One day to go...

Friday, September 09, 2011

One day before the mountains and I’m feeling the serenity already. Tomorrow will be a nine hour drive to the trailhead, and then a short 30-minute hike into the area where we will camp. The girls are not crazy about three hour hikes with packs after long drives and convinced me to take them to a different place to camp and climb. There are so many in the Adirondacks, so it was easy. We normally camp in an area of high bear activity, which tends to make them nervous…and I’m avoiding that, as well. Though we’ll be camping in a part of the park less traveled by the bears, we’ll still need to have everything in a bear canister. It’s the law up there and even if it wasn’t, it’s just too easy to do and it keeps all critters out of your food.

I went for a Survival Workout and tried to make it really tough. I did some extra climbs and lifts and found that by the end of the workout I could only do 35 push-ups for my last set…which sucks. My knee was a little sore while walking…which is somewhat disconcerting, but I’ll know more on Sunday when we climb.

I spent the night packing and repacking to make sure I had everything we needed. No matter how careful I am, it seems I always leave something behind. On this trip at least, it won’t matter so much since we’ll be within an easy hike of the car and civilization should I forget anything too important. Up early to pack the food and take the last shower for a few days. There’s nothing quite as refreshing as submersing and washing in a cold, spring-fed mountain lake after a hard day of hiking. Shrinkage…gotta’ love it.

Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.