Trip Report (Indian Head and Rainbow Falls), 2/21/2009

I got a chance to go up to the AMR (Adirondack Mountain Reserve) to do some snowshoeing a few weeks ago with ACC ROCX, my schools group of outdoors enthusiasts. We left ACC around 7:30, the drive would be about an hour and twenty minutes to the AMR parking lot. When we arrived, the weather was perfect - the sky blue and the temperature just around -4°C (about 25°F). We planned a couple of short hikes within the preserve; first we would hit Rainbow Falls and eat lunch, then move onto Indian Head, a cliff offering up some of the best views of the Dacks I have seen to date. We hiked in to the AMR from the parking lot (about 0.95 miles), strapped into our snowshoes and set out. The wind on the road to the reserve had been blistering, but tree cover helped us out as we started towards our destinations. We hiked up Lake Road another 2.7 miles until we reached a dam and a bridge crossing over Lower Ausable Lake. Mt. Colvin and Sawteeth loomed over the area, jutting more than 2000 feet up from the base of the lake. We stopped for a minute and hydrated, then crossed the bridge approaching the falls . It was a short hike to Rainbow Falls , I would say (by estimation) somewhere around half of a mile. The falls were beautiful. They had become icy cascades of blue, and formed over top of each other like something from a story book. We spent a few more minutes here and then descended back to the dam where we ate a quick lunch (some trail mix I whipped up earlier that morning from cereal and raisins and a clif bar), and headed up to Indian Head. Indian Falls would provide the best views of the day. Lower Ausable Lake cut between Colvin and Sawteeth in an awesome fashion. Much of the great range was visible to the North, though my attention was drawn mostly to the sprawl of the southeast scenery. We hiked back to the parking lot a satisfied bunch and caculated the whole RT to be just under ten miles. For dinner we all went to the Noonmark Diner where I hungrily munched down grilled cheese and a veggie burger.

Pictures not taken by me this time.