Long Overdue Catch Up Post

Location: Campbellsville, KY

No, we haven’t fallen off the face of the earth! I guess blogging is like any other habit that you get into – once you start to get out of the habit, it’s easy to start putting it off. I don’t want to stop blogging entirely but I’m not sure what the optimal schedule is for me. Something to think about after we get done at Amazon.

So I’ll guess I’ll start with that – yes, we are back at Amazon. It’s been a pretty good season so far, as we are starting to get back to ramp up time. Harry and I are pickers again, and still liking that job position a lot. We walk generally anywhere from 14 to 17 miles a day. We’ve been feeling good and are a little under 8 weeks from the end and departure day. There’s really not much new about Amazon. We walked back in and by lunchtime of the first day, we literally felt like we had just left a couple weeks ago.

 

Probably the most exciting event since we have been here was the celebration of my 50th birthday a couple weeks ago! Since I was working on the actual day, I celebrated on my first day off afterwards – ran 5 miles in the morning, and had an awesome dinner out with friends that night. Hard to feel depressed about a birthday when I am feeling the best I have ever felt in my life!

 

 

Now I’ll back up to a few events since my last post. We were up in Peru, doing lots of great mountain climbs and spending time with my mother and stepfather. This was the best summer for hiking ever! I felt the best I have ever felt, and we did some challenging and rewarding climbs. It was awesome. Not sure why but this was one of my favorite hiking shots of the summer.

 

From there, we traveled to Ohio. We had a great three weeks there, enjoying some more great family time with my stepdaughter Gretchen and our two little guys.

 

 

 

We got to see some soccer games, went to the movies, spent time outside, did some cooking, went for ice cream. Just an all around fun time.

Labor Day weekend, we headed for Kentucky. Although it wasn’t yet time to start our Amazon jobs, we had heard that the campground where we usually stay here was filling up quickly this year. Since we weren’t going to actually start until the end of September, we made the decision to drive to Kentucky and leave the rig here, traveling back to NY by car instead of driving the fiver back which was our original plan. Even though it wasn’t our rationale, I figured out afterwards that we saved over $1,100 by doing it that way – even figuring in the cost of the campground for three weeks and renting a car for the trip back.

 

When we got back to NY, we spent a few days with my sister, who was generous enough to let us crash in her guest room for a week! We were able to take in some soccer games as both my niece and nephew were on their high school soccer teams.

 

And of course, the main event in September – my stepson Andrew’s wedding in New Rochelle…we were happy to welcome his fiancé Amanda to the family…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that more or less sums up the past couple of months. Now we are back in our normal autumn gig working the peak season at Amazon. This is our 4th season, and we have about 8 weeks left before we will head south to Florida for the rest of the winter.

To the Top of Marcy!

 

For the last half mile of Marcy, I wasn’t taking any pictures! It was pretty steep and rocky. We were happy to find it was a rough type of rock so we were able to get good traction with our hiking boots.

 

It took us 5 hours and 50 minutes to cover the 7.5 miles to the top of the highest mountain in New York State!

 

But I do have a lot of pictures of us at the top!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After about 30 minutes to relax and have our lunch, we started our way back down. One member of our hiking group got a great shot of Harry and me making our way down the rock face (although it makes me think we’re doing some kind of funny rock dance).

It took us 4 hrs. and 15 minutes to travel the 7.5 miles back to our car. We had such a great time and it just left us wanting more!

We have one week left here in the Adirondacks and plan to do at least a couple more hikes before we leave next Thursday.

Mount Marcy – Part 2

 

 

When I left off on my last post, we were at Indian Falls taking our first break on our way to the top of Mount Marcy.

 

I don’t have tons of pictures from the next mile and a half, because we were still below the tree line, and there weren’t a lot of scenic spots. Occasionally we would get a glimpse of the view to come through the trees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was another mile and a half before we truly started to move above the tree line, and began to get our first real tastes of the view!

 

 

But we were not there yet!

 

That’s where we’re going! The smaller hump is called “little Marcy” and then way up at the top is “big Marcy”!

 

 

 

 

Harry, my mom, and me in front of our destination!

 

 

 

 

Here is a close up of Mount Marcy!

 

 

And a little more cropped version. Our trail up would go over the rock face toward the right hand side of the photo and then up to the summit.

 

 

 

Here we go – after seven miles on the trail, we are at the last half mile to the summit!

Mount Marcy – 7/30/2016

Location: Peru, NY

 

After doing Hough and Dix this past Tuesday – two high peaks in one day! – we had another goal in mind, one that I have wanted to do for a few years now – Mount Marcy! Yesterday was the day!

 

There are a number of hikes in the Adirondack mountains that leave from the Adirondack Loj. We left home around 5:30 am and got to the lodge about an hour later. We were glad that we got there early enough that there was still a parking spot left near the Loj. (A couple years ago we went between 7 and 8 am and had to park about a mile down the road.)

The first two miles of the hike is one I’ve done several times. It goes to what used to be Marcy Dam. From there, there are a number of hiking trails that go in different directions.

 

While the view is gorgeous, it is very changed, as this used to be an area which was full of water. Hurricane Irene came through here with a lot of fury! My understanding is that Marcy Dam is gone now, and will not be replaced.

 

 

This used to be a bridge across Marcy Dam, but it was washed out and is now just a nice spot to stop and get a picture.

 

 

Here is another picture which really shows the remnants of the bridge.

 

 

 

We didn’t stay there long, because we still had 5.5 miles to go to the top of the mountain!

 

Every hike I’ve ever done in the Adirondacks has been the same – with lots of areas with big rocks to walk over and around!

 

 

 

 

Our next stop and scenic spot was Indian Falls, about a mile and a half further down the trail.

 

 

 

Harry and my mother enjoying the break!

 

 

 

 

Selfie at Indian Falls!

 

 

After about a fifteen minute or so break, we were off on our way. We had been on the trail a little over 3 hours at this point and had gone about 4.5 miles. We had 3 miles to go, but the steepest parts of the trail and all of the climbing was still ahead of us!

Hough Mountain to Dix Mountain Part 2

Location: Peru, NY

So I left off yesterday in the middle of our hike. We had started off at 6:30 am, and it took us a little less than four and a half hours to get to the summit of Hough Mountain. I took this photo on Hough – you can see the little round marker on the tree that shows we’re on the summit, and then in the distance behind the pointed peak that was our next destination – Dix!

I was a little worried that we might hit another spot like the one that had almost stopped me already, but once we headed out I was committed. There was only forward from this point on. So whatever we encountered, I would just have to make myself go forward.

 

There is Harry heading up the rock face in front of me…

 

 

 

 

This rock face was a little crazy to come across.

 

 

This is Harry coming across this rock ledge and NOT looking to see how close he is to the edge as he does it.

 

 

I was safely across and away from the edge when I snapped this shot of two members of our party.

 

 

 

 

That’s where we’re going!!

 

 

 

Now in this photo you can see where we came from. The peak in the center of the photo is Hough Mountain where we had our lunch. That open rocky area to the left of it is the rock ledge we came across that is in the photo with the two members of our party.

 

It was a challenge and I didn’t even get some of the photos of the more exposed areas of the ridge, because I was concentrating on NOT thinking about where I was and how open it was and how close to the edge I was, so I didn’t even think about pulling out my phone to take a picture. haha

 

 

This is Harry’s “I am very happy that we are at the top” face!!

 

 

Was it a challenge – both mentally and physically? Yes!! But when this picture was taken, I felt like I was on top of the world!!!

 

 

This is the view behind me when I was in that spot in the last picture!

 

 

 

 

 

And then it was time to head down! It took us an hour and 45 minutes to make our way from the Hough mountain summit to the top of Dix. We had 6.5 miles to go to get back to our car. It was 2 o’clock when we left the summit for the trek down the mountain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harry wanting a taxi for the last four miles!

 

I don’t have any photos of us at the end, but we all made it down! Those last 3 miles, the ones I had been wondering about in the beginning because they were relatively flat, now became a nice way to end the hike. We walked out to the parking lot where our car was waiting at 5 minutes before 7. So all in all, it took us a little over 12 hours for the entire hike.

It’s been a great month for hikes so far, and we’re not done yet!!