The first day...

Friday, September 17, 2010

John arrived in my driveway at 8:30 a.m. and we were on the road by nine. The forecast was for sunny skies, but we saw none of that until we reached Utica, NY and started heading north for the Adirondacks. The first six hours of the trip is all I90 freeway driving, but as soon as I begin heading north out of Utica on State Route 12 with little more than open fields, trees, and mountains in the distance as a backdrop, my feeling of serenity begins to overtake me. Then John spoke.

“I need to use a restroom…soon,” he said. Now…I was puzzled. We’d just pulled out of a service station where he’d used the rest room and I’m more than a little impatient to get to the trailhead and begin the camping experience. Stopping is not in my unnecessarily is not in my makeup.

“You were just in a bathroom. Did you forget what they’re for?”

“It was too dirty in there. I just wasn’t for me,” he said.

“I’d have come in and cleaned the damned thing if you’d told me. Now we’ve got to stop again? Have you forgotten the condition of the average privies you’ll be using for the next four days? Dirty? You’re killing me, Smalls,” I said, using the quote from one of our favorite movies – Sandlot.

I wasn’t going to win this one and couldn’t afford to have him pooping in the front seat of my car, so I stopped at the next service station. “There’s another one across the street in case this one doesn’t meet with your exceedingly high standards,” I said as he exited the car.

This one seemed to meet with his approval and we were soon on the road again. We passed through Old Forge, the last really touristy town before getting into the true rural Adirondack communities. It would appear that the primary industry of the park is tourism and with the beginning of school, that really dies down…good for us since we get more of the woods to ourselves. We were out of cell coverage and would be for the next few days…except on peaks…so John had to put his blackberry away and stop working. Certainly there are some disadvantages to being out of touch via cell phones, but constantly checking business emails, texting, and taking calls while you’re supposed to be on a vacation and relaxing doesn’t qualify.

Like me, John truly appreciates every little river, lake, hamlet and wildlife in this part of the country. We drove and admired the beautiful vista for the next three hours as we made our way to Keene Valley where we’d decided to stop for dinner. I’m the camp cook and I could see we’d be pushing up against nightfall before making our destination, which always makes cooking more of a challenge. Black bears frequent the area and get much bolder at dusk and are more likely to be lurking just inside the tree line and waiting for unsuspecting campers to take their food out of their secure food canisters. They’ve been known to rush into a site at this point and make off with a week’s supply of food in a little over 60 seconds. Better to do your cooking and pack away your food an hour before dusk.

We stopped at the Noonmark Café in Keene Valley. It’s been serving great food in this location since the early 1900’s and offers a panoramic view of peaks surrounding the valley. John had never been there, so I figured it was time to remedy that situation. We ate soup, lasagna and garlic bread before finishing our drive to Heart Lake just east of Lake Placid. The dirt road we needed to traverse the last mile was extremely rutted from the record rains that had been falling that summer, which concerned me in my Honda Civic and its low clearance. We made it to our camp site without losing the exhaust system though, and set up camp quickly in the waning daylight. Once the tent was up, and gear stowed, I figured we had just enough daylight to play catch. We tossed…but I was wrong about the light and after almost taking one in the face, returned the mitts and ball to the car.

We needed some activity and decided to hike the 4-mile round trip to the Adirondack LOJ. ADK is a private organization dedicated to the preservation of the Adirondacks for the recreational use of members and non-members. They own a square mile of property around Heart Lake where they offer excellent camping sites for tents as well as rentals of lean-to’s. They also have a rustic lodge – they spell it ‘LOJ’ where you can rent a bed in a bunk house with room for about 30 people or grab a private room – some with bunks for four people and some with your standard issue double bed. They have great meals and even pack lunches for day hikers. It’s a great jumping off point to climb the best peaks in the Adirondacks and extremely popular. John and I were camping on state grounds with no amenities…for free. I like that price better.

We returned to our site in total darkness, but we had our head lamps when the moon wasn’t casting enough light to walk safely. It was only 9 p.m., but it was getting cold…it would go down into the low thirties that night…and so we decided to get into our sleeping bags. I left the rain fly off so I’d be able to see the stars all night…I tend to wake up every hour when camping and want some benefit to this inconvenience. John was snoring in five minutes and I suppose I wasn’t too far behind him…

Hike duration: One hour.
Training Heart Rate: 70.
Calories burned during workout: 350.