Crane Mountain Failure

Yeah so. Yesterday, we were all excited to go to Johnsburg/Warrensburgh and hike Crane. I hear the hike is great. Big ol' rocks (which are a weakness of mine), ladders set up for steep parts (sounds amazing, right?) and a fire tower (gotta catch 'em all).


So we drove there in my tiny car. I was nervous the entire ride.

It was sunny when we left, and wicked cloudy when we got there. It was even snowing a tiny bit. Dan took about 20 minutes to park the car, trying to make sure we'd have enough room to gather some speed when we left in case the Cavalier decided to try to get stuck in the snow.


Responsible Boy signed the trail register and we were off!

When we started out, I declared "I'm changing the name from Crane Mountain to Boulderfiled Mountain" because the trail was just boulders boulders everywhere.

Check out THAT boulder!

Here's a photo of Dan being clowny. 

Anyway. We hiked. And slipped a few times. Well, a lot. I was like "Oh, hey, I wish I had some spikes on my boots. Shame."

Dan was like "Yeah, I uh, thought about bringing them but didn't feel like it."

Good choice, Dan.

We met up with two dudes, one from CT (really close to where Dan lives, actually) and the other from MD. The guy from MD had a rifle with him "In case we see any cats." Yeah. Okay.

The higher we got, the slicker it got. The thicker the ice. There were fewer and fewer things for us to grab on to (trees, rocks) and fewer and fewer places to step. 

We got to one treacherous sheet of ice and couldn't go any further.

We turned around, defeated. 

That is what the trail looked like. 

This was a good section:

We'd passed our new friends on the way up. We were determined. Dan gets summit fever real bad. After we turned around, we passed them again, embarrassed. Luckily, we convinced them that with the equipment they had (snow boots worse than ours), they should probably turn back, too. So we all trekked back down together, disappointed.

I did manage to snap this shot of a trail marker. No clue how it got like that, but I love trail markers in weird places. Looks like this one was put here in '69. Not sure that's realistic, but I wasn't there so who knows.


At the very least, the trail was open in a few parts, so we got to see a view a little bit, without having to venture to the icy lookouts or try to (unsafely) reach the top despite our lack of gear.

Dan snapped this shot of me in the parking lot. I refuse to get all dressed up in cold weather gear and then not get to play around in the snow. So I made a snow angel and showed off my new Lowe Alpine soft shell pants.

We'll have to return with the spring or with the microspikes.

Marcy and Phelps Weekend

So early this summer (end of June), Dan and I tackled my first two high peaks. It was an overnight trip and I was nervous because I think I had built up the high peaks in my mind. But really it wasn't hard, just long. You have to dedicate an entire day at least when you head to the high peaks. At least, you do when you're not in shape... like the guy that jogged past us with a stopwatch and a Camelbak. 

It was very chilly in the morning, and as usual, I overdressed. I hate the weird in-between feeling of a spring (or fall) morning, where it's cold and hot at the same time. My ears are alwayssss cold (even in August), and my face was cold on this particular day. But of course as soon as we started moving, I got hot. So I stopped to take a layer off.

This is what was staring me in the face when I turned off to the side of the trail:

Who does that?

I mean, really. I understand the need to have sex in interesting places as much as the next guy. But these really classy people left this right on the trail. And it's not even like they just flung it. This is blatant. This is bragging. That poor spider...

The old road in to Marcy dam is about 2.3 miles (ish) and is basically flat. There's a cool bridge. The trail is worn, but still really nice. We ran into a group of people at the dam who were on their way out. They didn't say hi. Not very good trail etiquette, if you ask me.

Dan made me carry everything.

We got a little further and set up camp. The camping along this trail was... not good. Like really bad. Like there are only a few spots once you pass the dam, and the spots are reaaaaallly used and not comfortable. Very rocky and rooty and twiggy. And we couldn't get the sticks to stay in the ground.

We set up, left our packs, and kept moving toward the highest point in NY. The trail was really rocky, and fun! It was never very hard (until the end) so it was a pretty enjoyable hike, however long it was. And it really was enjoyable. We came up on a clearing where we ran into a couple scruffy looking older guys, headed to Tabletop. It started to get hot around 11, so Indian Falls was a welcome pit stop.

We didn't see many people at all, until after we stopped at the falls. The detour to our campsite, plus the detour to the falls gave everyone who started behind us about half an hour to catch up. Once we started again, we passed some people, and a couple people passed us. The hike was just starting to get harder when the guy with the stopwatch breezed by us. That made me wanna book it, too. And of course, 2 minutes later, I needed a break. I'm soooo in shape!

We stopped to eat a little snack (in the middle of the trail, because the trees were getting very thick) on a rock, and some crazy hiker girl with trekking poles (in the spring?) breezed by us. She was the last one. The stopwatch guy passed us again, on his way back down, before we finished. But we made it to the top of New York in time to share the summit with about 47 thousand other people.

Either way... I bagged my first high peak! GO ME. Check it out:

Numbah ONE

Haystack -- where Dan really wanted to be. Sorry!

<3

We took a nap, had some people photograph us, and other typical summit stuff. Then headed back down. Because once 2pm hits, Dan's mind is all about dinner. We took another side trip to the falls on the way down, and this time I was a little more tired than I thought. I almost fell asleep!

A group of Canadians (I could tell by the accents) came around, chattering... and smoking cigarettes, and generally ruining our nice relaxing afternoon. The way back down was hard on my tired knees. Ever since I broke my foot, I haven't been totally confident rock hopping. Dan can run down a mountain just stepping on rocks the whole way down. I get nervous, like I don't trust my own feet anymore.

When we got back to camp we cooked dinner, hung out, and other boring camp stuff. Dan read some of Desert Solitaire while I took a bunch of random pictures. The light wasn't very good, so they didn't come out well. I also read a little Backpacker.

We slept comfortably in the tent, and woke up SUPER early the next day. Phelps wasn't even part of the plan, but I surprisingly wasn't that tired and, honestly, I'd gotten the first one in so I wanted that next one. I was already hooked. 

It was about half a mile from camp to the base of Phelps, and another mile up. 

Well, it felt like longer than a mile. I guess my body was more tired than my brain was, because it felt like we were hiking for two hours. Really it should have taken us 45 minutes. The trail up to Phelps was pretty gross, too. I think it gets hiked the most, because it's so short. The ground was completely worn away around all the rocks and roots. Water was running down a lot of the trail. I'm sure it didn't used to be like that.

There was one crazy guy up there before us. I kept seeing wet footprints on rocks, and Dan was like "no way, we're def the first ones up here today" and I was like "no I really think someone is ahead of us, these footprints are not fresh but they're not left over form last night."

He still didn't believe me. But I was right. And Phelps was my number 2!

We were very tired by the time we got back down. It felt like a lifetime to get to Marcy Dam again, and then we still had 2.3 miles (which felt like 6) back out to the car. I'll say that the high peaks are awesome, but I was way more tired than I thought I'd be.

We managed to snap another picture from the dam before we'd both completely checked out.

It started to get really buggy. We ran into an old guy who wanted to know how to get to Marcy dam or the ADK Loj or somewhere. We had to stop like every 20 feet to re-bugspray. 

I fell asleep in the car on the way home.

The Slab

Over the summer I started reading non-fiction adventure stories; tales of mountaineers like Ed Viesters and Steve House conquering the world's tallest peaks. My first thought, "WOW! I'm a pansy." I needed to get back into climbing... and fast.

Erica and I woke up at 3 in the a.m. to make it to the climbers camp at Chapel Pond by six. It was still dark when we pulled in to the camp filled with cars and would be climbers still sleeping. We tried to join them until Scott appeared out of the dark. They were already up making eggs by headlamp on Kevin's Coleman stove. Onions, eggs, salsa = Delicious

At first light we were heading to the rock, Chapel Pond Slab, and my first multi-pitch climb. I was definitely a little nervous. This was my first time climbing in a long time and after removing the cast from my hand a week before, I wasn't sure how it would hold up. Turned out to be just fine.

After belaying Scott, watching him disappear over the bottom face, I waited for him to set the first anchor. Scott gave me the go and I was on my way up the slab. It turned out to be an easy climb since it wasn't completely vertical. That being said, ropes and protection were necessary. I moved fast, removing the protection placed by Scott along the way. It felt good even with the the blown out toes on my rock shoes. I felt like a REAL climber for the first time in a very long time.

The sun warmed us as it rose over Giant Mountain. Simon and Kevin met up with me as I belayed Scott through the crux of the route; a 5.7 variation from the traditional route. I was nervous about my ability, watching Scott place protection and move with ease over the rock. I was at the crux before I knew it, completely focused, and loving every second of it. I met Scott at the ledge with one more pitch to go. At the top of the slab we took off our shoes to air out the dogs and waited for Simon and Kevin as we looked down at Chapel Pond and up at Giant Mountain. My hands were chalked, my feet were sweaty, and I was high on life. 

Connecticut...

Dan moved to Connecticut yesterday. He's 2 1/2 hours away now.
And: there are no mountains in Connecticut. This is HORRIBLE!

He got a jahb with The Nature Conservancy. Go Dan! I really like the town/area where he lives now,  but he knows he'll start to get restless in about a month.

Hopefully he'll soon be able to post some pictures from the preserve he's in charge of.

Hopefully we'll still be able to hike when he comes to visit.

This post is awful. I'm not thinking like a writer today... Enjoy a picture from one of our hikes this summer; Mount Marcy and Phelps. More detailed post to follow.

Taking a break at Indian Falls

Hadley Sunrise Hike

Dan had this wonderful idea way back in July. We'd get up at 2am, drive to Hadley (for the millionth time) and hike up in the dark to watch the sun come up from the tower. Pretty cool/romantic. I always tell him "no, I do NOT want to hike Hadley AGIAN. He would be happy to hike it every couple weeks. I'm really not interested in twice a year. You can see how things would get hostile. But I actually thought it would be lovely, so we went.

We dragged ourselves out of bed when the alarm went off. Threw on the clothes we had set out the night before, and got in the car at 2:15. I tried not to sleep while he drove, but it was really difficult, since we'd gone to bed at 10...

Trailhead reached, 2:47am. Signed the register in the dark. We booked it up the mountain, unintentionally. I guess walking through the woods in the dark makes it harder for me to get distracted by big rocks I "need" to climb or cool photo ops I "need" to take. We got up in like 45 minutes.

3:25 am

It was still dark when we got to the tower, climbed it, and took a seat on the upper stairs to wait for the sun. We saw a lady deer, eating blueberries, which we failed to get a picture of.
I couldn't believe how early it was when we started to see the colors coming over the mountains.

3:40 am 

3:43 am

As it started getting lighter, it got colder. The whole way up, it was pretty warm, but I could not warm up once we were sitting. All I had was my blue fleece, so Dan gave up his. What a nice guy.

3:53 am

4:04 

4:11 

4:13

It just kept getting prettier. Even though I was basically shivering, I could not stop taking pictures. A lot of them were blurry, but some were awesome. I really fell in love with these next few.

4:15 am

4:17 am

4:18 am

So stinking pretty.

Once it got light enough to see, we climbed down from the tower and got to do some wandering. Dan took a lesson from the lady deer and ate some blueberries. I don't like blueberries, so I just took pictures. Dan hates it when I take so many pictures. I feel like if I'm gonna work hard getting up a mountain (at 3 am, no less), then I want something to show for it. 

But I'm a bragger.

Yum? 4:25 am

4:28

4:31

We have probably 400 pictures of this fire tower, but I like this one the best.

After Dan was done with his berry feast, it was time to be IN so pictures. I apologize for the cute couple photo, I just can't help myself. These were the only ones I liked enough to post, which is why I usually try to take a lot. But the sky was more interesting, anyway. 

4:52 am

4:54 am / no mascara

I guess the moral of this story is that you can hike the same places all the time, but doing it at a different time of day really makes it a new experience. It didn't feel like "plain old Hadley" when we were hiking up in the dark. And it was really awesome to see the world around us before everyone else got to. I actually hope for another sunrise hike or two next spring.

After a few more pictures, we were ready to go, but not without stopping at the cabin to wake up the SUNY Potsdam guy who worked up there for the summer. Dan was up there in 2009, so now he brings water and snacks to the new guy each year. He was very appreciative. 

4:56

4:58

5:00

5:11

5:15

We got down to the car without seeing anyone else. It was still 6:40 am when we headed home.

6:02 am / headed down