Breakfast was once again a choice of oatmeal, pinole bars, Cliff bars and gorp. We didn’t want to bother climbing in overcast and foggy conditions since they would obscure any view, so we made a trip over to the ADK LOJ and camping store. They have all of the right kind of miscellaneous gear for back country hiking and climbing, which makes it worth the time. We managed to kill about an hour in this fashion and were encouraged by the posted weather report calling for clearing skies. By the time we returned to the camp site, packed our day pack with rain gear and food, it was beginning to clear.
The trailhead is about a mile from the camp site and an easy walk on a dirt road. The first mile of the hike is a trail that winds through majestic, white pines which provide a trail bed of fallen needles. The smell is wonderful and there are no roots or rocks with which to contend. The trail makes its way to a large, several acre beaver pond and the first opening in the canopy, which offers a distant view of the peak we’re headed to climb. I pointed out its rocky, open face to Donnie.
“Wait…what…we’re walking all the way up there?” He was surprised that he needed to tilt his head back and that it was ‘up there’.
“It’s call a mountain for a reason, Donnie. Don’t worry…we’ll take our time and you’ll be fine. And don’t start whining…that’s John’s job,” I said. John nodded his agreement. A mile from the peak, the grade becomes quickly steeper. There’s a 1,700 foot gain in elevation and it has to happen some time. Donnie was wearing blue jeans…I told him that cotton kills and that he should wear shorts, but he’s got ugly legs and didn’t want us to see them. Anyway, he was breaking a good sweat and probably wishing he’d taken my advice. We took our time and climbed slowly, but steadily.
After an hour, we broke through the foliage to the open shelves of rock that made up the peak. The views are fabulous looking south and west where many of New York’s tallest peaks are on display. We sat and ate some energy bars and gorp before beginning our descent. Donnie needed to get home…a two-hour drive north to Massena…and although I didn’t care about making him a little late, I reluctantly stopped my picture taking and started down.
The return trip was quick and easy and Donnie was on the road by 3 p.m. After another frigid, cleansing dip in the creek, we returned to camp with time to kill before dinner and decided to do some exploring in the South Meadows. As we often do when not climbing, we walked slowly, taking in the beauty of the woods. We found a newly constructed wooden bridge over Klondike Brook and took the opportunity to just sit on it and discuss our lives and luck at being able to take the time to enjoy these magnificent surroundings.
We returned in time to begin making dinner, which was some kind of pasta/rice tomato parmesan thing I’d concocted. I also had a sardine sandwich while waiting and we finished it off with a dessert of instant vanilla pudding. Not bad, but all back country cooking tastes good to me.
It was supposed to be in the low 30’s again this evening and since I didn’t want John whining about the cold again, agreed to put the rain fly over the tent to help hold in the heat. We sat on the ground in our crazy creek chairs and talked for a couple of hour before climbing into our sleeping bags. Tomorrow was going to be another difficult climbing day…I figured I could snooker John into climbing two peaks…before the long drive back home. We needed a good night’s rest.
Hike duration: Three hours.
Training Heart Rate: 70-120, depending on terrain.
Calories burned during workout: 1,500.
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