Skylight

We spent a wonderful, relaxing night recharging in Newcomb at the Hoot Owl Lodge - a bed and breakfast that had just opened this year. After the Santanoni trip, we needed some time to rest our legs and the relaxing atmosphere and gourmet breakfast left us ready to get back into the woods.

In Tahawus, the Upper Works parking lot was full, but we happened to catch it while a car was leaving. We packed up, scarfed down some bananas, packed our leftover pizza from the previous night and followed the long trail into Lake Colden. We moved quickly with one short break at the Calamity lean-to before finding a tent site on the eastern side of Lake Colden. With plenty of daylight left, we spent the night lounging on the dam chatting with our neighbors. Bear stories that may have been exaggerated were passed along as well as suggested routes for other high peaks.

After one game of pinochle, we went to bed early since we would be heading to two of the most remote of the High Peaks the next day.

We awoke early after hearing nary a bear overnight. After scarfing down pop-tarts, we headed up the trail towards Marcy. Since we started early enough, we found ourselves looking at Lake Tear of the Clouds around 9:45. We passed the cairn marking the herd-path to Gray Peak, where we would come later and headed to four-corners turning right towards Skylight.

Once we were on the mountain, it was one of the most pleasant climbs in the high peaks. There were no scrambles and it just headed steadily up until we came to Skylight's bald summit. The panoramic view was spectacular and we lounged on the peak for about an hour. We found ourselves moving as if on a slow turntable to take in the entire view.

We finally decided to head down the trail and back to Gray Peak which turned out to be the opposite experience of Skylight. The trail was steep with wet rock scrambles and plenty of mud. We made our way to the top, bruised, cut and beaten. The great views of Marcy and Skylight made up for the scrambles while we ate our lunch.

We bid farewell to Lake Tear of the Clouds and made it back to Lake Colden for a quick snack. We decided to pack out that night, which meant five more miles. It made for a long night, but there was a bed waiting at the end and a much lower chance of bear attack. When we got back to the car we found that a mouse had helped himself to our trail mix and one apple - oh well.