September 25, 2010

Kickin off Fall Foliage 2010

Well this is a first for me, blogging the day of the trip. The reason is because I am in a hotel. Don't worry, I haven't gone soft. I have an ever dwindling supply of discount tickets from Hilton so I decided I'd rather spend the same amount of money and stay in a hotel instead of a campground. I had an amazing first day. I headed out at 8am and before I even left New York I ended up on a dirt road. It turned out really well because I came across a covered bridge. After that I was on a roll and hit up 6 more covered bridges through Vermont and New Hampshire. The Henry bridge is a 127 foot town lattice truss. My next stop was really pretty. The Paper Mill Bridge went over a nice little waterfall.
Right around the corner was the Silk Road Bridge which is an 88 foot town lattice truss.
My next stop was the Molly Stark Scenic Byway but as I was driving through Bennington I come to a round about and in the middle is a massive stone tower. I couldn't even see the top from trying to crane my head around in the car. I decided it was worth a stop. I wandered over to a little gift shop to see what the heck this thing was and it turns out it marks the site of a critical military supply depot and is the tallest thing in VT at 300 feet. It only costs $2 to go to the top so I bought a ticket and rode up. The leaves were just starting to change. Vermont is the Green Mountain state and the mountains were really pretty but with the added color interspersed it was gorgeous. It was then that I fell in love with Vermont. One of my favorite movies is "Runaway Bride" and VT reminded me a lot of the setting of that movie. It's just so freakin quaint! Rolling hills, church steeples, falling leaves, farms...it's lovely.
Next along the scenic byway was the Hogback overlook where you can see VT, NH, and NY. I stopped by one more bridge in VT. It's a 80 foot long town lattice truss with a sidewalk added to it.I then crossed the border into New Hampshire. I saw a sign along the road that said gorge so I pulled off and saw it was a .7 mile trail to the Chesterfield Gorge. I thought it would be a good way to stretch my legs so I walked along. New Hampshire's motto is "Live Free or Die" so I was shocked when I saw a chain link fence and a railing along the trail. It wasn't even that deep of a "gorge". So much for that motto New Hampshire.
The covered bridges continued into NH. I had written directions to one but couldn't find the thing. I drive around Henniker but apparently my directions weren't that good and I didn't find the damn bridge. I finally gave up and drove on to the Rowell Bridge. Fun fact: A short time after it was constructed, a herd of cattle, driven faster than they should have been, moved the bridge off its abutments.My last bridge for the day was the Railroad covered bridge. This bridge is the oldest covered railroad bridge still standing in the United States. I actually waded out into a creek to get this picture. Downstream there were some kids on a rope swinging into the creek. Seriously, Vermont is like a postcard everywhere you look. What a great first day on the road and still so much more to see!!

September 21, 2010

Amos and Donkey


I had to get up and go this morning because I planned on hiking 15 miles (and if I plan, I do). I still took some time to enjoy the view at my campground and the calmness of Long Lake as I drove past on my way to my first stop at Blue Mountain Trail. I saw a pair of hiking sticks someone left at the trailhead so I grabbed them. Thank goodness I did because I don’t think I touched dirt the entire trail.
The beginning was full of small rocks that I stumbled over and as it got progressively steeper, those small rocks turned into huge boulders that were slick from the rain. I bounded up them with no thought to getting back down. I was winded and sick of looking up and seeing more looming rocks when I finally came across a family that said it was only 10 minutes further. The dad and daughter had sleep pants on, all were wearing tennis shoes and they didn’t have any water. This is a steep, dangerous, 4 miles round trip so I’m not quite sure what this Dad was thinking. Anyway I forgot about them and concentrated on getting to the top. I finally made it and the views were awesome. The summit was forested but once I climbed the tower then Blue Mountain Lake spread before me. I rested a while and grabbed a granola bar and then decided to head back down. Thank goodness I had my hiking sticks. It was so dang slippery and dangerous on the way down that, after falling a few times, I decided to just slide on my butt. Once I got past the big rocks I don’t think my feet touched the ground because I was using my hiking sticks like crutches. I would plant both the sticks and swing myself forward and got a pretty good rhythm going. I got going so fast that I caught up to the family I had passed on the way up. They didn’t feel the need to move over and let me pass so I was stuck behind them. They obviously don’t follow trail etiquette.
I jumped in my car and headed over to Castle Rock. The only reason I wanted to hike this mountain was because the trail description said there were caves on top. It was so worth it. The hike was moderately easy and there was a spur trail down to the shores of Blue Mountain Lake that was really pretty. I had passed an older gentleman on that trail and then I passed him again on the way to the caves. I of course climbed right in and started following the caves and he must have thought that I knew where I was going because he started following me only to realize that that probably is not a good idea. I heard him turn back around and continued exploring the caves. By the time I had worked myself up and around I lost sight of the trail. I heard people talking so I figured I was near the top so I kept going up and found the trail once again. After scrambling over more rocks and pulling myself up on tree limbs I made it to the top. Castle Rock does not have a fire tower but it was probably the best vista of the whole trip. There was a group of old ladies on top and I asked them to take my picture. They happily obliged and I asked if I could take a picture of them. A few said of course and scrambled out on the rocks but this one woman was hesitant. Her friends yelled at her enough and when she handed the camera to me she muttered “of course they never listen to me”. They took off and I enjoyed the views for a while longer. The map I had showed a loop trail so I took off trying to find it. It wasn’t readily apparent so I headed down this other trail thinking it was it. When I got back to the caves I realized two things: 1) this is the same trail I came up on and 2) it looked new because I had bushwhacked up through caves, eliminating the last quarter mile of it. I encountered the women again and they were mad because their friends weren’t waiting for them to catch up. They tried to convince me to tell their friends that they had fallen when I caught up with them. Yeah right. I also encountered the old man who I thought had fallen off the mountain earlier when I led him astray. He stopped me and asked if I had left a hat up top because there was one hanging on a tree branch (I hadn’t). The last people I encountered on the way down was a family with 2 little boys who had started at the trailhead at the same time as me but obviously were moving way slow. They asked me how much further and I said “not too much but it gets a little sketchy at the top”. Well that was the wrong thing to say. The mother's eyes bugged out and I thought she was going to grab her children and run back down the mountain. I assured her that I had taken a more circuitous route to the top and that it really wasn’t that bad. I was so hungry when I got back to the car but the hardest hike was ahead of me so I drove over to Indian Lake gnawing on my hunk of cheddar, interspersed with handfuls of Wheat Thins. I didn’t realize how remote this last trail was. I ended up on a dirt road (par for the course for my road trips) and made it to the Wakely Mountain Trail head. There was a father/son team getting out of their car too so I rushed over to the trail register and took off, not wanting to be behind them the whole way. I briefly saw a sign for a missing dog and a missing hiker in the trail register box but didn’t pay much attention (which should have been my first clue). Wakely Mountain is one of the most difficult hikes I’ve ever done. The only reason I hiked it was because it is the site of the tallest fire tower in the ADK’s. It lulls you into complacency with the first two miles on a relatively flat old road bed. I did it in 45 minutes. But from that point on the trail basically goes up a rock strew mountain. The son from the parking lot (Amos) readily passed me without missing a beat. I heard the father (Donkey) coming up later and stepped aside to let him passed. He stopped and asked if I was okay. Nobody has ever asked me that before so I must have looked hard up. I said Donkey told me a story about hiking in Switzerland. The moral was “go slow and take deep breaths” (apparently an elderly Swiss woman in her Sunday best had beaten him up a mountain with that motto). Usually my MO is to charge upward until I can’t function anymore and then take a break and continue the same pattern. I decided to try his way and it kind of worked. I kept looking up and wondering when the heck I was going to reach the top. It took me about an hour and a half to go that last mile. Ughh. The father and son were already there casually enjoying a snack. He offered me a peach but I was too busy gasping and sucking water down. I strode over to the tower because I knew if I stopped moving I wouldn’t get going again for a while. Halfway up, Amos yells “watch out its swaying!” Not funny Amos. I was a bit perplexed because every other fire tower I had been to had some primitive form of safety precaution. Not the tallest in the ADK’s. Nope this one was just a shell of metal with a few thin pieces of metal as cross supports. At the top this ladder loomed ahead of me, leading into the tower. I drew the line there. I contented myself with taking pictures from the platform below the ladder. Amos decided he wanted to come up to so he squeezed past me and climbed right up the ladder. I carefully made my way down and Donkey looked at me and said “how about that peach now?” I gratefully accepted and it was the best peach I ever ate. Amos had made his way back down at that point and I was asking for directions home. Apparently the route I had planned on taking was 30 miles of dirt road. It was already 3:30 and I needed to be getting home so I’m glad I found out about that before I struck off into oblivion. Amos and Donkey apparently got around a lot in the ADK’s and informed me that this was one of the hardest hikes in the park. I told them I had also done Blue Mountain and Castle Rock and they asked “this weekend?” and I said “No, this morning”. I then said I had to get going and Donkey jokes “Why? Don't you have a few more mountains to climb before heading home?”. Oh Donkey. I hobbled down the trail and it was just as bad going down. I used my hiking sticks as crutches. Every time I stepped down I could feel the jolting in my knees. Oh the pain. I finally made it back to the parking lot and Amos and Donkey ended up right behind me. I bid them a good day and headed for home. Sounds like the end right? Nope as the final insult to my weekend I was driving through Utica and all of a sudden a couch cushion flies out from the car in front of me and before I could even do anything I barrel right over it. I have no clue where it came from since I couldn’t see a couch or cushions on any vehicle ahead of me. I made it home by 9:30 and collapsed into bed. Whew! So much for a relaxing Labor Day weekend.

September 14, 2010

Mt. Arab, Owl's Head Mountain, Buttermilk Falls, Long Lake

Well the good news is that I stayed warm last night. Thank goodness for my bedroll. As much as I miss my old cot (protruding metal bars and all), Vern (the new cot) is treating me just fine and I think it may be time to say goodbye to Ol’ Blue. I had a relaxing day planned (only 9 miles of hiking) so I took my time making breakfast and breaking camp. My first stop was Mt. Arab. Don used to go camping at Massaweepie Scout Camp and they would always hike up Mt. Arab and he recommended it highly. It was less than a mile to the top and had amazing views. I saw the fire tower and then realized there was a cabin as well. I warily approached it, not wanting to disturb anyone when I saw the following sign:

OK I won’t break in. Well it was the day before Labor Day and no one was there so I headed on up the fire tower and enjoyed the unobstructed views all by myself. This tower had windows in it but they were latched so you could swing them open and get some great pictures. When I got home I was showing Don pictures and he pointed out that the main lake you see from the tower is shaped like a fish. On the way down the trail a guy asked if I was from Rochester. I thought maybe he had read it on my fleece but you would have to be staring pretty hard at my chest to make out RIT. He then said he had seen Rochester on the trail register and I felt relieved. I headed over to Lake Eaton to set up camp. I had gotten there early but luckily my site was available. The fire was still smoking from the people who had just left. It was a beautiful campground. I set up camp, struggling with my tent again. The soil was sandier here and my tent stakes wouldn’t go in. I had forgotten a hammer and couldn’t find a small rock so I settled on using a can of pineapple (with a pull tab top by the way). It worked but that can of pineapple will never be the same.

My next hike was up Owl’s Head Mountain. There was a trail that connected to the campsite but it would be about 12 miles roundtrip. I decided to drive to the trailhead and make it only 7 miles roundtrip. It was a fairly steady climb uphill over rocks. I was hiking up and getting winded and I saw a pair of older ladies on their way down. I asked them how much further and they said “Quite a ways. And there’s a boulder blocking the trail!” I instantly doubted them because I find it hard to believe that a boulder had so completely obstructed a trail that there wouldn’t be a sign warning of it (the Adirondacks are very well labeled). Even if it were true there’s no such thing as blocking the trail. There's always a way to the top. I had my sights set on that fire tower and nothing was going to stop me. I finally reached said boulder and found it quite surmountable. I swung myself up on a tree limb and continued on over many more just like it. I finally reached the tower and immediately climbed up. The views were gorgeous. This one was open so I could take clear pictures all the way around. I climbed back down and sat on the rocks eating my trail bar. A couple with some dogs came up and I asked them to take my picture. When I got home I realized that the dog was in the picture with me. Nice. I ended up talking with them for a bit because she saw Rochester on the trail register and mentioned that she taught at Geneseo (a local college) and lived in Swain (a ski town). On the way down I cut over on a spur trail to the shores of Lake Eaton. I wish I had taken my binoculars, I probably could have seen my campsite on the opposite shore. On the way back I passed by a family and the woman turns around and shouts to me “Geneseo!?” Apparently she had seen the sticker on the car of the lady I had talked to on top. I said “Nope, RIT. Geneseo is at the summit”. By the time I got back to my car I was exhausted and hungry. I chowed down on some cheese and crackers and headed over to Buttermilk Falls. This was just a roadside falls so no hiking involved. On the way back through Long Lake I stopped and got some postcards and then hung around the lakeshore taking photos of the float planes. I have always loved float planes and would love to go up in one someday. Only a few lakes allow them. I got back to my campsite and fired up some quesadillas (I didn’t have the strength to fight another can of soup). I went for a walk down to the swing set I had passed earlier and enjoyed the sunset. I got some awesome pictures of my silhouette. I think I look like Ariel in the Little Mermaid when King Triton changes her and she walks out of the water all sparkly. It was getting chilly so I headed back to camp. I wanted to enjoy the lake so I grabbed my lawn chair and fleece blanket and curled up to read on the lakeshore. I must have looked pitiful because the guy in the campsite next to mine came over and asked if I wanted to come over and “chill” around his fire. I was tempted but I was in the middle of a great book and then I realized he was with his dad so it would be weird. Once again the rains came and I went to bed at 8:00.

Firetower Tour 2010

Wow. Labor Day weekend was one of the craziest camping trips I’ve ever been on. Michigan on the 4th of July was insane just because of the sheer scope of what I was doing (1700 miles in 4 days) so craziness was expected. This time I only had 3 days off for Labor Day so I thought I’d take a nice leisurely jaunt to the Adirondacks to hike, camp and relax. Instead I was left doubting my outdoor capabilities. What happened to me? I conquered the American west and 17 states over the last couple years so I thought the quaint Adirondacks would be nothing. I had gone up to the ADK’s over Spring Break (in March) and was looking forward to going back in the summer (FYI the temperature never rose above 60 degrees this weekend).

The trip started out with a bang because I forgot my purse! I was traveling on the Thruway (a toll road) and had gotten down the road about an hour when I started thinking that I would like some Skittles. I remembered I had stuck them in my purse the day before. I reached over to grab them out and realized, crap I don’t have my purse! I stupidly considered just keeping on going because I had food and my campsite was already paid for. However, I knew I would need gas at some point so I called home and my Dad drove to meet me halfway to give me my purse. Luckily, I always have cash somewhere in my car so I dug a couple bucks out of my change drawer and got off the Thruway and turned around and got back on only to get off a couple exits later to meet Dad. And with that ominous beginning I turned around yet again and forged on.

I went up the west side of the Adirondacks and drove through some beautiful farm country. My first stop was Wanakena, NY, home of SUNY’s School of Environmental Science and Forestry. The trail led up to the Latham Fire Tower. Being on school property, it was the nicest trail I’ve ever been on. Everything was groomed and there were bridges over wet spots and stairs over rocks and lean to’s and picnic tables and poems inscribed on rocks. I climbed the fire tower and only when I poked my head through the top did I realize that there was another guy in there. If you don’t know, fire towers are very small spaces so I squeezed around him and tried to take pictures through the window panes that were covered in rain. I lingered thinking he would leave so I could have some time on top but he just stood there staring at his cell phone so I got pissed and left and on my way down I heard him calling someone. Apparently he just needed the reception. Whatever.

I cruised over to the Cranberry Lake campground and got my tent set up. This did not go well. Last summer on the Great American Trek I got that tent up in 5 minutes in a downpour with 40mph winds. For some reason the Bungalow did not want to cooperate so it took me about 20 minutes to get her situated. I then headed off to hike Bear Mountain, a trail that started in the campground. It was a glorious hike. It rained and my umbrella blew inside out but I popped in my earbuds and was jamming to some tunes on my mp3 player and I just didn’t care. I’m pretty sure the French couple hiking behind me thought I was crazy. There was no fire tower on top just a massive boulder that I took a running leap at to try and climb. I slid off and decided that, the way my day was going, I should not tempt fate by climbing up a slippery boulder. I bounded down the trail, slipping and sliding on the wet rocks and leaves and plowed myself into a tree (luckily it was covered in mushrooms which cushioned me). Towards the end of the hike the sun broke through and I managed to get a picture of the lake with the sun and I headed back to camp.By that time I was hungry (the Skittles had worn off) so I grabbed a can of soup. On the Trek last year I loved my Healthy Choice soups because they were hearty and (best of all) the tops had pull tabs which made them very accessible. Much to my surprise, they no longer make Healthy Choice soup with pull tabs on top! After being defeated for a moment, I remembered I still had a Leatherman in my glove box so I pulled it out and found the can opener implement on it. Well this can opener was more suited for opening a Juicy Juice can than a can of chunky chicken noodle soup. It took me about 20 minutes to open the can and I had ripped the top apart so thoroughly that shards of metal had fallen off into the soup. I finally got all the soup in the pot and went to strike a match to light the cooker but I realized that I had set the matches down on the wet picnic table. My car came to the rescue again and I found some dry matches. I finally got the soup semi warmed up and had to strain it through my teeth like a whale because I didn’t want to ingest shards of metal. Oh and I had a new pot so I covered the bottom with dish detergent to prevent it from charring but by doing so I had gotten soap all over so my soup had a nice citrus soap flavor. By that time it was raining again so I threw everything back in my car and crawled into my tent to read a book. I was welcomed by my new Converta Cot that has 6 different reclining positions! I chose Position 2 and settled in to read. At one point I realized I could see my breath and I wondered how cold it was. I reached over to look at my clock/temperature gauge and realized I had forgotten to bring it. Oh well. Now it was about around 7:30 and getting too dark to read so I thought I would listen to my mp3 player to relax me before bed. Alas, it had apparently never turned off from earlier so I got through 2 songs before it petered out. I went to bed at 8pm, hoping for a better day tomorrow.