Nippletop

We started our hike at 7:30 from the Ausable Club. It was a Saturday and we wanted to make sure that we had a place to park despite the fact that the hike would fit well into the daylight. Our intention was to head down towards the end of the Lake Road and take Elk Pass towards Nippletop and then descend over Dial and Bear Den Mountains.

We welcomed the trail after the long walk along the road and it climbed slightly before descending into the muddy bog of Elk Pass. After the col, the trail got quite steep - but we enjoyed the views along the trail. When we arrived at the top, the view was gone. We found ourselves huffing and staring into a cloud.

Nippletop is probably the summit on which we have spent the longest amount of time. We waited for an hour and a half and the clouds finally cleared just as we had given up. Suddenly we had a fantastic view of the Great Range and the clouds were even blowing off of Marcy in the distance. It was well worth the wait! There are not many vantage points where you can see every mountain in the Great Range:

We even got to see Dix Mountain out of the clouds looking east!

Finally, we started a long descent and after a couple miles we were eating chocolates on the summit of Dial Mountain. Even though it was about six hundred feet lower than Nippletop, the view was still stunning and the clouds had continued to clear while we hiked.

The descent that continued seemed to last forever. Bear Den did not offer any view but we did get to see this little fellow on a branch right over our heads:

Other than one clearing that had regrown with poplars (perhaps blowdown or fire area) our views for the day were over and the descent seemed to go on and on. Finally, we made it back to the Lake Road and then to the car for dinner. With the waiting on Nippletop it was a good thing that we had an early start!