As I’ve done twice before, I arrived the night before the big hike to get an early start. This time, I’d stay at the same lean-to I did the last time (lean-to #4 at Marcy Dam).

The plan was to do either Phelps or Tabletop and follow up with Haystack. Unfortunately, none of that worked out, despite 25 of hiking.

For all the excuses I can make up, the simple reason is that I played it safe. But I will nonetheless explain :)

  1. The wind at the top of Little Haystack was horrendous. I literally was being thrown to my knees, and that was just Little Haystack. To do Haystack, I would have had to endure at least one more hour of the pounding wind.
  2. The wind was erasing all tracks; I was alone up there and it’s no place to get lost. Couple that to the fact that my goggles were completely useless and it was clear it was safer to turn back
  3. My energy was sapped from breaking trail for the last mile or so; some times, the snow was hip deep. Going uphill, I would sometimes take 3 steps and slip back down 2.
  4. I’m still an complete and utter newb up there. It’s no place to be ‘learning the hard way’. I prefer to learn slowly and intelligently. Macho pride is not my type. The mountain is slated to stay there for another long while. I can try again.

When I got back to the Marcy branch-off, a few people were coming down, so I figured I’d give it a shot; but after about 30 minutes of the same brutal treatment I’d been submitted to on Little Haystack, it was obvious I wasn’t going to summit here either.

In the end, it’s just not worth the risk.

The stats

Total hiking time: 9 hours and 15 minutes

Total distance: 25 km

Start (Marcy Dam) : 7:20 AM
Branch-off between Marcy and Haystack: 9:50
Last branch-off before starting up Haystack: 10:30
Little Haystack summit: 11:30
Back to Marcy branch-off: 1:10
Marcy high point: 1:35
Back to lean-to: 4:00
Back to car: 5:40

The TrimbleOutdoors data can be seen here.


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