I tend to forget just how early the sun rises as you travel east. The sky was showing signs of a new day dawning a little after 4 a.m. and by 5, it was daylight. I was up by 6 a.m., preparing my pack and having my Kashi cereal for breakfast. I’m never hungry in the morning when I’m camping, but knew that I’d be using over 4,000 calories on the hike and needed to put some in before burning them up. I packed some food…an apple, banana, and three kashi bars, put in a Nalgene filled with my Crystal Lite, rain gear, first aid stuff, maps, guide book and camera and was ready for the trail. The pack probably weighed around 20 pounds, which is not that much…except when you’re going to have it on your back for nine hours over 15 miles of trails which climb and descend some 5,000 feet.
Parking for the trailhead is on the fringe of the property owned by the Ausable Club, which has made arrangements with the state of New York to allow hikers access through the property via their roadways to the actual trailhead and hiking trails just beyond. The Club has been in existence since 1886, when it purchased 25,000 acres of pristine mountain wilderness surrounding what at the time was a private hotel catering to the wealthy vacationers up from New York City. It offers its members a 9-hole golf course, tennis, swimming and all the amenities normally associated with an upscale, private country club…but with magnificent views of the surround high peaks of the Adirondacks as a back drop. I passed quickly through at 6:45 a.m., but stopped to take some pictures of this magnificent place and the views of the mountains just beyond.
The trail I was taking rose quickly as it headed for Bear Mt. at around 2,500 feet. I would be going over Bear, dropping back down into a col and rising up and over the 4,000 foot Dial Mt. before descending in and out of a couple more cols before reaching the summit of Nippletop Mt. at a little over 4,600 feet.
The first hour of hiking was a continuous, steep ascent and left me sweating profusely and struggling to keep moving. I was beginning to wonder about the wisdom of this undertaking…I had done almost no training with a pack or climbing because of the knee…as I went. My thighs were beginning to tremble and I was wondering just how bad my condition was when I realized I was overtaking a younger hiker who appeared to be in good shape. We stopped and spoke for a few minutes, but he allowed me to go ahead. “You’re moving a lot faster than me,” he said as I started again. And I was as he quickly fell out of sight. I caught and passed another and then a couple of 20-year olds who were in excellent shape. I wasn’t trying to out-distance any of them, but I’d made up my mind that I would just keep moving.
I’d been in my training zone for over two hours when I crested Dial Mt., but the views were limited from the peak, so I kept moving. I didn’t stop again until I reached Nippletop…four hours after leaving the trailhead and 7.5 miles of the most rigorous climbing I’ve ever done. I collapsed on an open rock face with a magnificent 360 degree view of the peaks of the Adirondacks and even the Green Mountains of Vermont can be seen in the distance. I was exhausted and quickly got into my food to try and replenish the lost calories and fluids. I was joined by other hikers after about 15 minutes of serenity, but its still great to have fellow-hikers sharing a peak and stories of other climbs.
I headed down after 45 minutes. I managed to fall three times on the descent without hurting myself too badly, but on two occasions, the knee twisted under me more than it wanted to and the pain was pretty severe. It took almost four hours to reach the car and I was spent when I finally arrived. The salt from 9 hours on the trail was caked on my skin, but with a clear stream running by and towel in hand, I remedied that situation.
I stumbled on an aching knee as I emerged from the water and knew that I would not be climbing the next day. I’d gotten up and down on a very difficult day, but how I recovered would be the true barometer of what would happen in the near future. Bearing that in mind, I drove north to Potsdam to visit with my Aunt and Uncle, Cousin Donnie and my 105-year old grandmother. I did stop in Tupper Lake at a McDonald’s where I had the best tasting smoothie I’ve ever had.
Hike duration: 8 hours.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 4,000.
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