April 26, 2022

OK Slip Falls and Hudson River Extension

We’ve done the hike to the overlook of OK Slip falls twice- for the ADK Fifty Falls and ADK Snow Falls challenges, but we’d never attempted the base climb.  Finally the timing was right. My dog, Floki stayed home this time because we knew that it would be too difficult and not a safe adventure for him.

I’ve chosen not to write about the first 3 mile hike to the overlook of OK Slip because you can read about that in 100 other places, there’s not much more to say.   One new thing since our last visit- there is now a little trail sign on Rt. 28 with an arrow pointing to the trail head.  We missed the trailhead by about a half mile on our first trip so this is very helpful.  Kudos to whoever did that.

It’s always a thrill to reach the overlook at OK Slip. She truly is a marvel to behold in any season.  Since today’s journey was going to take us further,  we had our quick lunch break at the overlook to refuel and rest up a little bit before beginning the descent down into the gorge.  

The gorge trail to the base is very steep and slippery- moss covered rocks, loose rocks, loose branches, loose roots. This is not a portion of the trail that you “hike”- this is a free climb.  

There is a length of rope with some convenient strategically placed knots that will assist you with your descent, but for the most part you will be scrambling on your knees and on your butt-digging in with your hands around rocks and roots.  I loved it.  I got very dirty and I was using every muscle figuring out my way down.  It was difficult but I trusted myself- I knew I could do it.  Christy is far more cautious.  She’s actually in better physical shape than I am, she’s strong and capable.  But she likes that I go first so I can talk her through the tough spots. It took us almost an hour to get to the bottom.  A very slow, calculated hour. Even though we were intimidated at points and really feeling like we were struggling a bit, as the trail gets closer to the bottom and we could see different angles of OK Slip through the trees, it got very exciting.

Now that I’ve done it, it’s probably obvious that this climb is not for everyone.  Anybody who wants to do this needs to be physically and mentally capable.  You cannot come into this with a whole lot of self-doubt because you have to trust yourself and your strength. Outdoor rock climbing skills are a bonus. We did comment that some of the knowledge and skills we gained during our outdoor climbing day last September was coming in handy. 

Once we reached the OK Slip Brook we had to climb over some large boulders to get to a good vantage point to see the falls. It’s just so hard to describe the emotions I experienced. I was definitely a little caught up, a little weepy because this is something I’ve been dreaming of for three years now, so to actually make it there and without any incident was thrilling.  I felt grateful that I was capable of doing it because to stand at the base of OK Slip is something that I’m guessing a lot of people don’t get to do.

We found a dry spot to unload our gear and I set to work taking pictures with my lensball.  I like to spend a lot of time on pictures.   I decided that I really wanted to get closer to the Falls which required rock hopping up the creek. Christy was definitely not interested in climbing on wet rocks so she stayed back on dry land to photograph me in my madness.  I got cool video of the water rushing underneath the frozen ice pack.

While we were hanging out at the base and taking pictures, I looked up and happened to notice a drone right over our heads.  We jumped up and down and waved and probably looked ridiculous.  I would love to know if the person operating that drone looked back at their video and thought “wait a minute what’s going on down there?”.  I tried to get it on video and maybe I’ll post it on social media and who knows, maybe it would be cool to connect with the drone operator at some point. (See update below.)

We spent a significant amount of time just hanging out at the base of the falls.  Considering the effort to get to it I really just wanted to take it all in as much as possible.  To stand at the foot of this Adirondack queen is a privilege.

Ok Slip Brook travels about one mile more and empties into the Hudson River.  Since there is no trail, we followed the brook by climbing up and down over rocks, ferns, moss, and downed trees along the creek bed.  It took us another hour to reach the river.  Christy commented several times that she felt like we were in another world. Based on our research we are guessing that very few people probably do that trek.

 The point where the brook merges with the Hudson is a narrow little section across from Kettle Mountain. I had never seen an isolate portion of the Hudson river before and it was really cool. There are a few fire rings and some sandy areas.  The water was cold and crisp and we just appreciated the seclusion of the area that we were in.  

 

The return trail begins right where the brook and river meet. It’s a steep climb up to the ridge but there’s lots of switchbacks so it really wasn’t that bad.  The trail continues about a half a mile or so across the ridge and back to the very top of OK Slip Falls.  There is a foot bridge that allows you to cross the OK Slip Brook at the top of the falls (you can’t really see the drop off but just imagining the 200 foot drop will turn your stomach!)

The trail continues on to meet up with the original trail and the 3 mile hike back to the car. By now we were tired, feet were hurting and I suspected that every single muscle and joint in my body would screaming at me tomorrow.  But I didn’t care because I could not be happier that we achieved this goal.  

~Anne

UPDATE: Thanks to social media response, we learned more about the rules and regulations of drone usage in the ADK Park. We never connected with the drone operator mentioned above because it seems that person may not have been a permitted operator.