Not unlike Alton Mountain, Mt. Andrew does not get a tremendous amount of visitation. In fact, until October 1, 2014, it was illegal to go there without getting special permission or having a membership in one of the clubs that leases the land upon which Andrew "sits". This land parcel is referred to as the Macintyre West Tract.
On Oct. 1, the land was turned over to the public and upon learning that I immediately planned on going. Besides, like Alton, Andrew is on the 3k list.
For some strange reason the thread I started didn't draw a multitude of would-be Andrew visitors, however BillB was interested (there’s one in every crowd) and so yesterday morning we began the road walk to the Santas. For the first time ever we continued walking westward down the road and passed two gates and some ominous signage that will have to be removed.
I had the Macintyre West tract outlined as an active route in my GPS. It was my belief that the lands to the east were out of bounds, being governed by a conservation easement. My inquiry to the local ranger regarding the lands surrounding the tract led to my email being forwarded to the DEC for clarification but I have yet to receive a reply. So, we played it safe and walked past the virtual boundary on my GPS screen until we were pretty much due north of Andrew and proceeded to ascend it via a long curving ridge that culminated in a small sub-summit that we baptized Andrew West.
We enjoyed face-on views of the Twin Slides and summit of Santanoni, which appeared deceptively close. When it became time to drop 3 contour intervals into the Andrew-Andrew West col we encountered cliffs, blowdown and pleasant ferns. The ascent of Andrew from this angle was extremely steep and gnarly and we zig-zagged in such a way as to avoid the many small rock faces. It was short and thoroughly enjoyable, especially when we caught views across A-West to Santa.
The pitch eased off and we thought we were on top but decided to walk south along the lengthy ridge for a while to make sure. We took a direct line back to the road and made it back in half the time. On the road we noticed that the entire sky was blue, which contrasted beautifully with the vivid fall colors. The air itself was pungent with the sweet and musty aroma of decay. There is nothing quite like the smell of rotting vegetation to titillate one’s senses.
Back at the turn-off to Santa we changed into non-bushwhacking apparel and I hung my soaking wet shirt on a sign to dry. The hike up to Santa on the direct trail was a steady climb, slippery and greasy here, extremely steep and slick there. Most of the trail, that I have mostly done descending in wintery conditions is in good shape but there a number of sections that are getting pretty bad. My favourite part of the direct trail is near the top where you come up upon a tongue of a ridge that has a tremendous amount of blowdown. Here you get some great views, up and down, and you appreciate having a cut trail. We hung out on the last bump before the summit for a half hour. It was hot, sunny, dry, wind and bug free. It was a slice of heaven. You can see a lot of peaks, 46er and otherwise, from Santa and we took a good look at Andrew and our routes up and down it.
After that it was all downhill back to the parking area for 5:30. The trail was littered with beautiful red maple leaves that cleverly hid the wet spots. The sweet pungency of decaying vegetation accompanied us all the way back. What a great day to be out!
On Oct. 1, the land was turned over to the public and upon learning that I immediately planned on going. Besides, like Alton, Andrew is on the 3k list.
For some strange reason the thread I started didn't draw a multitude of would-be Andrew visitors, however BillB was interested (there’s one in every crowd) and so yesterday morning we began the road walk to the Santas. For the first time ever we continued walking westward down the road and passed two gates and some ominous signage that will have to be removed.
I had the Macintyre West tract outlined as an active route in my GPS. It was my belief that the lands to the east were out of bounds, being governed by a conservation easement. My inquiry to the local ranger regarding the lands surrounding the tract led to my email being forwarded to the DEC for clarification but I have yet to receive a reply. So, we played it safe and walked past the virtual boundary on my GPS screen until we were pretty much due north of Andrew and proceeded to ascend it via a long curving ridge that culminated in a small sub-summit that we baptized Andrew West.
We enjoyed face-on views of the Twin Slides and summit of Santanoni, which appeared deceptively close. When it became time to drop 3 contour intervals into the Andrew-Andrew West col we encountered cliffs, blowdown and pleasant ferns. The ascent of Andrew from this angle was extremely steep and gnarly and we zig-zagged in such a way as to avoid the many small rock faces. It was short and thoroughly enjoyable, especially when we caught views across A-West to Santa.
The pitch eased off and we thought we were on top but decided to walk south along the lengthy ridge for a while to make sure. We took a direct line back to the road and made it back in half the time. On the road we noticed that the entire sky was blue, which contrasted beautifully with the vivid fall colors. The air itself was pungent with the sweet and musty aroma of decay. There is nothing quite like the smell of rotting vegetation to titillate one’s senses.
Back at the turn-off to Santa we changed into non-bushwhacking apparel and I hung my soaking wet shirt on a sign to dry. The hike up to Santa on the direct trail was a steady climb, slippery and greasy here, extremely steep and slick there. Most of the trail, that I have mostly done descending in wintery conditions is in good shape but there a number of sections that are getting pretty bad. My favourite part of the direct trail is near the top where you come up upon a tongue of a ridge that has a tremendous amount of blowdown. Here you get some great views, up and down, and you appreciate having a cut trail. We hung out on the last bump before the summit for a half hour. It was hot, sunny, dry, wind and bug free. It was a slice of heaven. You can see a lot of peaks, 46er and otherwise, from Santa and we took a good look at Andrew and our routes up and down it.
After that it was all downhill back to the parking area for 5:30. The trail was littered with beautiful red maple leaves that cleverly hid the wet spots. The sweet pungency of decaying vegetation accompanied us all the way back. What a great day to be out!
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