We arrived late and set up our tent in the dark on Friday night. It was nippy and we were happy to get our warm pajamas on and crawl into our sleeping bags. It was one of those nights that you wear a hat to bed.
The next morning, we awoke and headed to the Loj for breakfast. I made the reservation earlier in the week and we feasted on sausages, eggs and oatmeal. I even grabbed a bowl of Froot Loops! We checked the weather before leaving and it had risen to an eighty percent chance starting after 1:00. We grabbed our packs and got on the trail to Street and Nye so that we could beat most of the rain.
Since we were not expecting a view from either mountain, the clouds didn't bother us as we followed the Old Nye Ski Trail. Once it began to climb, we started huffing but were glad that there were no rock scrambles. In fact, it seemed to be a reasonably recognizable trail with topsoil, a rarity in the high peaks!
We felt our first raindrop at 11:00, so much for beating the rain... We carried on and made the summit of Street Mountain first. Once on the ridge line, it was a gradual walk to the summit. Since the weather wasn't terribly inviting, we snapped pictures and headed back to the col.
Summiting Nye from the col was an easy walk of two hundred yards. The rain had gotten thicker and the wind was fierce so we went back to the trail intersection to eat our sandwiches out of the gusts.
We were soaked heading down the mountain, but with a warm shower awaiting us at the Heart Lake Campground, we were determined. It was one of those showers that will remain in memory for a long time! Luckily, I had made reservations for dinner at the Loj that morning so we were greeted with warm bowls of soup upon entering! It was a fantastic four course meal and perfect for two tenters on a cold rainy night.
We slept well and arose the next day, packed our wet gear and headed to Wilmington. Most people hike Esther in combination with Whiteface, but we had paddled to the trailhead two years ago and Esther is not on that side.
We weren't sure of our approach at first, but found ourselves hiking up the old tow-rope trail on Marble Mountain. It was steep from the get-go, and after gaining a thousand feet (vertical), it leveled out before becoming steep again. Once we got high enough, there were icicles falling from the trees as we sloshed through the mud.
The summit of Esther lacked a view, but we had a nice overlook on the way where we could see the top of the Whiteface ski lift. We ate our lunch at the summit and then made a quick descent down the steep trails. By the time we got back to the car, we were ready to dry out and relax. After a quick stop in Wadhams, we headed home to set up our equipment to dry!
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