Allen Mtn. on Wednesday and Seymour Mtn. on Thursday.
People keep asking if I have learned anything during this "Adirondacks Mountain Climbing Process", and the answer is Yes:
1. Because these mountains are so big, and this area is a big drive from home, DO NOT DRIVE AND CLIMB IN THE SAME DAY. It never ends well.
2. As for the hike itself, try to remember that "it is not a race", and that instead of playing jack-rabbit during the first few miles, I should just take it easy and walk comfortably. I have also decided to bring my nanos and boom cubes, and see how "music on the trail" works out.
I left home after lunch, got a Jiffy Lube oil change and headed down 128:
HOT in Massachusetts!
Then up 93 into New Hampshire, northwest on 89 into Vermont, then over into New York State and down to Ticondaroga:
It was another beautiful day in Vermont, and I saw a really cool "mountain cardiogram" bumper sticker:
I'm ordering one when I get home!
234 miles today, checked in about 6:30 - Thank you God for a great drive!
I like starting the drive off listening to books-on-tape. Neal Stephenson (a sci-fi author I really like) wrote one of his early novels Snow Crash in 1992, cd 4:
then good driving music on my iPod:
Cheap Trick - at Budokan, 1979 live album
This album has THREE GREAT SONGS, any one of which gets this band into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame: "Ain't That a Shame", "I Want You to Want Me", and "Surrender", and they are wonderful heading northwest on 89 in New Hampshire on a sunny day with the windows rolled down and the sun-roof open!
Collective Soul - 7even Year Itch, 2001 greatest hits album
that took me to my exit in Vermont, so it was time to listen to some Very Cool jazz:
Christian Scott - Yesterday You Said Tomorrow, 2010
Stevie Wonder - Innervisions, 1973
At the 16th Grammy Awards, it won Album of the Year.
Thank you God for a very nice travel-day!
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Wednesday hike: This morning it is an hour's drive to get to the Trailhead Parking:
Nice and cool starting out:
Sure is BEAUTIFUL driving up here in the Adirondacks:
Today I'll do Allen Mountain (west-to-east):
It is either 5.1 or 5.3 miles on Trail 123 ("Flowed Lands via Hanging Spear Falls"), then "4 hours" up the herd path to Allen Mountain - I figure about 20 miles up-and-down. Other people have taken 11 1/2 hours, but I feel like I am in great shape, and should be able to budget 10 hours.
Just before the trailhead parking is The MacIntyre Iron Furnace:
At the trailhead a little before 8 AM:
Nice, easy-going hike for the first relatively-flat 5 miles (see "What I have learned" above). A funky bridge over the HUDSON RIVER:
Going around the top of Lake Jimmy:
Nice hike for the next few miles:
After 4 miles, you take a sharp right to ford the Opalescent River - because "the bridge is out":
Once you have rock-hopped (easy-beazy) across the river, you can look back at where you came from:
and then turn back around to see where you are going:
After about 5 1/3 miles (a hand-made sign goes straight: MARCEY), you take a right onto the Allen Mountain herd path. After another 1/3 mile, I stopped for "elevensiees" (actually it was 10:13):
and that is where I left my big water bottle, for when I came back down.
You zig-zag through an open gravel-pit area (and sign-in at another shelter), and a half-hour later cross Lower Twin Brook:
Still hiking an hour later:
which is actually when you get to Allen Brook, and start going UP:
I am 8 miles into the hike (it has been great), but now I'm going straight up for a mile-and-a-half!! The "trail" alternates being an actual trail (to the right of the brook), and just scrambling up the rock/brook itself:
Once in a while you get a nice view out:
and once in a while you have to look back down, to see where you have come from:
At 12:40 I broke out onto the ridgeline, and 30 minutes later I was at the summit:
As you can see, there is not much "view" there, so keep going only another 20 yards to the (GREAT) viewpoint:
I headed back down. Because I was carrying my hiking poles (lesson for tomorrow: leave the poles at the bottom of the climb up Seymour Mountain), this spot on the "trail" down was about where I wiped out (the first time - yes, I wiped out twice)[talk about "Blood On The Tracks"]:
I washed off in a stream,
but unfortunately my fall(s) wrecked the boom cube! Fortunately, I brought a spare, and listened to my purple nano on "Shuffle Songs" all the way home!
When all was said and done, I hiked 19.57 miles in 9 hours 42 minutes. It was a really good hike, and I like the changes I am putting into practice.
A one-hour drive back to the Super 8. Meatball sub for dinner/turkey sub for breakfast-lunch tomorrow. 121 miles driving today.
A nice phone call with Wendy, and then Lights Out - Thank you God for this Great Day!
Wednesday morning drive to the trailhead:
Van Morrison - It's Too Late to Stop Now, 1974 live double album
One of the things I am experimenting with on this trip is listening to music while I hike. Sure, I have always been able to listen to the music in my head, but I have found that on my last few hikes, I have been repeating myself, and only remembering a small number of artists and albums. So we're going to try the boom cube and my orange nano:
I have had a 5-cd tribute-to-the-Grateful-Dead collection (various artists, but organized by The National) on my computer for 3 years now, and this will be a great opportunity to listen to it:
various artists - Day of the Dead, 2016 5-cd tribute album
A surprising amount of good music - probably only a cd's-worth needs to get deleted. WONDERFUL to get this opportunity to listen to this straight through! And it took me to the top of Allen Mountain!
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Chronicle, Vol. 1, 1976 greatest hits album
Wikipedia says that "It has sold 6,357,000 copies in the US since 1991" - well, I'm one of them!
Actually, I see that is says "... since 1991". But cd album sales have been going since 1983:
and I'm pretty sure I got a cd-player in the mid-to-late 1980's. This Creedence album was one of the first three cds I bought, when I bought the player, so that was way before 1991.
Steely Dan - Can't Buy A Thrill, 1972 debut album
and then I wiped out a couple of times coming down the mountain, which broke the boom cube (don't worry, I have another from Ellie!). So I listened to random on my purple nano on the six miles back to my car. Wonderful music - one super-standout was "Gran Torino" by Jamie Cullum from his 2009 album The Pursuit
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