Ampersand Mt and Jay Range

My hiking friend Kathy emailed me a few days ago asking if Randy and I would like to do a two day hike with her. First day, Ampersand Mt, stay overnight in a hotel and next day meet up with the Schenectady chapter of the Adirondack Mt Club (AMC) to do the Jay Range. Randy decided two mountain climbs one day after another was more than he wanted to do but I thought; what the heck.

Anyway, Friday (9/14) AM at 0630, Randy dropped me off just up the highway where we met Kathy. Kathy and I then drove north on Rt 30 to Ampersand Mt. The weather forecast was for sunny, clear weather and temps up to 80 degrees. It was overcast when we got there and only about 65 degrees. As we climbed the mountain and neared the top, the fog rolled in and the temps dropped. Nearer the top the wind was blowing hard. Reaching the top required what guide books charmingly refer to as a "little bit of a rock scramble". At this point the summit is totally fogged in and the wind is blowing at gale force. Approaching the summit (Ampersand is a bald mountain) we had no real visibility beyond a few feet and the wind was so fierce that we couldn't stand upright and the wind sucked the air right out of our mouths. We reached a point we declared was the top and immediately started back down. It took us 3 hours to reach the top with a little over 1700 feet of ascent. It only took us an hour to go back down.

On the bright side, we were way ahead of the planned schedule so when we got back to the trailhead we crossed the road and went the 1/2 mile to Ampersand Beach. Rare in the Adirondacks, the lake has a lovely sand beach, quite long. It was too cold for a dip but we could see how this would be a great place for swimming in the summer.

Then we drove to Keane where we window shopped for awhile, then checked into our hotel, The Arc Hotel. A cute little place, and very inexpensive. Not luxurious but the shower was hot and the beds were comfortable. We had dinner on Rt 9N at a nice bar/restaurant and were back in the room by 8pm. The TV only got 1 channel so we read till about 9pm and hit the sack.

In the morning (9/15, Saturday) there was free coffee in the hotel dining room, but we decided not to have breakfast there. We met the Schenectady AMC group at a local Stewart's at 7:45am and were at the Jay Range trailhead, and hiking by 8:20am. There were 3 guys and 4 women altogther including me and Kathy. Three of the others we had hiked with before. One guy, Don and one woman, Linda were new to us. Anyway, it was a great hiking group. The hike was uphill the whole way, less steep at the beginning but getting progressively steeper as we went. Jay Range is a series of mountains, starting with the Knoll, then West Knoll, West Jay, Middle Jay and East Jay, about 2200 feet of ascent. Several spots were definately a climb, very steep and a struggle for hand/foot holds. The weather was cold and we had rain at the beginning, making all the closely growing shrubbery wet, soaking us thru. At the 1st knoll (all the mountains being bald), we had great views of the surrounding Keane Valley and when mists and fogs cleared, great views of the High Peaks. Each peak we reached had better views and as the weather slowly cleared, views of the High Peaks. Also, each peak had scarier climbs. At Middle Jay, Kathy and I had reached our limits. The last semi-cliff climb did us in and we stayed at Middle Jay while the others went on to finish the range with East Jay. The wind continued to blow. Kathy's little thermometer read 40 degrees but stray raindrops were frozen so we know the wind chill was below freezing. We layered up but by the time the rest of the group got back to us after lunch, we were all starting to shiver. Time to take it back to the trailhead. As on the way up, we stopped at each peak to savor the views. By now the sun was breaking out more often and the cloud cover continued to rise. The trees on the mountain sides are starting to turn. Streaks of red sugar maple, whole swaths of yellow birch, cloud shadow moving over the mountains, and when we got to the west knoll, we got to see a dazzling and very wide rainbow, from above it! Way too cool. The hike down was steeper than I remembered going up and I could feel my thighs starting to get really tired by the time we hit the trailhead.

We were back at the cars by 3:15pm. A good hike. Kathy dropped me off at home by about 5pm. Today I'm a little stiff in the front of my thighs and back of my calves and a little wind burned but I had a great time.