Algonquin, Iroquois, & Wright

Labor Day weekend in the Adirondack High Peaks means full parking lots, busy trails, and crowded summits. Last year we were lucky enough to hike on Friday, sparing us from some of the masses. This year we were restricted by days off and planned to hike on Saturday, but threats of thunderstorms pushed our hike back to Sunday.

Sunday dawned overcast, foggy, and humid. My husband drove us (my sister, one of her college friends, and me) to the trailhead at the High Peaks Information Center on Adirondack Loj Road. We tied on our boots, signed the register, and hit the trail around 7:15am (no one thought to check the exact time). The first mile or so along the Van Hoevenberg Trail went quickly and gave us an opportunity to catch up since my sister's friend and I had not seen each other in years. Once we left the Van Ho Trail I was on new ground, although my sister had been up that way twice before. She'd previously summited both Algonquin and Wright on two separate hikes. (Her friend lives and hikes in New Hampshire, so these would be his first official ADK High Peaks.)

We passed the Whale's Tail Notch Ski Trail and continued up, completely socked in by dense clouds. I fully expected that we would have zero visibility the entire day, but my sister's friend suffers from unflagging optimism and proclaimed the sun would come out, the clouds would break up, and we'd have fabulous views from the summits. He even lamented having forgotten to pack his sunglasses. I rolled my eyes and didn't believe it for a second. Regardless, I'd still rather hike inside a cloud the ADKs than do just about anything else.

Once the trail started to go up, it REALLY went up and pretty much straight up at that. There were a couple scrambles that required both hands and feet. We came out on the bald summit of Algonquin still enveloped in clouds.

By the time we took our boots off, ate some food, sent a few "we made it" texts, and put our boots back on, the clouds were starting to break up in spots. As we headed down into the col and back up Boundary, more and more blue sky was showing through.

trail to Iroquois to the right

boardwalk on Boundary

On Iroquois we were able to get out our cameras and take pictures in every direction. My sister and her friend happily identified as many of the peaks as they could.

Looking back towards Algonquin

resting on Iroquois

Then back over Boundary we went and back up Algonquin, where we paused again to take photos now that the summit wasn't lost in clouds.

my sister taking pictures

Eventually we headed down, still debating whether or not we would do Wright. I was leaning towards doing it because it is only 0.4 miles off the trail to Algonquin. I was starting to think I wouldn't be eager to have to hike the same trail again any time soon.

heading down Algonquin, Wright in the distance

We decided to go for it, but man did that 0.4 miles hurt, as it was all UP. On the summit we snapped more pictures, chatted with the summit steward, and scrambled down to the plane crash plaque before we started down our last mountain of the day.

Once we were down off the rock slabs we were making good time and passing many of the hikers we came across. In the rock cobbles (smaller than a boulder, bigger than a soccer ball) at the lower elevations, the sun had not been strong enough to fight the humidity and the rocks were still slick. I lost my footing and tumbled, rolling at least once before coming to a stop when my skull hit a rock. I leapt up quickly (but unsteadily) to my feet, declaring "I'm fine." I know it's terrifying to see someone else fall, so I wanted to reassure my hiking companions (and the older couple we had just passed) that I was OK. My sister grabbed my face to check that my teeth were still in my mouth (they were) and her friend called an immediate rest break. I drank some water and collected myself and then we continued on to a nearby stream where I washed off some of the mud on my arms (no sense bothering with my legs). I was very, very lucky to escape from that tumble with only scrapes, bruises, and a goose egg on my head. Nothing was broken and my teeth were still intact.

When it comes to climbing mountains, mud and blood are de rigueur for me. This just took that a little too far. It also slowed us down a hair, but we still made it back to the parking lot around 5:50pm.

The specifics:
Algonquin Peak, elevation: 5114, order of height: 2, order of ascension: 15
Iroquois Peak, elevation: 4840, order of height: 8, order of ascension: 16
Wright Peak, elevation: 4580, order of height: 16, order of ascension: 17

Boots: Vasque Vista UltraDry
Socks: Smartwool
Shorts: EMS
Shirt: Columbia
Backpack: EMS

September Goals

I'm not in the habit of making monthly goals, nor do I make New Year's resolutions, but it can't hurt to try to formalize some intentions. So here are my September goals, better late than never...

1. Complete the 30 Days of Lists project. So far this is enjoyable and takes me only a few minutes each day, so I see no reason why I won't be able to do all 30 lists. I think I will share my lists on the blog weekly, probably on Sundays for the first three weeks and on Monday for the last week.

2. Continue to meet &/or surpass 10,000 steps a day. This excludes Sunday, the one day a week in which I rarely meet my desired goal.

3. Finish 5 books. That may be lofty, but I can certainly try.

4. Continue to post to this blog 2-3 times a week. More would be great, but 2-3 seems like a good minimum to aim for.

(If I think of more goals I may add them later.)

Labor Day Weekend: The Wild Center

We just returned home from a long weekend spent "campering" in the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks. We stayed at the North Pole Resort because they offer full hook-ups. It felt luxurious to be able to run the lights without worrying about killing the batteries, to take a shower without worrying about running out of water, and to have the outlets, microwave, and air conditioning work. Normally we stay at state parks where there are no amenities, so this was a real treat.

Saturday morning was rainy and foggy, so my husband and I drove down to Tupper Lake to go to the Wild Center. It was our first visit and we were particularly impressed with the facility. The building itself was gorgeous.

I was smitten with the solar array and the green roof. And the otters, of course! Many of the exhibits inside are focused on the fish, plants, insects, amphibians, etc. that live in the local bodies of water. We watched a short movie on the life and migration of monarch butterflies and caught a live animal talk with a barred owl. 

We wandered around the pond and through the gardens, but skipped the longer (although still quite short) trail. We also bumped into an old college friend who was there with her family. Small world!

Independent Bookstores

Back in June I read a tweet that caught my attention. Benjamin LeRoy, publisher at Tyrus Books, was giving away prizes in support of independent bookstores. I clicked over to his blog and followed his instructions on how to enter.

I adore independent bookstores, not that there are many left near where I live. I identified my favorite one, in a small town about 2 hours away. Whenever we stop in I almost always buy at least one book, usually something written by a local author or with a story that takes place in the area. Some have been bombs, but some have been fantastic.

So when Ben contacted me to let me know I'd won the $50 prize, I was thrilled. I couldn't wait to stop in and find more gems. Unfortunately, my favorite bookstore was unable to work with Ben on a gift certificate (pay attention stores, if someone wants to give you $50, you should really try to accommodate them). So I chose a second independent bookstore, one that is closer to civilization and one that clearly advertises gift certificates on their website.

I'd only been to Creekside Books & Coffee once before, and apparently not that recently. So it was a shock when we drove to Skaneateles this past Sunday, gift certificates in hand, to find the bookstore reduced in size by two thirds. In fact, what had been the bookstore was closed and dark. What had been the associated coffee shop was now BOTH a coffee shop and bookstore. The selection was extremely limited, one shelving unit for MG, one for YA, two for fiction. I was bummed, but I set to work spending my money.

I found only one book from my wishlist, picked another from the paperback fiction bestsellers list, and grabbed a third based on a twitter recommendation. I'm super excited to read all three.

Thank you to Benjamin LeRoy for supporting independent bookstores. I hope everyone recognizes the importance of doing so. You can read more about why Ben chooses to give here and here.

Misty Morning Walk

I found myself at Second Home Nature Center this morning with about 20 minutes to kill, so I quickly headed out onto the Hemlock Hollow and Bog Trails. The thick fog from the river by my house was a little thinner at the nature center, more of a mist.

No one had yet walked either of these trails, so I broke through countless spider webs. I spent much of my short walk flailing my arms and wiping my face, but I would not be deterred by the webs (or the deer flies or the humidity). I paused briefly on the bog platform to look out over the lake.

Because I've spent my entire life playing, walking, and working at Second Home Nature Center I tend to take it for granted, but this morning the mist magically transformed a landscape I know inside and out to something more exotic, a glimpse of something wilder.

Coconut Oil Bandwagon

I've read so much about the benefits and uses of coconut oil on the interwebs, and I'd been meaning to try it for a while now, but this semi-recent post by Stacy on Squirrel Chatter spurred me to action. I poked around at my grocery store until I found what I was looking for, a 12 oz tub of Carrington Farms organic coconut oil.

I was surprised to see what appeared to be a solid, white substance that almost resembled Crisco. I was expecting an OIL. What I didn't realize was that coconut oil has a melting point of 76 degrees, so as soon as it hits the skin it becomes the oil I was expecting.

I've only been using it for about a week now, but thus far I've used it as a lip balm, on a scar that I'm hoping it will help minimize the appearance of, as moisturizer on my hands, on acne, and on a cold sore.

This list of 50 of the Best Uses for Coconut Oil has many other interesting suggestion, some of which I'm sure I will try.

(This post is not sponsored by Carrington Farms in any way.)

State Fair, Round 1

Last night we went to the State Fair, mainly for dinner, but of course we looked at plenty of things while we were there. We checked out the chickens, ducks, rabbits, cavies, cows, pigs, llamas, goats, and sheep, located in four different buildings.

We tracked down this beauty for my husband's dinner:

It's a Southern Fried Chicken Donut, slathered with chipotle mayo and pickles. He rated it as being one of the two best sandwiches he's ever eaten. And that's high praise from him since he's been known to drive 4-5 hours just for a slice of pizza or a sandwich. I found the very idea of it unappealing, so I went to my go-to vendor for a piece of spanikopita.

Yummy flaky, greasy goodness. For dessert we got soft serve maple ice cream, my all-time favorite. No pictures because I, uh, scarfed it down too quickly.

In the Center of Progress Building we checked out the sand sculpture. As it was only day 2 of the Fair, the sculpture is nowhere near finished, but the theme was obvious.

We only purchased one set of advance sale tickets, but I suspect we will return for another visit and more importantly, more food!