Let’s chat about Street and Nye.. Dave refers to it as “my absolute not favorites hike”. I love this one, Dave not so much!

This is our second completed hike in the High Peaks. I was a bit worried about attempting this since we had done Big Slide the day before and had to turn around. I wasn’t sure if I had it in me to tackle two big hikes on back to back days.. We said, well we're here, we've got the time, and the weather's good, let's go ahead and give it a shot.

It was a beautiful fall day, over Columbus Day weekend. The fall foliage was just past peak and so colorful! We had a crisp cool but not cold. Really perfect hiking weather. Street is the 31st tallest mountain of the 46 at 4, 166 feet and Nye is the 45th at only 3, 895 feet which does make it under 4, 000 feet but that is one of the four that are just shy of 4, 000 feet and they're still on the list. So we still have to do them. Rules! ugh! We got a pretty early start because we had car camped the night before. This was my first time ever car camping and I didn't really know what to expect. Dave had been car camping with his daughter a number of years ago when they did the Great Range Traverse, but this was my first experience.

For those of you who do know what car camping is, bear with us. But for those of you who don't know what car camping is, basically it's when you spend the night in your car so you can be closer to the trailhead. Can't car camp at trailheads in the Adirondacks but you spend the night in your car, drive to the trailhead bright and early, or in this case, dark and early, so you get a nice early start. I wasn't really sure what to expect and it actually was a lot of fun. We have a big enough car that we can just put the car seats down and throw the air mattress in the back and it's actually pretty roomy and comfortable for us. and allows us to get a nice early start in the morning.

Street and Nye start in sort of familiar territory for me. I had attempted Mount Marcy roughly 20 years prior. And when that didn't work for me too well, the next day we tried Mount Jo, which is a short hike, but it's a delight. And in my opinion one of the best views in the park. Especially if the fall. Hands down better than Indian Head!! Yeah I said, what I said! Street and Nye starts on the same trail as Mount Jo. It runs along the north side of Heart Lake, past the Rock Garden. I noticed that was familiar territory, and as we started hiking back there, and I thought, oh, I remember this.

And then as soon as we passed the trail for Mount Jo, I immediately realized, nope, I don't remember this anymore. As you're going along the trail, you need to keep a pretty sharp eye out for the Street and Nye Herd Path. One of the reasons that Dave’s not a fan of this hike. Is that he missed the turnoff for the Herd Path and went, I'm not sure quite how far, but far enough that it was a big pain in my butt, up the Indian Pass Trail, and then had to bushwhack down a creek bed to get back to the Herd Path. So. Once you pass the turnoff for Mount Joe, keep a sharp eye out for that Street and I Heard path to make sure you bear right and not bear left.

And then back here is very basic Adirondack hiking. A lot of tree roots and rocks and mud. Nothing particularly difficult. It's really a very flat approach at this point. When you get to Indian Pass Brook, the trail does split a little bit, and you kind of have to find your own way across. If you're following the trail, it's going to bring you further up the northeast side of the brook. And you'll eventually find a place that looks like people have crossed. It can get a little confusing through there because there's multiple crossings. Especially depending on whether it's rained recently or the time of year. The brook can be something you can just hop right across with no problem, or it could be a raging stream. In fact, I believe it was actually earlier this year when a group of hikers crossed the brook and they had to call for a rescue when they tried to return. With the rain the brook had gotten too high for them to make it back So they called for a rescue as opposed to spending the night. So depending on the rain, it might be difficult to cross. That's also a good reminder to check recent trail conditions and the weather forecast

So once you cross the brook there you do have to pay attention to where the trail is because the trail does head to the left and it begins going up an embankment. So after you cross the brook, you'll go up an embankment and then bear to the right.

As you move up, you'll get into a drainage and you'll start heading up that drainage. That's actually where Dave and I got a little messed up through there because of the the heavy amount of downed leaves. As we headed up the drainage, we did play round robin with another hiker who also was having difficulty following the trail up the drainage. He would pass us. And then he would get off trail and then we would catch up and pass him. Then he would catch back up to us. When we went off trail, we did have a fun little commiserating, a little, pity party about the difficulty of following the trail for a while, and the difficulty of the trail itself. I remember I was huffing and puffing there. It gets a little steep. It's not difficult. And looking back, I guess, since it was only my third high peak. I was having a little bit of a rough go, but now that I think about it, it was not all that difficult. Just steep.

Our new friend seemed to be huffing and puffing along, too. You do cross over another small stream when you come to... Wolf spider bridge. That's the that's the log over that little over that little little brook there It's nothing significant like the stream crossing That's not something you have to take into account of weather, but you do have to be careful crossing that bridge It's not exactly a bridge.

It's just a Large log. Yes a large log across a stream. The rest of the hike up is pretty straightforward Even though it is a herd path, it's pretty evident where you're going. So after the drainage, you come to the steep side. The section that I thought was steep was nothing compared to this next part, where it's about a, about a half a mile of pretty steep terrain.

Steep, rugged, fairly classic Adirondack terrain. I do remember looking at it and feeling a little defeated because I thought what I had been going up was difficult. And I remember looking at what seemed to be very vertical. Once you get up that, this is the part that is Dave’s least favorite part of this trail. Not because it was particularly difficult, but he just doesn't like it. There’s a lot of mud, lots of roots and it's tight. Very tight. It's like squeezing through trees. Kind of stuff that if you go through it after it's rained, everything is going to be wet. Arms, shirt, pants, everything will be wet going through there. But luckily, on this day, it was not wet. The trees feel as if they’re reaching out and smacking you in the shoulders, neck, chest even in the face a lot of the time.

And I think that is what I actually really enjoyed about it. It felt almost adventurous, and that's something I hadn't experienced. While we had done Cascade and Porter, which are relatively easy. Cascade and Porter are the pretty ones, and Street and I are the ugly stepsisters. But it is a very stark comparison to Cascade, where Cascade makes you think that things are going to be easier than they are, and then you hit Street and Nye, and it's a smack in the face of reality. Gives you a better idea of what actual Adirondack hiking is like.

I think that's part of the reason why I enjoyed it so much because it felt like, wow, I'm actually doing this. This is rugged. This is tough. This is not an easy, comfortable ride like Cascade was. Even though, I mean, Street and Nye is not technically difficult considering what we face, moving forward in the 46, but the fact that you are get all scraped up by the trees that are all very tight around you, you definitely realize you’re deep, deep in the woods. Its a little gritty, a little muddy, much different than an easy stroll, for sure, and I think that adventure kind of excited me.

I think that's part of the reason why Street and Nye felt like my first high peaks because Cascade and Porter felt more like just an introduction to hiking the high peaks. Even though this trail is a herd path and not a “maintained” trail it is fairly heavily traveled and quite evident to see that the trail is there.

Up a little further, there's a, there's another big log that is across the path that you have to climb over it. If you’ve got long legs it's not a big deal to get over. However, if you have short little legs, it's a little tougher.

So, a little bit further from that is when you hit the, the col between Street and Nye. Yeah, and at the junction there, it'll be Street off to your left, Nye to the right. We decided to do Nye first. Which is not our typical plan. We normally do the hardest or the furthest one away first so that if you have to orphan one of them, you're not going as far the next day or the next time.

And it wasn't too much further up to Nye. Most of your elevation is already gained at that point, so it's a pretty quick trip to the summit of Nye.

Once at the summit we didn't stay very long. There's not much of a view. It's a treed in summit. And I'm not tall enough to see over a shrub, basically. So, there wasn't much for me to see. But, we did take a summit selfie, and then we began to head on down to Street. We quickly got back down to the col, and went up to Street. Again, pretty uneventful at that point. Much of the same terrain.

So, up on Street, there's no great true summit view. But, if you go off to the sides, there are a few views you can see over towards the Santanonis and there's a great view of the MacIntyre Range. We didn't spend a ton of time up on Summit Street either. We had lunch and then made our trip back down..

I don't remember it being all that eventful on the way down. In fact it was fairly uneventful. The trot down back and forth across the drainage. But now It was a little bit easier since we could see our upturned leaves from the, the trip up.

Once down and after we crossed the brook , we did get a little turned, around. Well, not entirely turned around. But as most of our early hikes, I was just blindly following Dave and it was at this point that he wasn’t entirely sure where we were. Although to be honest he did a good enough job “navigating” that I didn't even notice he was a little confused Where we crossed over the brook it didn’t appear to be the same spot we had crossed on the way up. Dave checked the map and frowned. I'm a little ashamed to say it, but we checked the AllTrails app to see our gps location and it helped us see we were in fact a little off from the trail. I know it gets a lot of hate but we still find it pretty useful and for what it’s worth, we WERE going in the correct direction but we just CONFIRMED that by using AllTrails. Yeah, that had to be said LOL

Once we were back across the bridge and at the final part of our return I was pleasantly surprised with how much better I did on the descent. However this time I did take some ibuprofen to prepare because after Cascade and Porter I did not want to relive that pain. it is very, very tough on your knees to coming down.

And that about sums up and down street and Nye.

WRAP UP:

Access and key Info : Adirondack Loj at Heart Lake 1002 Adirondack Loj Rd, Lake Placid, NY 12946

Rates as of 1/1/2024 are as follows:

Non-Members

Full Day: $18
Half Day: $10
Weekly: $72

Members

Full Day: $10
Half Day: $5
Weekly: $40

Availability: Please be aware that parking fills early and often at the Heart Lake Program Center, especially in summer and the height of leaf-peeping season. The nearest overflow parking starts about one mile down the road at Meadows Lane. T

Payment: When the parking attendant is in the booth, you can pay by cash, check, or credit card at the booth. If the attendant is not present you can pay at the Adirondak Loj, or use the drop box for non-credit card payments.

Prohibited: Visitors are not allowed to drive in to look for a spot or to wait for a spot to open up. Buses, RVs, trailers, and vehicles over 20′ long are not permitted. You may not sleep in your car in the parking lot. Roadside parking along Adirondack Loj Road between the Heart Lake Program Center and Meadows is prohibited.

After you park, you're going to head towards the parking attendant booth and past the booth. That is where the trail starts for Street and Nye.

STATS: The round trip is approximately 9 miles, depending on your tracking device. You'll be going roughly 2, 800 feet of elevation gain for the round trip. We generally, we generally bank on about a mile an hour for the trip, and this one took us approximately 8 hours to complete.

Some people have said it took around 5 or 6 hours. It's all depending on your pace. It's not, it's not technically difficult. A lot of mud, a lot of downed trees, a lot of rock hopping and tree roots. The biggest thing to keep into consideration is that stream crossing. Please make sure you check the recent trail conditions and the forecast. You do not want to get stuck behind that stream.

WATER OPTIONS: There are a couple stream crossings that you can refill water. Again, you shouldn't need to refill water. It's not that long of a day, but keep in mind there are a few spots to refill water if you need.

OTHER PERTINANT INFO: There is no other access to Street and Nye other than the loj and there also isn't anything really to add on to it, unless you want to tack on Mount Joe afterwards for a quick bonus hike. Mount Jo is a great hike for sunset. Speaking of sunset, Street and Nye are neither great for sunrise nor sunset because they are both treed in with no great views all around.

And that's it, that completes Street and Nye. It's not a pretty one, it's a tough one, and it's one that you will definitely be glad to have completed