Northville-Lake Placid Hike

Well, Elizabeth and I started out Saturday morning at the trailhead in Benson at 8am. Randy and Spot went with us for about 1/2 an hour. Randy snapped a pic of us before he and Spot went back to the car. Elizabeth and I went on. Started off at about 2 miles per hour. The hiking was pretty easy the 1st 4 hours. Saw some beautiful country, a very pretty little waterfall, etd. Stopped for lunch about 12pm. Hit Silver Lake at about 2pm. By then, Elizabeth was experiencing some pain from blisters. My ankles were starting to hurt. After Silver Lake, the hiking got much harder. At several places trees had blown down over the trail and were impossible to go around so we either had to crawl under or climb over them. Some of the climb overs were about 5 feet high. We had to take off packs, toss over the tree trunks then clamber over. After about the 4th time, I was just a little tired. As feet got worse we moved slower. By 4:30 pm, I figured we still had 4 -5 miles to go to get to Mud Lake. This location has a lean-to and if we could pick up the pace, may get there before dark. Well, the trail got no better, many "mud holes" to get around, and 3 vlei's to navigate. Naturally, due to the quantity of rain this year, at least some of the board walks across the vlei's (many thanks by the way to those brave souls who actually built them!) were under water. Makes for a slippery crossing as it was getting darker. Naturally, as dusk descended, it began to shower. At any rate, feet killing us, we finally made it to the last vlei we had to cross before coming to the lean-to at Mud Lake. We got our water there and made it to the lean-to in full dark. There was a family there, grandfather, son, brother-in-law and two boys, already in the lean-to. We set up our tents in the very nice space behind the lean-to. Ate dinner at about 9pm but I was so tired I only ate half of mine. Buried the rest. We sat for a short while with our site mates and enjoyed the camp fire they made then we went to bed. Up on Sunday at 7AM. The family offered us a ride out as our feet were in bad shape. We took them up on the offer. They were going to hike out after lunch. We took our time breaking camp and at a little after 10am started out for Whitehouse. Stopped at a very nice little stream to replenish our water. We took 2 hours to go 2.5 miles to the west branch of the Sacandaga. We crossed on the suspension bridge there and ate lunch. We were relaxing on the bridge, watching the water flow by when the local ranger came by on his periodic check. We chatted about this and that and eventually got around to our story. He offered to take us to the local village, Wells, and we accepted. We left notes on the trucks of the nice family we met at Mud Lake. When we got to Wells, I gave Randy a call and he came and got us. We were home at about 3pm. This morning I confirmed a sprain in my left foot, just above the arch and just in front of my ankle. Oh well. So ends our trip. Perhaps I can break the trail into smaller sections and do it as section hikes?

Shake Down Hike

Elizabeth arrived on Wednesday. We spent the afternoon packing her pack. I added food and clothing to mine. My pack weight went up to 55 pounds. Whoa! Way too heavy. I took out one change of clothing (now I have 1 change) and took out 5 days of dinners. Also subtracted a couple of fuel canisters and a 50 foot length of cord. Took the pack weight down to 50 pounds. So we get to the Benson, Northville-Lake Placid trail head and start walking back to Northville at 9am. At 1:30 we were back in the house. Elizabeth's pack is leaning at the top to the left so we'll have to repack it. I want to take another look at my pack too. I still want to be able to carry a 10 day food supply. Perhaps there's something in my pack I can eliminate. Tomorrow we go to find Elizabeth a couple of things she wants. 2 days till the hike!

Shirt Test

I took a quick (?) walk today up my back road to test a new shirt I bought this weekend. It was my standard 5 mile hike. Today was cool, about 45 degrees so I wanted to test my new long sleeve wicking shirt I bought at Walmart. I actually found it in the men's clothes section on a rack of shirts nearly gone. Couldn't even find exercise clothes in the women's section. Very annoying. At any rate, put the shirt on under my fleece. I could actually feel the shirt pulling the moisture away from my skin and evaporating. I was quite comfortable. The day couldn't be more perfect. The great blue fall sky was reflected in the pond I could see through the trees. Pond and sky the same color so you couldn't really tell where sky stopped and water began. I love the smell of fall.

Mountain Hiking

Randy, Spot and I spent 3 hours hiking another local trail in our neighborhood. We spent 2 hours going up the mountain, 1 hour back down and home. We might have gone farther but the rain started and Randy didn't have any rain gear so we hiked back in the rain. Since it was still pretty warm, he was comfortable enough. Poor Spot is now so old and her hip so bad I've already given her some aspirin for the pain and she's sound asleep in the other room.

We've had phone calls and emails from Elizabeth. She's sent some gear ahead by mail already. I've reviewed the hiking plan and sent her the emergency ranger phone number in case her husband needs to get ahold of her while we're on the trail. My brother gave me some exercises to do to help strengthen my feet. I'm still not sure if they're going to hold out but I'm going to give it the old college try. Eight days till the hike starts!

Road Work

I have found over the last 2 - 3 weeks that if I don't get enough exercise now, I have trouble sleeping at night. Last night was no exception. Since I have some appointments for the afternoon, driving off to a long NYS trail was out of the question. Therefore, I just did 8 miles on the local roads. Took 3 hours. Too bad I can't make that kind of time in the woods. Then I wouldn't be worried about doing the 16 miles per day I need to do on the Northville-Lake Placid trail. Oh well. My daughter, Elizabeth, was on the phone when I got home. She's joining me for the hike. She was calling to finalize some details about equipment. We did a short discussion of the mileage of each section. Since it's so hot in California, (she's in the Mohave Dessert outside of Edwards AFB), she hasn't done much/any trail work. We'll do a 10 mile road session when she get's here to shake out any issues. Only 10 days till the hike!

Neighborhood Hike II

Felt the need to hike today. Beautiful weather. Took Spot and headed back to the local NYS trail. Went up past where we turned around on Friday and of course, the trail was still going up. Finally got to the top and the trail followed the contour line for a little way. When the trail began to become fainter, I decided to turn around and come home. Hike time door - to - door, 2 hours 40 minutes. Reward, saw a mud turtle and two loons at the local pond. Feel absolutely great.

Neighborhood Hike

Randy, Spot and I did a short hike this morning. We stayed in our own neighborhood and walked about 1 mile up the dirt road near my home. There is a NYS land access point which appears to be used quite frequently. I've been wanting to explore that path for several months and today seemed the right day. The day is gorgeous, sunny, low humidity and a breeze. I was happy for the breeze because once we got on the trail, it went pretty much straight up the mountain. We hiked to the top but no view due to heavy forest and then went home. Total hike 2.5 hours. Spot found something in the woods to roll in so when we got home, she had to have a bath. Whew!

Willis Lake to Wilcox Lake

Took a hike yesterday from Willis Lake to Wilcox Lake and back again. I parked at the last camp on the dirt road that becomes the trail, cutting .9 mile off of the hike. Even so, round trip was 10.5 miles. Ya Hoo! Finally passed the 10 mile hike mark. This is probably the driest hike I've been on all summer. Only a handful or so of mud holes to get around, many have dried up due to several rain free days. Got to Wilcox Lake in about 3 hours and took 25 minutes to rest, eat and let my feet rest. Took boots off and trimmed a little more off of my inserts. Finally found out what animal makes a very loud call that sounds more like something from the Amazon than Upstate NY. Turns out to be a very large woodpecker. Very cool. Felt good on the hike back, was trekking along with brain somewhere else when my toe caught a stick, stick hit the trekking pole and down I went on my left. Fell on knee then backpack on my left arm. Floundered there a minute kind of like a turtle on its back while I figured out how to get out of the pack so I could get up. Fortunately a dry smooth part of the trail so only had some leaf debris on me. Lesson Learned: Keep mind on trail. Left my car at about 0830, lunch from 1125 to 1150 and back at my car at about 1445. Spent a few minutes talking with the owner of the camp when I got back. I did a lot of stretching of my feet when I got home. This morning only a little foot pain. Perhaps I'm toughening up. Today or tomorrow, making reservations at the NYS Lake Durant Campground for day 5 of my hike and at a hotel in Lake Placid for the end of the hike. I won't want to drive home that day.

Baldwin Springs

I went for a hike on the 3rd (Friday). The goal was Baldwin Springs and back to the trailhead off of Rt. 8. I had to park 1/2 mile from the trailhead due to an unimproved road that was too unimproved for my car to get down. Anyway, I signed in at the trail head and Baldwin Springs was supposed to be 6.2 miles from that spot. I got past Fish Ponds 1 and 2 and at about the 4.1 mile mark, the trail just disappeared. Past the Fish Ponds the trail was fainter and fainter until I thought a deer would have trouble finding it. At the point in the guide book that the trail is supposed to go between two ridges, it just stopped. I cast around for about 15 minutes trying to pick it up but no luck. I briefly considered bushwacking my way but as a novice hiker, I felt that move to be just a little foolhardy. Therefore, I just went back. I made a quick comment when I signed off the trail so the rangers know the trail has gotten a little faint. So given my parking spot, it was a 9 mile hike instead of 13. Feet hurt by the time I got to the car. Perhaps because I didn't take any break except about 10 minutes at Fish Pond 1 on the way back. Essentially, 5 straight hours of hiking. This morning, 2 more pounds gone. Feet sore but walkable. I think because I did some stretching last night and this morning. Did a 5 mile hike this morning in light hiking boots and no pack with Randy and Spot. I feel great.