Panther Peak, Couchsachraga, Santanoni Peak, NY
Date: 8/11/2006
Persons in Group: Brian
Weather Conditions: 70 degrees, Sun/High clouds - clear views.
Route: Upper Works trailhead for Bradley Pond. Herd paths to Panther Peak, then to Times Square and over to Couchsachraga. Back to Times Square, and over to Santanoni Peak. Back to Times Square again, out to the parking lot.
Notes: Trail to Bradley Pond starts off in great shape (part of it is on a gravel road), and then turns into a muddy mess. However, once the herd path is reached, it's in pretty good shape all around, save for the idiot hacking the tree's. Panther Brook easy to rock hop - water level is low right now. Trail to Couch easy to follow, bog easy to go around. Santanoni has a lot of tight thick areas, glad I had gaiters or my legs would be feeling it. Best views in the range there. All in all, 16ish miles I believe, took me 11.5 hours.
Trip route for the day. You almost have to climb Panther Peak 3 times during the day to get all 3...long one.
The start of the trail from the Upper Works Bradley Pond parking lot - the first mile and a half or so is on a fairly level gravel road.
About a mile in, a view of Wallface Mountain.
When you leave the gravel road (your still following Blue markers), the start(lower parts) of the trail is in fantastic shape. Excellent bridges like this, as well as easy footing on a soft trail.
That changes pretty quickly. This trail is in horrible shape on the upper parts. There are already 250000 side paths of people trouncing through the woods to avoid patches like this (and this was the smallest). Gaiters and poles are a must on this trip.
However - there are some nice waterfalls.
4.3 miles in - the start of the herdpath. Its marked with this distinct rock, and on the day I was here, a cairn as well. It's perpendicular to the trail, facing west.
The trail is pretty easy to follow, there are a number of herdpaths, that all pretty much converge in the same places on the way.
You can actually see Bradley Pond from the herd paths, as you move behind it to the west, towards Panther Brook.
The herdpath hugs the walls of these large cliffs for a while before it reaches Panther Brook.
Once you reach the brook here, the next mile or so is either running next to the brook, or rock hopping up the brook. When I was here, the water level was so low, it was easy - however I can imagine this is a hairy section when really wet.
.4-.5 mile after the top of the brook, you reach a "T" intersection, with the herdpath for Panther Peak heading North(right). From the start of this herd path, it's only about 10-15 min to the summit, with a couple pretty cool rock scrambles like this.
Panther Benchmark.
And next to the benchmark, the marker.
From the summit, we get an awsome view east to the high peaks. Wright, Algonquin, Iroquois, Marshall, Colden and Marcy in this picture.
From Panther Peak, Henderson in the very front. Behind it, Marcy, Skylight and Allen. And behind those, the Dix Range.
Seymour and Seward from Panther Peak.
Mountain number 3 on the day, Santanoni Peak from Panther Peak.
Couchsachraga from Panther Peak...some pretty heavy elevation loss to the col.
Back to the "T" intersection below Panther, go straight (south) and the path will wrap around quickly to Times Square - from here the Herd Path to Couchsachraga and Santanoni converge. At the large boulder behind my gear, you take a right for Couch or a left for Santanoni.
Having hung a right at Times Square, and heading down the long, long path to Couch, we get a great view of Seymour and Seward.
Once in the col between Panther Peak and Couchsachraga, we reach the bog. Stick to the right, go around it.
Couchsachraga summit sign.
From Couch, looking east back at Panther.
Also from Couch, looking to Santanoni Peak, the last stop.
Heading up Santanoni from Time Square, a good look back at Panther Peak.
Climbing Santanoni, The Sewards.
Santanoni Peak.
Wallface, Wright, Algonquin, Iroquois and Marshall from Santanoni Peak.
High Peaks from Santanoni.
Dix Range, Allen, Marcy from Santanoni.
Marcy from Santanoni.
Dix, Hough and Macomb in the back. Allen in the front, from Santanoni.
Wallface and McNaughton from Santanoni.
Couchsachraga from Santanoni.
Panther Peak from Santanoni.
Looking back to Bradley Pond from Santanoni.