Going Beyond Our Limits – Hough and Dix – 7/26/16

Location: Peru, NY

Last week, our hiking friends were discussing what mountains they intended to do next. They asked everyone if people wanted to do a couple peaks in the Dix range – Hough and Dix. People who are working to be a 46’er (one who hikes all of the 46 high peaks in the Adirondacks) sometimes do all five peaks in the Dix range in ONE day. I misspoke in my other blog about it being Harry’s first, forgetting that we did do one high peak last summer. But we are still relatively low in experience in hiking the high peaks, and doing two in one day sounded a bit daunting. My mother and a couple other hiking friends also doubted whether they were up to two, so in the end we took two cars – one car for the Hough mountain people and one car for those doing both.

The first 2 or 3 miles seemed relatively flat. At any other time, I would have been so happy to encounter an easy slope like this. However, given that we were going to climb a high peak (4400 ft) and had to ascend 3200 ft, it was a bit daunting as I kept thinking, oh boy, what is this going to be like when we start going up?

 

And then we started climbing. Elevation is hard to show in pictures, but I think you can see from the angle of this photos and the two members of our party ahead of me where we had to climb on our way up to the top of Hough Mountain.

I felt really good though. And when we got to our last resting stop before the last 0.4 up to the top, I was surprised how good I felt, and Harry and I talked it over and decided that we would press on to do Dix after all.

And then we encountered our first mental challenge. We came out on a beautiful ledge with a gorgeous view…wow. Until we turned around and realized where we had to go.

This picture doesn’t do it justice. But the place we were standing was maybe four feet wide. And we had to climb a rocky area and go around an outcropping of rock. Have I mentioned I am afraid of heights? I actually for a minute thought I might not be able to go on.

 

Now I’d love to say I conquered this outcropping, but I was lucky to be able to find another way up. Over on the side there was a crevice between the rocks and after taking my backpack off I was able to climb up between the rocks and get up that way. It was still a challenge but since it wasn’t so close to the edge, I was able to get past the height and get up there. I’m really not sure if I could have gotten up the front way.

 

 

After that it was just run of the mill, straightforward climbing – physically challenging, but not as scary mentally.

 

Here is our group on the top of Hough – 5.4 miles.

So. Here we were on Hough Mountain. We still planned to go on to conquer Dix Mountain.

 

And where was that? Well, this picture was taken from Hough Mountain…see that pointed peak over there? Yes that is Dix Mountain. Where we were headed next. And that pointed spine that leads up to it is a ridge called the Beckhorn, which was the way we were going.

 

As this post is long enough already, I’ll be continuing it tomorrow…

 

Here we go on our way to the Beckhorn!!!!

Silver Lake Mountain – 7/23/16

Location: Peru, NY

So far, this has been the greatest summer for getting in some awesome hikes. I always love hiking while I’m up in the Adirondacks, but being at my lowest weight in my adult life has made them so much more enjoyable, and doable. I may be in my best shape ever right now.

Yesterday we did our most challenging hike ever, but before I get to that one, I have another hike from last weekend to profile – Silver Lake Mountain, our shortest hike of the season at just a little less than 2 miles. We had another hike in mind, but there was a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon, so we decided to do a short and quick one.

 

Silver Lake is short but it’s pretty intense. It climbs at a steady and somewhat steep incline the whole time.

 

 

I tried to get some shots with people in the distance as it’s the easiest way to show the changing elevation.

 

 

The best part about the hike was being able to recreate a shot from many years ago. Eight years ago, in June 2008, just six months after Harry and I first met, we came up to visit my mother and did our first hike together up Silver Lake Mountain. So we made sure when we got to that spot to get another picture of the two of us on the same rock. We are both in much better shape now!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a snack at the top, with a great view to enjoy, it was a quick hike down to the car. A little under two hours and a great way to spend a Saturday morning.

Hurricane Mountain Birthday Hike – 7/20/2016

Location: Peru, NY

I know it’s not convention to tell a lady’s age, but I can’t do justice to the purpose of this hike without revealing that last week my mother celebrated her 70th birthday. She has a group of hiking friends that she hikes with frequently, and last week she chose Hurricane Mountain for her birthday hike.

 

It was a gorgeous day, and in all there were 13 of us that headed out on the 3.4 mile hike to the summit of Hurricane.

 

 

 

We found an interesting place to make a pit stop…

 

 

nicely modeled by one of our fellow hikers…

 

 

 

As is the case with the majority of the Adirondack hikes, once you get above the tree line, the views are frequent and wonderful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hurricane is one of the easier ones as far as the last little bit. Nice big rocks to climb up like steps.

 

 

At the top, everyone pulled out their contribution to the birthday feast…

 

 

 

 

 

 

And we all shared a toast to another year and a great hike to celebrate my mother’s birthday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another gorgeous hike!

Today we have been getting our stuff together for our biggest hike yet. We will be leaving tomorrow at 3:30, YES 3:30 in  the MORNING, for a 12.5 mile hike up one of the high peaks – Hough Mountain. It will be my first high peak in some time, and Harry’s first high peak ever, so we are hoping for a good hiking experience!

Poke-O-Moonshine Hike 7/16/16

Location: Peru, NY

We were headed north to the Adirondacks when I got a text from a friend of ours asking if we were interested in doing a short hike the next day. We had our niece with us and had planned on going to AuSable Chasm on Saturday, but changed our plans as a hike sounded like more fun (and we didn’t have to pay for it either).

 

Saturday morning we drove to AuSable to meet with the rest of the hiking group and then to the trailhead where we parked our cars. We were taking one route up and another back down, so Hannah and I waited at the trailhead while they took a car over to leave for us at our exit point.

 

‘Hikes in the Adirondacks usually consist of a lot of hopping around big rocks, and this one was no exception. They weren’t any challenge for my niece though, who was often more than a few steps ahead of us!

 

 

Once we started getting above the treeline, we had a lot of nice outlook points and picture taking spots!

 

 

I never get tired of taking pictures of all the awesome landscapes!

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the summit we all took a break and enjoyed our lunches while taking in all the majestic views!

 

 

 

 

 

Hannah and I were here!!

 

 

 

Then it was time to head back down. Stopped here to take in the quiet and check out the beaver dam. No beaver in sight though.

 

 

 

Selfie at the beaver dam pond!

 

 

 

It was a fun way to spend our day with Hannah, and a great first hike to kick off our few weeks here in the Adirondacks!

Lots of Time with Company!

Location: Peru, NY

This has been the first summer that we’ve actually had company for an extended period of time. Last summer our grandson Schaun came and stayed with us for a few days, but this year he came to stay with us for two and a half weeks. We ordered a twin size memory foam mattress which folded up into a mini-couch and it worked so great!

While Schaun was with us, we did lots of fun activities…

Went to the fourth of July festivities in Albany…

 

 

 

 

The kids passed the time on their kindle…

 

The fireworks were worth it!

 

 

We also took a trip to Zoom Flume water park…

 

 

We went to Howes Caverns and took their underground cave tour…

 

We enjoyed a couple campfire nights, made s’mores and told spooky stories…

 

 

 

 

 

We also took a weekend trip to Stamford CT for a very nice visit with Harry’s son Andrew and his fiancé Amanda.

 

After Schaun left we had one day to get ourselves ready for traveling, and then it was off to our next stop – the Adirondacks!

 

 

My niece came north with us, and stayed with us for the weekend, so we got some more use out of that couch/mattress. I have a feeling it’s going to come in very handy!

 

 

We are staying in our usual stopping point when visiting my mother – at Iroquois Campground in Peru.

 

We have already been here a week and have been on three hikes so far. I have tons of awesome hike pictures but this post is pretty picture intensive already, so I will just put one teaser photo – this is from our hike on Hurricane Mountain.

 

It’s been a great summer so far and we still have two great months to go before we head back to Amazon for the fall.