Eating and hiking...

Friday, October 17, 2014

The previous Saturday:  I slept soundly in my favorite parking lot with no cars coming in the night to disturb my sleep.  That’s what happens when you arrive at 1:45 in the morning, I suppose.  Unfortunately, there was cloud cover and no stars, but also no rain.

I knew Donnie was planning on arriving at the Noon Mark around 9 a.m. and since he drives like a ninety-year old lady, it would likely be later than that.  I anticipated a big crowd there for breakfast and didn’t want to tie up a table for too long, so I waited until 8 to drive over.  I have a particular table I like to use when I’m there; it’s a 4-top but smaller and has an outlet under the table that works, which allows me to recharge my phone.  And my phone was d.e.a.d.  When I walked into the diner, I found a young couple sitting at my table.  They appeared to be finishing up, but no matter.

“Hi there…excuse me.  You seem to be eating at MY table,” I said.

They looked at me, puzzled.  “Um…we didn’t…what?” the man said.

“My table.  This is my table and I’m here and you’re sitting at it and either you’ll need to get up or I’ll sit in that empty chair next to you,” I said.

“We come here all the time and I’ve never seen you before,” she said.

“I live in Ohio and I come here about four times a year and when I do, I sit here so I can charge my phone and see the door so I know when my cousin – or cute chicks – are coming in.  And now I’m here.”

I stood there staring and in the awkward silence, they blinked.  Grabbing their check and belongings, they proceeded to the cashier and I sat down in their mess.  Well…at least that’s what I think happened.

Donnie arrived around 9:15 and I ordered a Western omelet and three pieces of rye toast.  Mindy, granddaughter of the owner and part-owner herself, was our waitress.  Her Aunt Rosie was working the other room and not looking too happy.  Maybe the force of my arrival had bothered her.  The place was bustling so I didn’t engage poor Mindy in my normal, light intellectual banter but instead, let her work.  I did warn her that we’d be taking a short hike and likely returning for lunch in the early afternoon.  I could sense her pleasure in having me there for two meals in the same day – a natural reaction.

I knew Donnie was not looking to hike ‘up’ anything and he somehow got the idea we’d be hiking horizontally from something I’d said, though I’m unclear as to exactly how he got that impression.

“We’ll just take an easy hike on something horizontal,” I said as we walked out of the diner.

“You promise?”  He knew me.

“Of course…sure,” I replied as we climbed in the car for the drive to the Au Sable Club parking lot and a hike to Cathedral Rock.

But when we arrived at the parking lot, it was loaded to overflowing with cars lined half a mile to either side of the entrance on Rt. 73.  There was nowhere to park and plan B kicked in.  “I’ll drive to Mt. Gilligan just outside of town.  It’s away from the leave-watching crowd and will likely be easy to get to,” I said.

We stopped to view a waterfall along the road and arrived at the trailhead parking lot to find only two cars there.  Perfect.

We hike about a quarter mile into the secluded woods past a private cabin before reaching the first of two steep inclines on the 1-mile hike to the peak.  I wasn’t sure if he’d noticed and I scrambled up quickly trying to make it look level.  Ten minutes later, he reached my perch at the top of the climb breathing heavily and limping on a sore knee.

“Really pretty views of the fall colors from just around that bend,” I said as a way of distracting him from what he’d done and still had to do.

“You son-of-a-bitch.  You did it again.  This isn’t FLAT!”

“It’s…I…um…well, shit Donnie – how could you think a hike on a trail with the word ‘mountain’ in it was going to be flat?  Besides – I’ve been lying to you for what, 58 years?  When will you ever learn,” I said.

He waited at that point while I continued the climb to the top.  There were some very good views and pictures and by the time I returned to his resting point, I’d broken a good sweat and was beginning to get my appetite back.  We returned to the car and drove back to Keene Valley for lunch, which consisted of soup and a smoothie.  Donnie got on the road after lunch, needing to return home to stoke his furnace.

It was only three, which allowed me enough time to climb something short.  I found what I needed, Baxter Mt., and made my way to the trailhead for an easy, 2-mile hike to its wonderfully scenic peak.  It is truly amazing just how much of a view you can achieve with simple, lightly-used trails.  The crowds head for the well-advertised, larger peaks and I get that, but it really isn’t necessary.  I shared mine with four other people where on Giant Mt., there were likely over 100 climbers that day.

I finished that day back at Noon Mark for dinner and some journal time.  It hadn’t been rigorous hiking, but had been so rewarding.  I was sure I’d gotten some excellent pictures and felt very pleased with the 12 hours of daylight I’d enjoyed in the mountains.

Hike duration: Three hours.
Training Heart Rate: 90 bpm.
Calories Burned: 750.