Redfield and Skylight

Sunday, August 1, 2010

I hadn’t slept too well, which I often don’t when backpacking. My back doesn’t seem to like sleeping on the ground, but it’s a small price to pay for being able to enjoy trips to backcountry wilderness settings like this one. I was up again by 6 a.m., but Jimmy didn’t join me until closer to 7 a.m.

“I’m pretty sore. I think I’ll just hang out at the lean-to today,” he said as we watched the mist rising off the water and marsh.

“No way. You can sleep all you want when you get home. Besides, you’d never hear the end of how this old man out-hiked you and walked your lazy butt into the earth.”

He pondered that implication and knew I’d do it. I made breakfast of oatmeal again, but Jimmy had decided he didn’t like oatmeal and was eating our lunch. He’d complained about one of the dinner’s I’d packed, as well.

“I showed you this food Thursday night before packing it into the bear canister. You said you’d eat anything and it was fine,” I’d said the night before. He’d whined about not looking at what I’d shown him…like that was my fault somehow, and wanted me to run to the nearest Giant Eagle to get him something different. I told him he was welcome to go…head south and walk about 50 miles…or eat what I had in the canister. He ate.

We were on the trail by 9:30 a.m. and walking through the wet marsh and grasses with the accompanying sound of whining, little girls. I offered Jimmy the opportunity to take the lead and find his own trail, but he’d rather walk behind me and complain. He’s good at it and wanted to stick with things he does well. We arrived at the trailhead for the Opalescent Trail in about 20 minutes. This trail was longer than yesterday’s and we were only going up about 2 miles and 2,000 feet at which point we would be breaking away and climbing to a ‘trail-less peak’ to Mt. Redfield. Many of the peaks are reached by following ‘herd paths’, trails not maintained by the Park and only identified by the fact that they are reasonably worn by fellow climbers. They can be misleading though, and it pays to have a topographical map and a compass…things I always carry.

The trail was much rougher than the marked trail we’d been on the day before and handholds were often necessary to ascend, which we all liked better. We met only one other party as we climbed and they assured us that there was no one on the peak. Though not above the tree line at 4,600 feet, it still offered some phenomenal views. We ate lunch alone on a large bolder overlooking a 1,000 foot drop into a valley below and with a wonderful view of some of the surrounding peaks.

I’d been talking about Skylight Mountain and how it offered what were arguably the best views in the Adirondacks. It was also on the Opalescent Trail, though we’d have to descend Mt. Redfield and then climb another couple of hours to reach its peak. Jimmy thought he’d pass on the chance, but Reza was ready to go. We returned to the Opalescent Trail by 2 p.m. and, like I figured, Jimmy decided to join us. We climbed to Lake Tear of the Clouds – headwater of the Hudson River - at around 4,000 feet and with another 1,000 feet to go. Reza and Jimmy took a break to eat the rest of the food in the pack as I moved slowly ahead to the final half-mile trail to the peak of Skylight. We headed for the peak together and arrived on top around 4:30 p.m. Though Jimmy had been here before, it had been snowing and we hadn’t stayed long. Now though, it was perfect and they were both thrilled with the views and felt the effort was well worth it.

I don’t like hiking in the dark and we had not brought head lamps, so I mustered them to leave at 5:30 p.m. for the two-plus hour descent and then the return hike to our camp. We arrived back around 8 p.m. completely exhausted, dirty, and starving having spent 8 hours hiking and over 10 hours away from camp. I had to jump in the water to clean off…as I did at the end of every day of hiking…clothes on. I cooked a meal of cous cous covered in Navy Bean soup, which was surprisingly good. We finished the gorp for dessert and washed it all down with Iced tea/lemonade and powdered milk. By the time we’d cleaned up dinner and packed the food in the bear canister, it was 10 p.m. and drizzling. I still had to write in my journal, but knew I would have no trouble sleeping.

Hike duration: 8 hours.
Training Heart Rate: 90-120.
Calories burned during workout: Around 5,000.