I was out of my tent by 7 a.m. and began gathering the firewood Donnie would need for the evening’s fire. Without a chainsaw to cut up the downed trees in a five-square mile area of our tent site, I could really never gather enough to satisfy his pyromania, but I figured I’d do my best. He’d never met a fire he thought was big enough. I was combing the woods about fifty yards from the tent when I heard him calling.
“John…where the hell are you?”
“Over here. Trying to gather enough wood to make you happy,” I said.
“Need any help?” he called back.
“Does a bear shit in your campsite while he’s eating your food?” I asked.
We worked our way around an adjoining pond and found plenty of fuel to haul back. I could see saliva forming at the corner of Donnie’s mouth and the sparkle in his eyes as he anticipated the evening flame. I wasn’t sure if he’d make it until then, though he didn’t have any matches with him and I’d hidden mine. He was getting a little frantic with the thought when I decided it was time to fire the only bullet in the chamber.
“Want some breakfast?”
He shook his head, which seemed to clear his thinking and realign his priorities.
“Hell yeah. We’re going to Noonmark…right?”
Of course we were. We hiked out to the trailhead with Donnie commenting regularly on the ease of this hike compared to hiking in the dark the night before. We drove the 10 minutes back to town, made our way into the Noonmark and began consuming fresh brewed coffee while waiting for our orders. I was hoping for an easier hike and praying that the weather would hold. For the time, it was partially sunny, but the forecast sucked. We finished breakfast…for me it was three blueberry pancakes that just didn’t quite hit the spot…and headed to a backpacking store up the street where we browsed for an hour and made a couple of purchases. I picked up the latest edition of the ‘High Peaks Trail Book’ with the new, waterproofed and full color map. The clerk in the store warned me that he’d heard there were some mistakes on the map, which can be a real issue when you’re ten miles from anywhere and counting on the thing.
We drove to the ADK Loj outside of Lake Placid where Donnie paid to take a shower. I’d satisfied myself in the clear, frigid waters of Chapel Pond and wasn’t ready for that luxury yet. We walked around the area taking in the sites before driving back to Keene Valley and a hike into Ausable Lake. I’d wanted him to see the cabins and hotel on the grounds of the Ausable Club whose property the trail passed through on the way to the peaks I’d climbed the day before, but we’d only gone about ten minutes when the rains began to fall. I thought he had Wicked Witch of the West genes in him the way he wanted to get out of the rain. We returned to the car and drove back into town to do some browsing at the shops there.
While investigating a store offering rustic furnishings, we discovered they also accommodated overnight guests on their second floor. I’d been talking about coming back up with Holly and knew camping was out of the question, so I asked if we could see the rooms. The clerk suggested we just go up and look around. I bumped into a woman at the top of the stairs who looked as if she’d just finished taking a shower. When we walked into the kitchen area…it was set up like a youth hostel…we found about five ladies running around preparing dinner and drinking. Of course they eyed me over.
“We were thinking of eating at the ADK Café, but whatever you’re making smells pretty good,” I said.
“Maybe you should join us,” the lady who’d taken the shower replied.
Donnie remained speechless behind me. Pretty women do that to him. So does the offer of food and we’d snacked earlier but never really had a lunch. I laughed it off and headed back down the stairs with Donnie lagging behind. He purchased a walking stick for $20 and a bar of pine scented soap and we headed for the car and the ADK Café.
“John…they really wanted us to stay for dinner I think,” he said.
“Maybe. But with six of them and only one of me, it could have gotten ugly in there,” I said.
He nodded his head in agreement and we made our way to the ADK Café where we’d been told they served a mean burger and large quantities of fries. We’d been told though, that they didn’t accept cash. When the person advising us to eat there informed us of this, I asked her to repeat herself.
“They don’t accept cash.”
“You mean they won’t accept U.S. currency…or legal tender…for goods and services? I’m pretty sure that’s against the law and I know that it’s stupid as hell,” I said. I didn’t have John to check on the legality of the issue and it didn’t really matter since I wanted to pay by credit card, but I was dumbfounded.
We arrived at the diner to find a sign posted on the door “credit cards only…no cash accepted” and when I inquired with our waitress, she seemed as perplexed as us. She described the scenario that had led the owner to the decision, but I garnered nothing from her telling that brought any sense to his action. Oh well…the burgers were good and though the fries were not in the abundance we’d been picturing, there were enough.
We returned to the trailhead with a light rain still falling and fears for our ability to get and keep a fire going. I had no doubt that if we could start it…and I knew I could…Donnie would keep it going. Once back in our site, I built a teepee of twigs over some paper and birch bark and lit the fire. It immediately sprung to life. I’d covered our meager pile of firewood with a tarp before leaving that morning and stood some longer logs against a pine tree, so it was dry. We built a nice fire and kept it going for the next three hours against intermittent rain.
It continued to rain, heavily at times, throughout the night. Hurricane force winds began howling around three in the morning and continued for a couple of hours, having the positive effect of drying out the tents and trails. I hadn’t gotten much activity during the day…maybe a total of 90 minutes of easy hiking…but any day in the Adirondacks is a good day.
Hike Duration: 90 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 80 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 450.
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