemed especially vivid in the bright sunshine.

We arrived at what the trail signs called the "Adirondack Loj" by midmorning--there were so many hikers out that day we had to park a mile from the trailhead! I thought it was interesting how we discussed in class today that hiking a mountain is an ideal way to see the process of forest succession without waiting in one spot for a very long time. Looking back on the hike, the trail along the first section of our route was lined with small hardwoods. However, as we ascended, conifers made up more and more of the forest. By the start of the alpine zone at 3500 feet, the landscape was rocky and mostly barren excepts for a few species low-growing conifers.

The view from the summit was spectacular, even though we were certainly not on the highest summit nearby. Mountains surrounded us in every direction but Mount Marcy, the highest peak in New York, stands out in my recollection of the view. This was an ideal time of year to see the continuum of boreal forest throughout the Park because the bright leaves on the deciduous trees contrasted with the green hues of the conifers. It was striking to see the reds and oranges change to green at higher elevations.

Although there were many hikers out that day, we were the final day hikers to reach the summit, so we had the summit mostly to ourselves. This had me a bit worried--we actually hiked the last couple miles in the dark, navigating by iPhone flashlights. From the summit we could see the ski jumps from the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid. To me this was yet another reminder that although the Park contains a lot of undisturbed land, evidence of human impact is almost always visible.

View from the summit of Mt. Colden.
Note the concentration of hardwoods in valleys and conifers at higher elevations