Quick Divergence: March 19th-March 24th, 2024

My original plans for my spring trip had been to spend virtually the entire time in the Adirondacks, taking advantage of spring hiking conditions to knock out all of my short-term peakbagging goals there. I got off to a good start with Pharaoh, but the day after I discovered my alternator charger for my electricity system wasn't working, so I had to spend all day troubleshooting that to no avail. The day after I was going to hike, but the wind was far too harsh, and with the 8 inches of show expected to come in over the weekend, I figured that hiking would be pretty poor for the next week or so. Boy was I right! It ended up being the most intense storm of the season, with parts of the high peaks getting over two feet of snow, with at least a foot blanketing the rest of the lowlands. I ended up heading towards the Finger Lakes/northwestern PA to knock out the six P1ks over there, and I ended up getting four of them in this quick divergence

Pharaoh Mountain, March 19th

This was my 23rd birthday!!! Hard to believe sometimes I made it this far, but here I am baby!!! I decided to celebrate by going up Pharaoh Mountain, starting from the first trail register Crane Pond Road, I biked the rest of the road to the pond. This road in the past has been doable in a 4wd, high clearance vehicle, but the winter has not been kind to it. There are serious ruts and several blowdowns, along with honestly pretty weak tread in places. I would recommend not driving it until there's been some summer maintenance done on it. Regardless, from the pond, it was a solid eight mile round trip up the maintained trail up Pharaoh, with a nice view at the summit to reward me. Snowpack was negligible, but the snowstorm of the following weekend clearly changed that, so there you go. Upon returning, I found a NYSDEC ranger note on my windshield - apparently someone reported my bike as abandoned. Anyway, I called the ranger and gave him an update. Just goes to show you the importance of signing the trial registers and leaving a note on your bike - I had only remembered to do the first

Connecticut Hill, March 22nd

After a stressful day of trying to troubleshoot my dysfunctional electricity system, I was going to hike Pitchoff on the 21st, but wind chills below zero and an incoming blanket of snow convinced me this wasn't a good idea. I looked up the forecast for the area and found the Finger Lakes to be a much better place to spend the next few days. So I drove all the way from Lake Placid to Ithaca, and the morning of the 22nd, I headed up Connecticut Hill. Connecticut has a well-usable dirt road all the way to the summit, but I biked up the last quarter mile or so to feel like I had earned the ascent. No views to speak of, but probably the easiest P1k in the entire northeast, so if you're in the area, it's worth your time for that aspect alone

Frost Hill, March 22nd

For Frost Hill, I drove in from Ithaca and parked myself at the unfortunately-named Cumming Nature Center, and biked up Frost Hill Road, which I think is a public road, though the land to either side is posted. In the summer this road is probably doable in a sedan, but there's not many turn around points. Personally, I think it's worth the bike, but to each their own. There's a spur behind a metal cable that's barely doable in a bike though, and from there on, it's a bushwhack through open woods to the summit. Today I was fortunate enough to have two inches of powder - perfect bushwhacking conditions

White Knoll, March 23rd

I tried to hike Tabor Benchmark, which is right next to Frost Hill, but almost got my van stuck in the ice trying to find a place to park, and I just narrowly got myself out without breaking my bike mounted in the rear or needing a towtruck (or both!). After that, I said "fuck this", and drove down toward Harrison Valley, spending the night at trailhead in Phillips Creek State Forest. Waking up to the winter storm, there was an abundance of ice everywhere, so I sat out the morning, doing laundry and catching up with a friend on the phone. I eventually got to Harrison Valley and found every road leading to White Knoll to be absolutely iced up. I was ready for this, so I parked my car at the gas station and took my ebike up Lehman Road all the way up to the wind farm. In the summer, this road is easily doable in a sedan, but in the winter, tread with caution! I jumped the fence and biked up to the summit of White Knoll, realizing that I had only 3% battery at the north summit (fallout from those electricity systems issues in my van). So I hastily got my photos there before continuing on to the true summit to the south, of which there is a road leading the way, though the wind and resulting snowdrifts on the exposed ridge made this quite difficult. Anyhow, the way back was uneventful

Pisgah, March 24th

I spent the night at a trailhead in Tioga State Forest, and tried to go up Armenia mountain, but was thwarted by ice on each approach, so I went over to Pisgah, and parked my car right at the base of the steep incline, and biked my way up. The road is well-paved all the way to the summit, but be weary of any ice at this time of year. Biking up led me to the best view I've seen so far this season!!! Overall, a nice little divergence ;)