Sawteeth, Gothics, Armstrong, Upper Wolf Jaw

Started at the Ausable club and went up to the lake and then toward Pyramid. This is a loop I have done before. I did go to the bottom of Rainbow Falls which I had not done before. The trail goes by the top of the falls but there is a spur trail, maybe .2 miles that goes into the cliff area below the falls. A nice area.
Pyramid and Gothics have great views of Marcy and Haystack and really the whole ridge. Nice day with temps in the 40's in the AM and up to 70 in afternoon. Comfortable on the mountain tops at about 60. Being a Tuesday I only saw about 6 people the whole day. Not sure what will happen with the color of the leaves this Fall. It should be getting toward peak in the ADKs now but it isn't. Maybe delayed or maybe just a bad year. Been warm and dry for the last 3 weeks which probably has something to do with it.

Below Rainbow Falls

Lots of pictures. Since it was a new area I got carried away.

Top of Rainbow Falls

Porter, Cascade, Pitchoff

These are the easiest peaks on the 46er list. They have good views though and since it was pretty wet I thought they would be good since the trails are well maintained and not known for mud. They were in pretty good shape. It had snowed 2 inches the night before so there was fresh snow. After Porter and Cascade I crossed the street and went up Pitchoff. This is probably a 3000 foot mountain. Steep with cliffs and great views down into the valley. There was a waterfall coming down most of the length of Cascade mountain into the lake in the valley.

Cascade from Porter

 

Cascade from Pitchoff

Top of Pitchoff

New ADK hotel

Lakes and Mountains

Avalanche Lake, Lake Colden, Mt Iraquois, Mt Algonquin.
Started from the ADK Loj and went through the Avalanche Lake area. Went around Lake Colden and then connected with the trail that goes up to a saddle between Iraquois and Algonquin. Went over to Iraquois and then Algonquin and down the usual trail back to the Loj.
The trail from Lake Colden to the saddle was a new one for me. The stream was the trail was the stream. The trail followed a nice stream with a number of waterfalls. The trail was open in places so you could see back toward Mt Colden.
This was peak foliage in the ADKs and a near perfect day for hiking. It started out 50 degrees and went up to about 60 for the remainder of the day. No wind so T-shirt weather all day including sitting on top of mountains. Very comfortable!
Got to go mid week this time of year! Very few people on the trail.

Start at end at the Loj parking area

Avalanche Lake

Mt Colden

Algonquin

Mt Colden with Mt Marcy in background

Lake Champlain driving home

Algonquin from Lake Colden

Trail up to Algonquin saddle

Lake Colden on left

Wright with Whiteface in background. Heart lake, which is the start of hike, is just to the left and behind Wright.