Santanoni Range (High Peaks 39-41)

I broke into the 40s for my High Peaks with the Santanoni Range!

I hiked this range with Taylor, Paul, Will, and Doug.

We started early, leaving RPI just after 4AM. We made it to the trailhead (despite some rough road conditions) and started hiking just before dawn. Conditions warranted snowshoes car-to-car.

Making good pace on Santanoni Road, it wasn't too long before we made it to the herd path. The flat trail began to gain some elevation here and by the time we made it up to Times Square, we were working.

After a short break, we decided to grab Panther first, as it would only take .4miles road trip.

It was an easy peak (though I did finally throw a layer on over my t-shirt).

We made our way back to Times Square and then went after the beast of the day– Couchsachraga. I really did not want to have to orphan this one.

The gain and loss of elevation certainly isn't ideal, but it honestly wasn't as bad as I expected. I remembered Blake being much worse. Maybe I was just really in my head on this hike and didn't let the loss and gain get to me. I was feeling good!

We only had one peak left for the day, Santanoni, and it was basically on our way out.

I actually really enjoyed the hike to Santanoni. It didn't feel that difficult, especially after Couch, and the bumps along the ridge were fun. They gave us the only blips of a view we managed to catch all day. We were in the clouds.

3/3!!!

We were making good time and decided to take the Express Trail down.

The Express Trail was very steep. Supposedly, it had been broken out the day before. But it is so windy up there it was hard to believe anyone had been out there recently at all. Some of the snow drifts were deep!

I actually enjoyed the Santanonis, despite all the fear-mongering everyone tried to infect me with before. This was a fun day in the mountains!