Tupper Triad - Winter Version

Last June I did the Tupper Triad in a day. The Triad is a hiking challenge issued by Tupper Lake, NY to encourage tourism. If you complete the specified hikes you qualify for a patch to put on your backpack or jacket.  http://www.tupperlake.com/recreation/tupper-lake-triad  When I did all three in June I was out of shape (my 1st hike of the year with no prep) and it was a bit of a challenge. I decided I wanted to do the winter challenge too but I was in better shape this time (I have been working out) and I broke it up. I did Mt Arab on March 1st. There wasn't much snow left. We were at the end of a thaw and I figured I would do the other two the following week.

Unfortunately, the very next day I came down with gastrointestinal flu that laid me low the entire week and to top things off, two Nor-easters blew through one after the other. but more about that later. On the way up Arab I found this nice ice wall but discovered that I did not have a memory card so all my Arab photos were shot with my phone.

It was an overcast day but the clouds were high and there were good views.

The whole hike took under two hours and I was home in time for a slightly late lunch.

Because of the illness and then the snow, I nearly gave up on completing the winter Triad before the 21st (the last date to count as 'winter') but when I got up this morning the sun was shining and it was 25°. On the spur of the moment, I decided to do at least one more, either Goodman or Coney, and decide on the way down (I live North of the Adirondacks) which I would do. I settled on Goodman because it was the longer hike, 1.6 miles to the summit. Someone had been in yesterday but parts of the track were drifted and I had to break trail in places. As I approached the top it clouded over and began to snow.

Since I wasn't sure how long the snow would last and the wind was quite cold without the sun I figured that Goodman would be it for the day and headed back down. On the way down though, the wind blew the clouds away and it began to clear up again.

After I got back to my car I ate my lunch and pondered whether to continue with Coney Mt and complete the Triad Challenge. I drove to the Coney trailhead and there were two other cars so I knew the trail had been broken and decided to go for it. The sky became almost totally cloudless and was incredibly blue, the kind of intense blue that we used to get using Velvia with a polarizer. The pictures don't really convey how intense and saturated it was. The following two photos are approaching the summit of Coney and the summit which has 360° views.

These three are photos from Coney's summit. I did not linger too long because although the sun was out again, the wind was very cold. I discovered when I returned to my car that the temperature had dropped into the teens. The pointed mountain with the open snowy patch in the middle of the second and on the right in the third is Goodman.

It was a good day in the woods, not a lot of photos but good exercise in very fresh air, my kind of day. If you are going to be in the Tupper Lake area and want a modest hiking challenge, give the Triad a try.