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Jul 14, 2024 — I paid the steep fee to park at the Adirondack Loj near Heart Lake, but I was happy I arrived early enough to get a spot. On today's agenda were two 46ers: Nye Mountain and Street Mountain, with a quick add-on to visit Mount Jo on the way back.
I took the Indian Pass Trail around the north side of Heart Lake, picking up the route to Nye Mountain and Street Mountain, which had a few downed trees and felt much less maintained than typical Adirondack trails. The trail descended a couple of hundred feet to Indian Pass Brook, which I had to cross. On both my ascent and descent, I took different options to cross the brook, and both were on well-worn trails clearly both used as options by previous hikers over the years. I rejoined the main trail on the opposite side and took it west. Here, the trail paralleled a pretty creek before starting a steep, forested ascent up a gully. Down low, the vegetation wasn’t very lush, but this quickly changed as I made progress to higher altitudes. Farther up, the trail was particularly eroded and roots stuck out everywhere, seemingly more so than on most trails in the Adirondacks.
I reached the junction where the trail splits, choosing to head up to Nye Mountain first. This is a silly 46er because it barely has any prominence, as it’s just a sub-peak of Street Mountain, but it takes minimal effort to reach. There’s no view at the summit, though there is a little overlook mostly obscured by trees on the way up that allowed me to see Street Mountain's forested summit and not much else.
Back at the junction, I headed over to Street Mountain next. I found this to be the greenest and lushest segment of trail I’ve probably ever experienced in the Adirondacks. It felt magical, though maybe it was just the sunlight hitting the mosses just right. Although the summit of Street Mountain has only slightly better views than Nye Mountain, the beautiful lushness made up for it and I enjoyed it immensely. There was some light Class 2 scrambling, but it wasn’t extensive. If you head just south of the summit, there’s a slightly better view toward Algonquin Peak to the south.
I backtracked and located the spur trail for Mount Jo. There are two options for reaching this summit: the Short Trail and the Long Trail, labeled uncreatively as such. I chose to take the Short Trail both up and down, which is steeper and more direct. It’s a pretty trail and quite popular. A couple of ladders assist in gaining the summit slabs. Surprisingly, Mount Jo had the best views of the day despite its low elevation, looking toward Heart Lake and the High Peaks to the south.
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