Logger's Loop

Jenkins Mountain remained visible through the trees and I kept my eye on it as we moved closer and closer. Eventually, we reached the hiking trail to Jenkins that branches off from the ski trails. I had a feeling things might get dicey off the groomed, packed trails, and indeed they did.

Postholing Builds Character

Almost immediately, I began to posthole — when your boot punches through the top layer of snow — about every six steps or so which was annoying, but bearable. “Postholing builds character,” I repeated to myself sarcastically. Plus, there wasn’t a ton of snow so that when I did posthole, the snow reached no higher than my knees. The trail remained like this for only about a quarter of a mile or so, then transitioned back to decaying leaf swamp, and I was grateful.

Part of the trail was dry ground and those moments were glorious. The quiet stepping of my boots upon bare dirt was an intense contrast to the constant crunching of snow I had become accustomed to for several months. 

The trail to Jenkins kind of meanders a bit to avoid wetlands, following a low ridge around the back side of the mountain, then ascending up a small stream. The trail was fairly well marked with trail markers and blue ribbons. 

As we got closer to the summit, the postholing resumed. This time, I had been hiking for over two hours and perhaps went a little crazy. Luckily, the snow didn’t last long, and the terrain soon returned to leafy mud puddles. Amazing.

Summit Sandwich

We reached the summit right as the temperature was peaking at sixty degrees. There is a partially open summit with a view of the St. Regis Canoe Area and a nice rock face that was preheated by the sun. I laid upon it to soak up its warmth as well as the sun’s from above me. I was sandwiched between rock heat and sun heat and felt comparable to a slice of melted cheese between two slices of buttered bread. My dog, who is very warm blooded, laid atop of me like a heated blanket. Sixty degrees never felt so warm. I decided that losing your mind to postholing and losing your boots to mud was worth a warm summit.