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.