Algonquin and Iroquois

Saturday, July 31, 2010

I was up at 6 a.m., having slept pretty well. Jimmy was up, too which shocked me. He tells me he typically needs around 16 hours of sleep a day to revitalize his massive brain, though I’m not sure why since he uses it so sparingly. I wanted to be on the trail by 9 a.m., so we had plenty of time to eat our breakfast of peaches and cream oatmeal, pack lunch, raingear and other vitals we’d need in one daypack, and get some water.

We hiked north over the marshy, sponge-like terrain that spread out across the open valley that was once under water from the dam to the south. Our shoes were immediately filling with water, which became worse when we entered the tall grasses I call ‘the bear maze’. These were soaked in dew and traversed only by the ranger checking on the area and the bears that visited every evening to see if some dopey camper had left their food in something other than a bear canister for their consumption. We didn’t. The grasses scratched and soaked my companions, which had them whining…something which bothered me not at all. Little girls.

We met the ranger stationed permanently in the area and living in a cabin. He told us a couple of stories about the knuckleheads he’s had to deal with here and mentioned that there had been a bear in the area last night, which campers had deterred with loud noise.

A short distance from the ranger’s cabin was the trailhead to Algonquin Mountain, the second tallest peak in New York and, with a 3,000 foot gain in elevation over the 2-mile trail we would be climbing, was the continually most steep in the Adirondacks. I’ve taken this trail many times and enjoy it for the views it offers as you ascend and the availability of water. In this modern day of backpacking, no water is considered completely safe from the parasite known as giardia lamblia found in the feces of mammals and often referred to as beaver fever (beavers poop in the water). I purify any water that has the potential for mammal presence, but once I begin to climb an know that the water is coming straight out of the side of the mountain, I simply dip my water bottle and drink. I’ve been doing this for 12 years and have yet to have a problem. It’s also a fantastic workout.

Though steep, the ascent is not technical in that no equipment is necessary to climb…only decent conditioning. We arrived at the tree line in a little less than 90 minutes and I was drenched with sweat. The last half mile up is done on mostly bare rock with what vegetation there is noted as ‘artic’, appearing only on these northern peaks and above the artic circle. It is extremely fragile and every effort should be made to avoid stepping on it.

It was some kind of Canadian holiday and the peak was crowded. Most people had come from another, longer trail, which was not nearly as steep and easier to access. We ate lunch on the peak, but decided to head for another peak by descending into a col and following a trail for about a mile through all kinds of slop and mud before ascending to the peak of Iroquois Mountain where there were only a few other climbers. The views were spectacular on this clear, cool day with the outlines of the Green Mountains of Vermont visible on the horizon to the east.

Jimmy took a nap on the peak while Reza enjoyed the serenity. My running shorts had fallen from the daypack on the ascent and so I left early to search for them with a planned meeting place about half way down. I found them a short distance from the peak and continued down. We rendezvoused and continued the descent together. Descending can be very taxing on the muscles of the lower body so unused to this stress and we were all quite tired when we reached the bottom and started the two-mile hike back to camp, arriving there around 5:30 p.m. – over 8 hours after we’d left that morning.

Normally, everything tastes good when backpacking, but I was struggling with Reza’s request…macaroni and cheese. We ate that and then wolfed down a second dinner of chicken and rice and followed that with vanilla pudding I made using powdered milk…which was excellent. I had burned a ton of calories hiking that day and don’t think the extra food would have any negative impact on the weight loss. Tomorrow…two more peaks.

Hike duration: 6 hours.
Training Heart Rate: 90-120.
Calories burned during workout: Around 4,000.