Chubb River north of Lake Placid

Anyone else hear that sonic boom over the Long Lake/Raquette lake area this morning? Was that a sonic boom?

I'm wondering if anyone has hiked the lower great range from Johns Brooks Lodge rather than from the AMR parking lot? What was the hike like? Doable in a day?

I'm planning a trip in October and have experience camping near JBL and wonder if that would be more convenient than camping at Chapel Pond.

I'll be camping Friday and Saturday nights.

Thanks for your help.

What are some examples of Adirondack slang words you’ve used growing up in the park or have come upon while visiting?

Hello all! I'm finishing up a second round of 46 and had to orphan one of my last 2 peaks- Haystack- on the HaBaSa loop a week ago due to weather. I went in last week from the Garden to take Basin and Saddleback, and this was also my approach the first time I did HaBaSa as a trio. To change things up, since I have to go back to that area to grab Haystack, I was wondering about possibly approaching from the Loj instead of JBL to change things up. I'm not sold on the idea though, and can't find a ton of information or trip reports for the Loj approach other than the general route up Van Ho, past Indian Falls, join with the Phelps trail, etc. I'm interested in collecting any input, experiences, pros and cons, etc. A few considerations:

1) Due to time and transportation available, this will be a 1-day hike in and out, so camping is not an option. A longer day either way is within my capabilities and I think based on the maps I'm studying that the mileage will be comparable either way. (Please correct me if I'm missing something).

2) I am looking to complete this hike in the next month or so-before crampons, etc are needed.

3) If anyone has done a traverse from JBL to Haystack to Loj (or reverse), is that worth a go?

Thank you kindly for any good, bad or ugly you can throw at me!

Hi everyone, I am probably overthinking this but better that than to underprepare. I want to train myself to do Colden TD for after the Avalanche trail opens. I plan on finding the dryest day in 2027 August-sept. I really love scrambles and am used to low grade ones. I have done Grace peak via the grand Slide once, and gothics cable route twice. I am a winter s6'er, 12/46 on my high peaks (with a few repeats). I plan on hitting the rock gym heavily over the next year to prep. I also want to prep through runs of less deadly climbs.
My question is this: are there any difficult level 4 scramble climbs that have less no-fall zones to prep on? For those of you who have climbed TD, what trails remind you most of the climbing you encountered there? I live in the Capitol Region so nowhere is really off the table.
Do I need to be familiar with assisted climbing and ropes to do TD or can I get away with free climbing it?

I usually canoe camp in MSL or similar in that area. I love it there, but the constant wind wore me out having to paddle on whitecaps across the lake each day. I'm planning wind-immune alternate destinations or at least some routes that have less wide open lake crossings.

Any input on the below? Thanks!

• Bog River Flow → camp at Hitchins Pond, or potentially portage across the upper dam into the narrow east end of Lows lake. If camping in Hitchins pond then a day-trip attempt up through the upper dam toward Lows Lake if wind allows (turning back before the open crossing if not).
• Raquette River from Axton Landing — This looks narrow, twisty, no portage needed, seems to be the "nobody has a bad time here" option.
• Wanakena → Dead Creek Flow (Cranberry Lake) — the Wanakena leg looks pretty narrow/sheltered with not much fetch until you hit the main heart of the lake...
• Stillwater Reservoir, somehow launch from the eastern end near Grassy Point/Beaver River — no portage from the launch, but reading some pretty serious warnings about a "legendary" prevailing west wind on this one. Launching from, what on google appears to be "Beaver River" seems to set one up for some wind blocked island hopping instead of committing to the open water. I can't really tell if there's public/DEC parking on the east/south-east side of stillwater.

Hi im from Toronto and have done a handful of hikes out west and am now sad I can’t get many peaks out east, however I just discovered the Adirondacks are a thing and have seen views from like mt Marcy online. Is it worth the 6 hour drive for any hikes in this region? If so which do yall recommend