Street and Nye Mtn dayhike in the Adirondacks

Street and Nye Mtn dayhike in the Adirondacks
By Tristan

This will be my last trip to the Adirondacks this year, but at least I was able to get the extra trip in. I had planned on a week vacation to my stompin' grounds in the north country, to visit family and also to run in the 1812 Challenge (which I reported on already). My parents had also just bought a camper and we were eager to take it on a short trip. So a couple days after arriving in northern NY we packed up and headed for the Mountains. I've been working on the 46 for a while... actually my first one was in high school in '94. Ever since I started back at hiking a few years ago, I've been getting 1 trip in per summer. Earlier this summer I did the Dix range, so this was a rare second trip. I only had a day so picked out an easy day trip of my remaining unclimbed peaks from the 46er list. Mom joined me for this day hike up Street & Nye.

Heart Lake on a fantastic day to hike.

It was August 30th, Tuesday of the week ending with the Labor Day weekend. But the mountains were very quiet on this beautiful day. Only one group had signed in the register ahead of us, and we met up around the crossing of Indian Pass Brook since they had backtracked looking for a good spot to cross. I've heard the crossing of Indian Pass Brook can be a problem at high water levels, no bridge over this brook, but with how dry it was this summer even with the recent rain the week prior it was a piece of cake. I hike barefoot so I actually like going right in the water, but mom didn't even have to take her boots off. But during the wet season I've heard it can be waste deep fast moving water. I'm not sure why this other group had come back looking for the crossing, it might have had more to do with finding the trail on the other side - I am guessing they didn't make it far enough to the official crossing before they doubled back. Unfortunately there was a bit of confusion following the guide book, though trails follow both sides and meet up at the main crossing. There was a bit of confusion later on too and my distances were substantially off from the guide book. I think I read that these trails have changed recently as they attempted to turn the unmaintained 'heard paths' into more official trails. But my book is fairly recent, oh well. We didn't really have a problem though but very lucky we made the right turn at a tee which we thought was the junction for the Street/Nye split. It wasn't, so lucky we had decided to go to the right there.

Mom crossing Indian Pass Brook at the first crossing.

It is a wonderfully easy hike for the first few miles, and thankfully very little mud this time. My feet would stay in good shape for the race in a few days.

Lots of mushroom near the trail of all sorts of colors. Perhaps from the rains the week prior?

We saw orange, red, purple and black mushrooms. I had pictures of other colors but they didn't turn out well.

I didn't need to cross on a log, but couldn't help wanting too!

First views along the trail up.

Just me for the records (mom had already been here a couple times).

We went to Nye first, and there was a little bit of a view through the trees but not much to photograph, so we didn't linger too long and went over to Street. Street's summit was just a small clearing in the trees much like Nye, but lots of small heard paths scattered about went out to partial views. There were at least 4-5 of these trails, and I found the furthest on each end was by far the best views.

Views from near Street's summit.

One last shot on the summit.

We really took our time on this trip. Mom hasn't done much hiking, and I was saving my energy for the big race on Sunday. We stopped plenty of time for snacks, and really took the time to enjoy the little views we got here and there, especially since there were so few. It was very nice to have the mountains to ourselves, the group we met near Indian Pass had went out of sight shortly after the crossing and we didn't meet up with them again until they were coming down Street as we were heading up. The rest of the day we only passed one other person that was ascending as we were heading down.

Taking a break on the descent.

Moss covered tree near Indian Pass Brook.

Cooling off the feet after a long day on the trail.

Feet held up fine on this barefoot trek.

It was a great hike, and very easy especially since we took out time. We spent 9:05 on the trail, 6:36 moving time according to Garmin. 9.9 mi round trip from the car door. A little under 3,000' ascent. And some great views, if only briefly. This post was a few weeks late, but better late then never!