Acadia & White Mountains Trip Day 3

      6:00 am alarm. Today we started the day with a 20 minute run near the motel. Currently, we are training for another 1/2 Marathon in early September in Lake Placid. This week is actually a recovery week, so there are some short runs during the week on the training plan. I chose a simple out and back on route 302. Once we got going there were a number of cyclists that we had to share the road with. It made me miss the Tour de France coverage that I was currently dvr'ing at home, let alone, miss riding my own bike.
     After the run, we showered, packed our stuff and bid adieu to the Village Inn. Heading south on 302, the next order of business was to find the local EMS and get a new tent. Arriving in the larger city of Conway, NH, we found it. This was an EMS on steroids. Huge store with everything you can imagine, including some expensive road bikes. We found a nice tent, a Marmot Limelight 3P, bought a few other supplies, and were off again.
     Driving east across New Hampshire, it was easy to tell that in the fall, this place is a must see. As a budding photographer, I can't wait to come back. Many picturesque towns, rivers, and lakes, with deciduous trees everywhere. Finally making it to 95 north, and into Maine, the trip picked up, and within 4 hours or so we were crossing the bridge to Mt. Desert island.
     Mt. Desert island is a 108 square mile island in northern Maine. The island is host to a number of different types of environments. Mountains, beaches, coastline, lakes, they are all here. It has a number of towns, with Bar Harbor being the largest and busiest tourist town, and places like Southwest Harbor and Bass Harbor that are working fishing villages. Lobster fishing is one of the mainstays on the island. Looking along the coast, you can see colorful buoys floating in the turbid ocean. Each of these are attached to a lobster trap. In the eastern section of the island is Acadia National Park, and the reason that most people come to the island.
      We arrived at our motel in the northern part of the island, the Acadia Pines motel, in the late afternoon. After settling in, we drove south to Bar Harbor. Along the way we could see that most of the ocean surrounding the island was covered in a dense fog. It was eerie and beautiful. Bar Harbor was bustling with activity, despite the poor weather. I wanted to get some shots of the pier and shoreline, so we made our way down near the big hotel, the Bar Harbor Inn. The rocks were extremely wet and slippery. Heather decided to walk up a wet rock with her Tevas on and well, her feet slipped right out beneath her. She fell backwards on her butt to the horror of the people on the rock wall above her. "Are you OK!??!?!" a lady yelled out. She immediately got up and said she was fine. Heather is tough as nails.
      After snapping off some photographs, we decided to search out a meal and celebrate the rest of our vacation. We went to the Bar Harbor Brewing company, and tried some of the local beers in a nice sampler.
Recently we both have expanded our horizons with beer tasting, and found a couple of beers we really enjoyed here. It was an early night tonight, as I planned on getting up early the next day for some sunrise shots of Bar Harbor.

Acadia & White Mountains Trip Day 2

We awoke in the Villager Motel around 5am. The weather was set to be completely clear on this day, and it was. Not a cloud in the sky. I wanted to get out and do some sunrise/golden light photography in the Crawford Notch area.
After a quick breakfast of instant oatmeal and instant coffee we made our way north on route 302. My goal was to hit the visitor center, and hit a couple of hikes there. We stopped at a few spots along the way, but due to this being a valley, there was not much early morning light yet. Not a big deal.
Arriving at the visitor center, which is actually called the Highland Center, it was rather active with hikers. They have a lodge here, called the Highland Lodge, which looked very nice. Perhaps it would be worth staying here at some point.
     We looked at the map at the Highland Center, and decided to do a couple of shorter out and back type hikes. We wanted to get a taste of hiking in the White Mountains, but nothing too intense. One of them was Mt. Willard, a relatively short summit hike. It was supposed to have amazing views at the top, so we decided to try this first. The trail-head was a little ways down from the Highland Center at a train depot. The interesting thing about Crawford Notch, is that there is a train that runs the length of it. At the notch itself ( which is a rock formation with a "notch" blasted through for the road), there is a tunnel that the train enters and exits rising up the side of the valley. Further down you can actually take this train to the top of Mt. Washington, but I digress.

Summit of Mt. Willard

     The hike was a relatively moderate rise of 900 feet in about 1.6 miles. The trails here are really well maintained, with some nice wide spots that 2 or 3 people could walk side by side. It was still relatively early in the morning, around 8 or so, so the temps were nice and cool. Since both of us have been working quite hard at running lately, and I have been ramping up the cycling training, our legs and lungs can handle a nice steady output. Personally, I am also down about 20 lbs from last summer, so that makes a huge difference. We got to the top and we were alone. Before us was a beautiful panorama of Crawford Notch and the valley spread out below. The presidential range was to the left, with Mt. Jackson in full view. It was quiet and serene. After about a 1/2 hour of relaxing we started to descend. As soon as we left, other hikers started arriving en-masse. We timed this one right.
    We next decided to do a waterfall hike. There are a number of beautiful waterfalls in the area, but we (foolishly) chose the most popular one, Arethusa Falls. This was a steady and relatively short hike, at 1 and a 1/2 miles out. We hit the trailhead and followed a large group of adults with a brood of children in tow. Now, I really enjoy seeing children out hiking. Kudos to the parents for actually getting them out there. I recently read a frightening article that children are reaching their peak of physical activity by age 10, replaced by sitting on their ever widening rear-ends on a couch, glued to a video game. I can appreciate the effort put in. But, I also have a low tolerance for screaming children. I am sure when they are your own, you don't mind, maybe you do, I don't know. But really, just talk lower, everyone can still hear you.
     We passed a number of groups, and somehow got in the middle of others. This wasn't quite as bad as our hikes in Yosemite Valley, but it was getting close. We made it down the steep embankment to the falls, and they were beautiful. However, there were people everywhere enjoying them. The camera gear I lugged was going to be wasted effort. I setup my tripod anyways, and got down to the business of framing some shots of the falls. There were some people that were standing right in front of me, in the waterfall. They kept looking at me, knowing what I was trying to accomplish, and still stood there, oblivious. As soon as a group of children came up and surrounded us, pretty much sitting on my tripod, it was time to go. It was not a big deal, as it was brightly sunlit, and long exposure waterfall shots just don't work in sunlight.
    We enjoyed our hike out, and ended up going back to the Crawford Notch campground to pack our gear. Before we left for the day, I talked to the old fella at the counter at the Villager Inn, and told him we wanted to stay another night. "No problem... I fix room up for you!". Ok then. We packed our gear at the campground, still keeping an eye out for bears, and checked out. I decided that the tent was going to be a no-go situation. I was going to have to invest in a new tent before we got to Maine. The rest of the evening we relaxed, and found a picnic table to cook a few burgers on our portable cooker.

Acadia & White Mountains Trip Day 1

The calm before the storm.

Last week, Heather and I decided that the time was right to take another vacation. I had been saving my time diligently until the summer, so I have a number of weeks to play with. We looked at the calendar and chose this week, as there was nothing scheduled for the weekends or during the week. Our adventure of choice was the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and later, go further east and spend time in Acadia National Park. We visited Acadia in the summer of 2009 and loved it, but we have never been to the White Mountains.
     We did some pre-trip planning, and decided to camp for two nights in the Whites, and two nights in Acadia. The rest of the days were going to be spent in motels. However, little did we know, more days than originally planned would be spent in motels. Our campground in the Whites was at the Crawford Notch Campground. I checked trip-advisor and the reviews seemed really good, so we booked two nights there for Sunday and Monday.
     The summer of 2013, we went out west for a three week vacation. I made notes for that trip, but I am rather angry with myself that I never added it to this blog. It's wonderful to look back on some of these entries and relive the adventures( and sometimes misadventures). Hind-sight being what it is, moving on to the present. The reason I mention last year, is that every year we learn more and more about long term road traveling. One of the best investments we made last summer, was a very expensive Pelican cooler. The investment has paid for itself ten-fold, as we have used it for long term food storage. The cooler is supposed to keep food cold for days on end, and it really does work well. You can spend a large chunk of money on food when you travel, with the cooler, we have saved a ton.
I also mention last year, because we never camped once last season. The tent was never removed from the bag. For this trip I did a cursory check of the tent to make sure that everything was still there, but never really fully opened it to check on it's condition. This ultimately was a mistake, as you will find out later.
     The car was loaded on Saturday, and we ended up using the Thule cargo carrier from the 2010 west trip. We packed all of the camping supplies in the Thule, and everything else in the vehicle. We left Sunday morning fairly early and had a rather uneventful 7 hour drive to the Crawford Notch campground. Checking the weather often, we were between storms, so never really encountered any rain to speak of. As we drove east through Troy New York, we quickly crossed over into Vermont. Vermont seems gorgeous, with rolling hills and deciduous forests aplenty. It has to be beautiful in the fall. We drove across the Green Mountains, and soon crossed a river into New Hampshire. Interstate 91 north took us to Route 302 East which leads to the White Mountains. We didn't stop along the way for photo ops, as we were quite focused to get to our campsite before the looming rain was upon us. We followed the Saco River through the valley into the White Mountain national forest. The mountains loomed on either side of us, it was quite a sight.
     We arrived at the campground and went inside to check in. The lady in the campstore/registration building was pleasant and upbeat. She engaged us in chit-chat and handed us a small green slip of paper. "Make sure you read this, you don't want any critters getting into your food". Critters? "Keep your camera ready!" she said. Not one mention of the word 'bears'. Just a laugh and a smile and a no big deal attitude about it. She talked about the fact that our site was beautiful and it was right within walking distance of the Saco river and the trails. Cool! Not really.
     After finding our site, it started raining, and fairly hard at that. We put up our pop-up tarp first , so we could at least have some shelter from the deluge. Then we setup the tent. I immediately noticed a strange musty type smell coming from the rain-fly. There was some sort of weird melted residue on the outside of it. Not good at all. We made a quick dinner of spaghetti and meatballs ( ok we just had a dehydrated backpacker meal ) and had some snacks. We then drove back to the camp store to get an LED lantern and some fire-wood, and I noticed an article cut from a local paper under the plastic of the counter. It was about the local bear problems. I asked the kid at the counter if this campground has an issue with bears. He shrugged his shoulders, and hung his head as if he was just caught in the cookie jar. "Yeah, we do. There was a late berry season, so the bears are coming across the river and foraging for campers food." Seriously? Great. I shared this information with Heather and we both weren't too pleased.
     Arriving back at our campsite, I quickly got a fire going and we started to relax. Heather asked me what time it was, I replied that it was 7:48. Just then, out of the corner of my eye I saw some movement. I turned to look, and literally 15 feet behind us, walked a female black bear with two tiny cubs in tow. She was walking along our campsite line. Not making a sound. I said "Holy Sh*T .. bears!" Heather got up and went for the vehicle front seat. I just stood there in shock and watched her and the cubs move along the drainage next to our site. Easily the closest I have ever been to a bear in the wild. She was fat, but not very large, maybe the size of a very large dog, and looked well fed. The cubs were adorable. But this was a really bad precedent. First off there was no fear of humans. She is also teaching her cubs that this is the way to get food, rather than naturally foraging.
     After getting over the shock of what just happened, we tried to settle down. I noticed a little boy playing along the road at one of the river sites, and his parents enjoying the fire up at the site. I walked over and told them of our encounter, they were shocked, thanked me, and told their boy that play time was over. Around 8:15 or so, we got our headlamps out. Heather started shining hers around the site just for giggles, and said "There's the bear coming right at us!!" I looked, and sure enough there was a bear. Except this was not the female. This was a MUCH larger male. He was walking along the drainage to the right of our site. right towards us. I quickly set off my panic button on the vehicle, and the horn started blaring. He changed course and went up the road, right towards another campers site. I watched him go towards their car, get up onto the back of their truck and grab a loaf of bread. You would think with the yelling and the car alarm I was setting off, these people would have been aware, they weren't. Finally I heard some yelling and clapping and the bear went off into the woods with his easy meal. So now we have campers who are not bear-aware. Excellent. The bear then started lumbering back towards our site again. Another panic button hit and yelling, but this time I did have camera in-hand and took some video. At one point I yelled and he just stopped. Looked at me, as if calculating if it was worth it, and quickly started running away.

     We had a quick discussion and realized this place was just not safe at all. The tent was in really rough shape, and the bears were accustomed to getting their meals from ignorant campers. Our first time camping in a while was turning out to be a dud. So we just took our chances, leaving our gear to be picked up later and left. We drove down route 302 south towards the town of Conway. Pulling into the first place we saw that looked decent, called the Villager Motel, in Bartlett. The place looked pretty empty, so there were rooms available. I told the Indian lady at the front counter of our adventure at the Crawford Notch campground and she just kind of shrugged her shoulders. Perhaps this happens often? So day 1 of the trip was complete, and already we had a good vacation story to tell....

The 46 High Peaks: Gray and Skylight

I love you Garmin Fenix

20.66 Miles. This was the mileage that the Garmin Fenix reported. Our bodies were completely spent and broken. We only had one thing on our minds, food and beer. Ok I guess that is two things. Here is how we got there ( get a beverage, this is a long one )......

I am a gadget guy. Those who know me, know this. Lately on hikes, I have wanted to know a bit more information regarding our current location, how far we have gone, elevation, temperature, etc. Sure, some of this information can be gleamed from my old hand-held gps, but using it can be an ungainly experience. It generally requires stopping, grabbing the device from the pack ( too big to fit comfortably in a pocket ), and going through a number of menus to find the information you need. The Garmin Fenix makes this very easy, because all of that pertinent information is right on your wrist.
      I received the watch early last week, and had a few days to set it up and get used to the interface. Using their Mac based software, Garmin Basecamp, I was able to grab a detailed topographic map of New York State. I could communicate directly with the watch and set waypoints via the included USB connection. Very slick stuff!
     We decided that we would head up to the High Peaks for the weekend and tackle Gray Peak and Mt. Skylight. This would be the longest hike we have ever done, at a prospective 18 miles round trip. After our adventure two weeks ago, to Mt. Marcy, I was sure we could handle this. At home I used the BaseCamp software to set a bunch of waypoints along the prospective trail, most trail junctions, and the peaks themselves. It turns out that this was a very good choice, and saved us from an even longer night than we had anticipated. More on that later.....

Drizzly Day

     Getting out a bit early Friday afternoon from work, we set out for Lake Placid. We arrived around 8pm, and walked immediately down the street from our hotel to Eastern Mountain Sports. I bought a new rain-coat ( mine actually stopped being rain-proof the day before we left .. ) and some fancy new Leki hiking poles ( my old ones were destroyed on the Marcy hike ). A restock of various trail snacks was also needed.

     We woke the following morning at 5am. Grabbed a muffin and bagel for breakfast and set out for the trail-head. The forecast was not as cold as expected, but still chilly and damp. I was glad I bought the raincoat. We arrived at the ADK Loj trailhead, got geared up and started moving at 6:30 am. I made sure to turn the Garmin Fenix gps on, set it to hiking mode, and let it track us. This was going to be a great test to see how long the rechargeable battery will last.

Marcy Dam 

     The hiking was going quite fast. We made it to our first major junction, Marcy
Dam, by 7:35 a.m., covering the 2.3 miles in about an hour( 2mph on Adirondack Trails is considered pretty good). After a quick snack, and removal of some layers, we continued on the trail to the junction for Lake Arnold. Heading left along the trail, we hiked with the Marcy Brook roaring to our right. The air was crisp and cool, and the sound of the brook rushing near us was rather soothing. All of the rain of the past week surely caused all the rivers and creeks to swell. The trail was mostly flat for a mile with a very slight rise. At about 3.5 miles the trail started getting much steeper. The small rocks were replaced by large boulders, and the going started to get slower and tougher. Another mile or so and the trail continues up a river bed. It was zig-zagging across the river and really took our full attention, it would be very easy to slip on a rock and get injured.

      As we negotiated the river, we saw the first group of the day coming behind us. It was a family of 6. Their timing was not good, as Heather was making her way across the river. It can be nerve-wracking when people are behind you, watching you, and waiting for their turn to cross. Heather immediately got nervous and almost lost her footing on a slippery rock. She made it across without incident. The group was very friendly, and it turns out that the mother of the group was completing her 46th peak today. They were doing Gray and Skylight just like us. We let them pass, and would see them later. We continued up the old river bed and came to a section of wooden planks over some water-logged trail. Arriving at Lake Arnold around 9:10a.m., we had already covered 5.2 miles of our journey, and everything was going well so far. We knew what was in store for us though, as the bog area was coming up next.

    From Lake Arnold at an elevation of 3725', we descended for the next mile to about 3200'. This section of trail was through very old growth forest on the side of Mt. Colden. Eventually it brings you into a valley that opens up, and a few streams converge here into the Opulescent river, creating the infamous bog area. The ADK/DEC do the best that they can for trail maintenance, but this area is a challenge. Wooden planks are set across the bog, barely floating at the top. When you step onto a plank, you sink a bit into the water, and it can take you off guard. Slow and deliberate steps are the order of the day at this point. The middle of the bog is the deepest section and probably the scariest. As I shuffled across this area, I put my hiking pole down into the black murky water to see if it touched. I kept going and going until my hand was in the frigid mountain water, and couldn't feel the bottom. I imagine if you dumped it into the water, you would be swimming and be in a potentially dangerous situation( hypothermia ). We made it across just fine, and knew we had to hit this area one more time on the way back.

Cotton Sucks

      At the next junction, near the lean-to we stayed in back on a failed attempt of Mt. Colden, Feldspar lean-to, we continued left along Feldspar Brook. The trail started to ascend steeply now gaining about 1000' feet in a mile. As soon as we saw the lake, we were at the junction for Gray Mountain. The lake is called Lake Tear of the Clouds. Amazingly, this small mountain lake is the origin of the Hudson River. It was pretty cool to think that such a major river starts at this point, but we didn't have time to think about such things, as we had some serious climbing to do. Gray is a "herdpath" trail. It is not maintained officially, nor does it have any trail markers. The herdpath designation comes from the fact that so many hikers traverse the trail, that it is fairly obvious where the trail is. It was here that we saw the family of 6 again. We all had a good laugh noting the shape of Heathers pants. They were full on soaked with mud. The mud ran all the way back up her legs to her butt. She made a mistake, and chose to wear pants that were unknowingly, 60% cotton. Cotton is the enemy of hikers( and really most athletic endeavors ). It soaks you. Makes you cold/hot and takes an extremely long time to dry. Those pants ended up in the trash the next day.

    The ascent of Gray started, and was not easy. There was water coming down the "trail" the entire time. Not just slowly, but a small steady stream of it. All of the rocks were soaking wet. Footing was cautious and slow. At many points we had to hold onto trees and roots on the side of the trail. We came to a section with a 12' drop down a small cliff. I dangled my feet over and held onto a natural crack in the rock and ended up dropping down. My ankle turned sideways in the mud, but I kept standing and luckily did not sprain anything. It did not feel pleasant. Heather did the same type of drop, but I was able to catch her fall at the bottom. The climbing did not get any easier from there. It was steady, muddy and slippery. We both agreed this was the toughest climb we had done so far up in the Adirondacks. We peaked out at almost exactly 12pm at 8.2 miles and 4725 ft. elevation. The view was obscured by loose

Resting on Gray Peak

clouds that cleared occasionally for us to see our next goal for the day, Mt. Skylight. We had a quick snack, and a rest, and started our descent. Right at the outset, as soon as I said "Now the fun begins", I stepped down onto a wet rock, slipped and fell backwards off of it, landing right on my lower back. I thought I was done. The initial shock of falling made my back stiffen and going down Gray with an injury would be pretty awful. I continued on and luckily it loosened up. I had a few choice words and was not a pleasant hiker at that point though.
       At the bottom of the Gray junction, we encountered a couple who were quite talkative. The man noted the mud on Heathers pants, and the girl had a good laugh as well. I am sure tales will be told of the woman with the muddiest pants anyone has ever seen. Everyone we encountered talked of the view from Mt. Skylight, and the man was no exception. He talked of the great views up there, coinciding with what we have also heard and read.

Lake Tear of the Clouds

       We made our way along Lake Tear till we got to the Four Corners junction. This is a junction where you can go up Skylight, continue to Mt. Marcy or keep going straight. We of course took the trail to Skylight. As we started our ascent, the sky started to clear. Blue skies replaced puffy white clouds and we were soon in for a treat. The ascent of Skylight was a surprisingly easy 1/2 mile. The grade was steady, rising from 4200 feet and topping out at 4900 feet. We hit the summit at 2pm at the 9.4 total mileage mark and were treated to an insane view. All of the high peaks were visible from here in a beautiful 360 panorama. We met a couple at the top who were backpacking and doing whatever mountains they felt like doing. After we played photographer for each other, we started our descent. At this point in the day, it was likely we were going to finish in the dark, something we both did not want to do( da bears!!! ). I started pushing for us to go as fast as we could safely go to get back.

Beautiful View from Mt. Skylight

       All along, the Garmin Fenix was keeping track of where we were. I occasionally would check and call out our elevation, distance and time. I even purchased a small Ant+ temperature sensor called, Tempe, that allows me to get the current ambient temperature. Very slick having this sort of data as you hike. The other cool thing is that it actually does show a small bread-crumb map of all of the gps track points as it is recording them. The waypoints that I set earlier are all visible here as well. This turned out to be invaluable. As we made our way back along Feldspar brook, the environment started to change. It looked unfamiliar, yet familiar at the same time. Something did not feel right. Looking at the small map on the Fenix, the bread crumb trail was veering off from where we had already traversed. According to the key, we had gone at least a 1/2 mile or so on this unfamiliar trail. We missed a junction!?! Impossible!! We encountered a duo that we saw earlier, and asked if this was the way to Lake Arnold. They replied that it was the trail to Lake Colden and the Upper Works parking lot. Uhhgg! They said the junction is easy to miss from this direction. So now we were a tad lost, had traversed farther than we wanted to, and were certainly going to finish later in the evening than planned. Fear is a good motivator, so we quickly turned around, and I followed the track on my watch. Sure enough, we found the junction to Lake Arnold, there was a tree blocking the sign. We were in such a hurry with our heads down hiking, that we missed it. Had I not had the watch, we would have likely kept going until we reached an unfamiliar trail junction, figuring it out way too late that we took a wrong turn.

Heather crossing the Bogs

      Once we got back on track, the hiking was fast and furious. We were both suffering from fatigue, both mentally and physically. We knew we had to tackle a few tricky sections before we literally were "out of the woods". The bog section went without incident. The river section was fairly smooth. All the while I was looking at my watch and watching the fading light all around us. When we got to lower elevations, being in the lead the entire time, I made sure to make lots of noise. The black bear population in the Adirondacks is 4000 or so strong. There are usually bear-human encounters in the evening near the Marcy Dam area. This was in the back of mind, perhaps more than it should really be. But the darkness and fatigue can play tricks on you. Thinking the odd tree stump looks like a big old bruin.
   The last few miles were a blur, and we relaxed a little bit knowing this particular section of trail so well. It was dark, but our eyes had adjusted and we could see fairly well. We arrived back at our vehicle around 7:30. I stopped the tracking on the Garmin Fenix and saved the track to the watches memory to view later. We were both very happy I invested in the watch after a bit of a misadventure. Amazed and quite proud that we did over 20 miles on a hike. I never thought we would see such mileage in a single day of hiking. After 5 years, we are now 16er's, and that is a beautiful thing.

Mt. Marcy in the background left.

     
      

The 46 High Peaks: Mt. Marcy Weekend

   
    Friday, 9:10 a.m. Blueberry muffin, gone. Weather forecast for the weekend: awesome. Cursory check for hotels in the Lake Placid area: Vacancy. Check with Heather, and the schedule is free and clear. Northwoods Inn booked for Friday and Saturday!
     I got out of work early at 11 and did a quick pack. Our hiking gear was barely cold from our 3 week west trip, only a few weeks prior. Everything was pretty much ready and accessible. We packed what we needed, and left what we didn't, and set off for the north.
    We arrived in Lake Placid around 4:30p.m., checked in to the hotel, and made our way along the "strip" to locate some food. During the drive we decided what mountain we would climb, Mt. Marcy. Based on the forecast( awesome ), we knew we had a full day of hiking, without any concern for the weather. This would be our longest hike/climb so far at 14.8 miles. Time to carb-load! We settled for a pizza place, complete with Russian servers. The pizza was o.k., but it was quite edible, and we were glad to be eating. Since this trip was off the cuff, we didn't have time to load up on trail food( cliff bars, gels, anything with easily absorbed calories), so it was off to EMS to load up. We hit the hay early to be up at 5:15a.m. to start our day.
    Alarm, 5:15a.m. We were up and ready to roll quite quickly. We filled our water containers and packed our packs with food and supplies the night before. A quick breakfast was on our minds, and would not happen unfortunately. The bagel place adjacent to the hotel was not open until 7a.m. WHAT?!?! Settling for a clif-bar for breakfast was the only option. Not good when you are likely to burn 3 to 4000 calories in a long day of hiking. We made our way down to the Adirondack Loj road, which was nearly covered in fog. As soon as we descended down into the valley and parked, the fog was gone.

   We got right down to business and started moving along the trail. The first 2.3 miles into Marcy Dam is a well-worn and fairly easy trail( by Adirondack standards). Some ups and downs, but nothing too difficult. My pace is usually quite fast first thing in the morning, Heather takes a bit more "warming up". I generally get 15-20 yards ahead of her, stop until I see her behind me, then continue on. We hit Marcy Dam around 7:20 a.m., and were making excellent time. Stopping for about 5 minutes or so for a quick rest and to get the packs off of our backs was a welcome respite. Speaking of packs, my camera backpack ( F-Stop Loka) was performing admirably. This was the first big Adirondacks hike using this system. The only thing that I really need is a water bladder for it. I had 2 liters of water with me, but when I don't have a hydration system, I tend to drink less, which of course dehydrates me. But I digress. While sitting at the broken dam ( soon to be repaired? ) there was a young man with a nice looking dog that came and sat near us. We would definitely be seeing more of this dog later....

    We hiked along the Van Hovenburg blue trail, encountering a few of the trails we had done prior, most notably, Phelps and Tabletop. The hike was a steady ascent. This trail is very well worn and maintained. I kept an eye on my altimeter as we climbed. The grade was gradual enough that by the time we got to within 2 miles left to the summit, we still had a few thousand feet of climbing to do. Which meant it was going to get steep fairly soon. And it certainly did. Even though it got steep, it didn't seem to bother us. I think from my recent foray into cycling, my legs are becoming accustomed to the burn. The last mile was the steepest section of the climb. Heather ditched her hiking poles, and we both went into scramble mode, using our hands and feet to get up slight pitches. It was some good climbing, and really a good overall mind/body workout. We

certainly had to rest a few times to get our breath back, as the air was becoming a bit thinner than we were used to, 3000 feet below. Cairns and yellow paint marks, marked the trail, as we were now above tree-line. As we crested the summit, the adrenaline kicked in and we had were greeted with an insane 360 degree panorama of all the mountain ranges of the high peaks and beyond. The weather was extremely clear and warm, with just a very slight breeze. We could literally see the green mountains of Vermont to the east, and Lake Champlain.
       While we were on the summit, we chatted a bit with the summit steward. The summit stewards are hired by the ADK to educate people about the rare alpine vegetation, and provide any other information they can. They basically greet hikers and tell them to stay off the vegetation. Two female hikers came up to the summit with a dog on a leash, asking "Is this anyone's dog?". Remember the dog earlier in this story? Well this dog apparently got loose and went on a hike by itself. It went 4 miles up the trail before the two ladies took him and led him up to the summit. His leash was completely tattered, no doubt from getting snagged, but looked like he was in fine shape. The summit steward radioed down about the dog, just as we started descending. We meant to ask people if it was their dog on the way down, but the approach section of the climb needed our undivided attention.

       The hike down was a bit slower than the hike up. Our knees started to really feel the brunt of the down-force on each step. Hiking poles help immensely in this instance. Mine are really old. In fact they are about 5 years old, since one of our first big weekends up in the high peaks. On one particular tricky part I had to put a bunch of pressure on them, and they basically collapsed. Sending me forward and wrenching my arm backwards. Not good. I wanted to leave them on the trail, but of course that would have been against the leave no trace policy. I packed them in my pack and suffered the rest of the hike without them. We passed a bunch of people heading up, indeed it was the perfect weather for this sort of thing. A party of 4 young men went past and one looked rather familiar. Sure enough it was the same guy that was down at Marcy Dam early in the morning. "Have you seen a dog?". To his relief we told him about his dog and where we saw it last. I am sure they had a great reunion somewhere along the trail.
       We finished the hike around 4:30 p.m. tired, sore and ready for a really good meal. We only ate snacks throughout the day, since we never packed a lunch( and of course no breakfast ). It was a solid 9 hours of hiking with some breaks in between and a total of 14.8 miles. Later that night we hit the Lake Placid Brew Pub. Big juicy burgers and a few beers later and we were both very happy and content. Very excited to have High Peak #14 under our belts.
      Being up in the Adirondacks is really like no other place. Having spent so much time out west this summer, the 'daks are just very special. There is an old ethereal type feeling up there that is hard to describe. Some people travel very far to experience that type of feeling. Not many know that it can be felt very easily in our own back yard....

 

West Trip Day 10 - Yosemite National Park

    We awoke early in the morning in the small cabin in Lee Vining. Enjoyed hot showers in the cramped bathroom, knowing this would be our last chance for a couple of days. Setting out, we made our way through the town and stopped at a small restaurant for a hearty breakfast. Time was on our side this morning, since technically this was supposed to be another travel day. We had only a short drive over the Tioga Pass road and we were in Yosemite National Park, maybe 45 minutes from where we sat. Had a good pancake breakfast and noted the people sitting amongst us. Definitely some outdoor type folks present, the clothes are a dead giveaway. Drab colors of brown's and greens and hardly a cotton stitch on, mostly synthetic type hiking gear.

      Soon we were on the road again, pulling off the main highway and onto Tioga Pass road. We ascended sharply, realizing that we had to climb 4000 feet or so to over 10,000 feet over the pass and into the park. The scenery was wild and the road did not disappoint. We were thick into the Sierra Nevada mountains, with its sharp granite and snow covered peaks and alpine vegetation. Having driven many dangerous roads so far on the trip, the pass was easier than expected, though going east to west over the pass we were on the mountain side. The other side of the road looked down-right frightening, since there was no guard-rail, and a straight drop off of a few thousand feet.

     We arrived in the long line of vehicles, waiting to gain entrance to the park. While sitting there, we noticed our surroundings. High mountain peaks and small lakes were all around us. It was picturesque to say the least. Finally we showed our pass to the ranger, and continued on into the park, following the Tioga Pass road. Yosemite is set up quite differently from Yellowstone National Park, and dare I say, less efficient. There is one main road that splits the park apart, and another road that loops down into Yosemite valley, the main and most frequented section of the park. (Click here here to see a map of the park.) Heather was responsible for the majority of our Yosemite research, as I was responsible for Yellowstone. She picked out some great hikes, but most were further west, and in the Yosemite valley. Since we had the time, we could embark on a short hike on the eastern side of the park. We decided on the Lembert Dome hike for our impromptu adventure. Lembert Dome is one of the many dome hikes that are in the park. The domes are actually rock formations that have been shaped by years of erosion and glacial carving. The most famous dome in the park is Half-Dome down in Yosemite valley. However, we had no interest in risking life and limb on this trip, since Half-Dome is one of the most grueling and dangerous hikes in the park.

       Arriving at the very busy trail-head, we prepared ourselves for our hike. It was a rather warm day, and the forecast called for clear, sunny skies for our entire stay at the park. In our haste to get hiking, ok MY haste, I failed to really check the map and read about this particular hike. I did however, set a GPS waypoint at the trailhead, and I am glad I did. The trail, had I checked the map thoroughly, went straight north and then east around the dome, passing by Dog lake, a fairly scant 1.5 miles to the summit. We set off north but quickly turned east following a trail going towards the base of the dome. This looked like just a herd trail, had we paid attention we should have realized this was not a marked, regular trail. We continued on what seemed like a trail going further east, and then the trees started to get thicker and any noticeable remnants of a trail were no longer. We stopped and contemplated our options. Behind us were a group of women, that seemed to be half-heartedly following us. We chatted for a bit and discussed the "trail" and they decided to head back and find the main trail. The smart and safe thing for us to do, was to turn around and  retrace our steps. We knew that eventually, if we continued along the base of the dome, we should run into the regular trail. The road less traveled can make for quite the adventure though, and we thought, why not.

        The woods became thick and we had to hop over many trees to continue onwards. I checked the GPS and could see we were heading in the right direction. At one point, a deer bolted out right next to us from some underbrush, giving us quite a start. Suddenly, I remembered we were in black bear country. Bushwacking like this, we were very likely to stumble upon a bear, trying to sleep the heat of the day away, far from people. We then proceeded to make sure and give a couple of "HEY BEAR!" shouts, when we could not see ahead. Eventually we connected with the main trail, emerging from the bushes like we were military snipers. At that moment the group of women we saw earlier were just a short way down the trail. They couldn't believe that we actually made it ahead of them. We looked like true outdoors-people I am sure, or reckless and foolish, take your pick.

     We summit-ed the dome and marveled in the view surrounding us. There were a few other hiking groups enjoying the summit, but we didn't linger long enough to really chat with them. We descended down and followed the "proper" trail out. We passed by Dog Lake and stopped to feel the water and enjoy a quick rest and a snack, before continuing back to the trailhead.

     Feeling quite accomplished after our hike we continued west along the Tioga Pass road. We had to traverse most of the park, almost too its western edge, to reach our campsite for the evening.  There was a steady stream of traffic along the road and it was slow going, our patience was tested numerous times. We stopped at a couple of scenic lookout spots on our way. Most notably was Olmsted Point, which gave us our first view of "the valley" and Tenaya lake to watch the rock climbers do their thing. Yosemite is just a Mecca for rock climbers, but more on that later.

     After about an hour and a 1/2 of driving only 30 miles, we made it to the entrance station of Crane Flat Campground. The ranger was a nice older man and told us that there was a bear running around the premises and giving them trouble, so "Lock your food up" he said, with a chuckle. We both looked at each other and immediately felt a sense of apprehension, but soldiered on. Arriving at our site, we wasted no time moving everything with a scent from the vehicle to the bear locker, while constantly looking around. It was then that we noticed that the site next to us was not a site at all, but a place where they kept a large bear trap. This did not make us feel any better. By the time we setup camp, it was getting later in the day, around 5ish. We decided to eat a quick freeze-dried meal and started gathering kindling for a fire. We had a great fire that night and went to bed quite early. Tonight we would not be disturbed by anything... the next night would be a different story....

The Wall

    Heather and I attended Roger Waters the Wall concert last night in Buffalo. I have seen hundreds of concerts, ranging from Aretha Franklin to Cannibal Corpse, and this was without a doubt the best concert I have ever seen. The show was a triumph of sound, lighting and effects on a level I did not think could exist in an arena environment. It was also an experience, just to be in the presence again of Waters, who I had the pleasure of seeing in 2007, on his Dark Side of the Moon tour.
    The Wall is an album that I used to listen to as a teenager, but really never fully understood its meaning until just recently. I only listened to the "hits" and rarely paid attention to the story driven songs in between. Back in late 2009 it was announced that Roger Waters would be touring the Wall once again, to celebrate its 30 year anniversary. When the album was released in 1979 the subsequent tour only played in 4 cities throughout the world and was a financial disaster for the band. It was a huge undertaking, and I don't believe the technology was there to properly show Rogers vision. This new tour would travel the world in every major city, and was proposed to be an amazing visual and auditory experience. I was excited to see the show, but forgot about it, until I read a news release online in April, announcing ticket sales. I signed up on Rogers site to be put into a "lottery" to be one of the first to get tickets in Buffalo. A week later I received an email from his web administrators, saying I was selected and I could order my tickets. I was thrilled, and ordered the top tier tickets, though I realized I was in the second round of pre-sale tickets. Our seats were good, but not spectacular, section 106, row 20, but I was just happy to go. 

     I decided I wanted Heather to go to the show with me, even though she was not a huge Pink Floyd fan, at that point. My stipulation was that she had to watch "The Wall" film with me and do her own research into its meaning. She actually taught me some information that I had never known. The Wall is a metaphor for complete isolation. Its inception resulted from an unruly fan back in 1977, on Pink Floyd's In The Flesh tour. This "fan" baited Rogers until there was a confrontation between them. He developed the idea of having a wall between the band and the audience, and went quite deep into the human psyche in the album and movie.
     We arrived at HSBC arena at 7:15 or so, having driven through busy Columbus Weekend traffic, and the usual Buffalo chaos. We hit the will call booth, grabbed the tickets and eventually found our seats. Now we could relax and take in what we were about to see. During the time before the show started, there was a man dressed as a bum that had a shopping cart, with a sign that said, "Will Work For Food" on one side, and "Need Money for Booze and Hookers" on the other. He took pictures with people and greeted them. Around 8pm the PA was playing various movie and tv audio clips. The cool thing was, there were speakers spread throughout the entire arena in a surround sound configuration. So each clip was playing on different sets of speakers. An ingenious way to make sure the whole system was functioning no doubt. Around 8:15 the lights went down and the arena was filled with low hums and build up music. The bum, now under a spotlight, walked up to the stage and pulled out a dummy from his cart and threw it on the stage, a representation of Pink from the movie. The crowd went crazy, and when he disappeared, the band came on stage, and launched into the start of the album, with In The Flesh?.

     The sound was beyond clear. The mix was the best I had ever heard. Every instrument had its place and was audible. I brought ear-plugs as I normally do, but didn't need them at all. We saw Metallica in the same venue earlier in the year, and the sound was a big muddy and distorted mess. I was nervous it would be the same for this concert, and my fears were abated during the first few notes. At the end of the first song, there was a dazzling display of pyrotechnics all over the stage on a level I had never seen before. Constant sparks and it ended with an actual plane flying from the rear of the arena down to the stage, and an explosion. Absolutely mind-blowing.
     The Wall is split into two albums, and the band did two sets with an intermission in-between. During the first set the wall was slowly built while the band was performing. Stage crew were continually placing pieces of the wall while songs were playing. The show was masterful at drawing attention away from certain technical aspects such as this. The Wall itself was used as an impressive backdrop for some absolutely amazing video pieces and imagery. As it was filled in, it became even more impressive. It was to the point where the last song of the first set, Goodbye Cruel World, Roger was singing only through one small piece that was left to

be built. There was a light behind him, and as soon as he said "Goodbye" the remaining piece was filled in,

the wall lit up with "INTERMISSION" and the band took a 20 minute break. During the intermission, photo's and stories were displayed on the wall of local soldiers killed in action, submitted by fans prior to the show. Reading these stories made the intermission go by quickly, and before we knew it the house lights went down again, and the band launched into Hey You.

      The second set started with the band completely behind the wall. But soon Roger came out to the front and in certain songs, like Comfortably Numb, the guitar and other vocalists were playing from the top of the wall. Later in the show the band actually had a small setup in front of The Wall. This was unexpected and very cool for us to see the band in action. The conclusion was obviously very moving, with the Trial ending in the destruction of the wall. When the wall came down, there was just an amazing sense of seeing something that is just so special its hard to describe. We are trying to think of ways to see the show again, it was just that amazing.