zeelemons

Hiking Hurricane Mountain

July 12, 2016 by zeelemons

Two weeks ago (finally catching up in date on these trip reports) Paula and I headed north to hike Hurricane Mountain. In true Jona fashion, I hadn’t done any research on this trip and was pleasantly surprised when we summited.

But let’s start at the beginning… We parked off of O’Toole Road instead of Route 9 – I think the path less traveled – because Paula knows the guy who maintains the trail and he had recommended it. It was already pretty warm when we set off, probably high 70s, with the expectation that it would reach 90. I brought almost three liters of water with me, something I rarely do, but we had our sight set on also hiking the Crows and I wanted to be prepared. The first mile in was a nice warm up with very little ups and so so many lady slippers! They always make me smile and remind me of my mom.

Once we reached the junction to follow the red trail, it was almost two miles of up, up, up. Nothing too technical, but your body definitely knew it was climbing on a hot day. Can’t complain though, there was a slight breeze and the bugs were pretty nonexistent. The summit though, once we broke tree line, was amazing and worth all the sweat! The views were almost 360, featuring the Lower Great Range.

And I climbed the fire tower! Wasn’t so bad because of the bald summit/lack of trees. We sat down and ate lunch (even though it was only 10ish) to power-up and soak in the mountain views; I could have stayed there all day. About half way down, we both verbalized how hot we were and how hard it would be to hike back to the car and then continue on to the Crows… so we decided to skip ’em! We did hike probably a half mile toward Weston Mountain past the Gulf Brook lean-to for some extra mileage, but quickly turned around once we started sweating a ton – ha!

I feel like I’ve said this for all of the fire tower hikes thus far but this is a wonderful hike for the whole family. The reward is high for little effort/mileage. We passed a father and daughter on the trail, it being her first camping trip. She was probably three or four and looked like the cutest little cabbage patch kid. I can’t wait to re-hike with Rocco and the beau. [9/23]

Hiking Kane Mountain

July 10, 2016 by zeelemons

At the end of May, I hiked Kane Mountain with Rocco – yes! One of the kiddos I use to watch 🙂 He wants to one day become a 46er so in the mean time, we’re working up to longer day hikes.

We left pretty early in the morning despite it being a short hike because the temps were suppose to be in the low 90s; extra water was packed just in case. When we got to the trailhead, we had two options: hike the shorter route or the longer route (1.2 miles). I left it up to Rocco and he chose the longer route – my kind of hiking partner! It was an easy hike, wandering through the woods, me listening to his recent trip to Universal Studios. This was my second hike with him this year, and he’s already caught on to the signs of the mountain, i.e. what it looks like the closer you summit a peak. Before we knew it, we found the fire tower!

We climbed but I stopped before reaching the top – hello fear of heights – and climbed back down to get a photograph of him on the tower. I then counted how many I needed to climb further to reach the top and basically told myself to suck it up because the kid deserved a view. Up we went… and the views were phenomenal!

We probably stayed up there a good 10-15 minutes looking out at the view and enjoying the breeze. When we climbed down, we checked out the cabin – it’s sad that teens/people treat it this way – and then headed down what I assumed was the shorter trail for a change of scenery, as there were a ton of people headed up. Well, this put us on the opposite side of the mountain. No big deal! I knew where we were, so we walked down the road and past Green Lake to the car. Added miles is never a bad thing on a short day. We gave each other a high five when we reached the car and enjoyed the galaxy popcorn his mom packed us as a snack. It was a great day!

Should have been 2.4 miles if we took the long route roundtrip – was close to 4 miles by the time we reached the car. I’d definitely recommend this hike for beginners/a family looking for something to do on a Sunday afternoon. [8/23]

Fire Tower Challenge: Hiking Hunter Mountain

July 9, 2016 by zeelemons

So much hiking lately, very little time to share!

A question that I get a lot as a 46er is “what’s next?” Well, being a constant list checker-offer, I’m always working toward something. With a recent trip up to the White Mountains, I checked off a couple of mountains toward becoming an AMC 4000 Footer Club member (there are 48, similar to the 46 in the ADK). I’m officially a third of the way done! But there’s a challenge closer to home that I’m now actively working toward, the Fire Tower Challenge via the Glens Falls – Saratoga Chapter of the ADK.

These hikes are typically shorter in distance and easier technically, which means I can bring friends who are newer to hiking and can make a day trip out of it. There are 5 in the Catskills, and you only need to hike 18 of the 23 in the ADK. Hadley Mountain, the first mountain I ever climbed back in high school, is a fire tower and counted toward this challenge.

Now that you know a little more about what I’m working toward, on to the trip reports! I’ve hiked a number of fire towers over the past couple of months – enjoy!

Hunter Mountain
I hiked this peak with Jen about two months ago now and it was a gorgeous spring morning. We chose the easiest route up on Spruceton Road because I had a prior work commitment that Monday afternoon, which worked out perfectly. Most descriptions say this is a moderate hike, I thought it was fairly easy, as you’re hiking up what looks to be a service road. While it’s not technical, the grade does increase significantly the further you climb.

We found a DEC lean-to that was near the summit, but set back into the woods with a spectacular view – I’d definitely camp out there – and also a privy and natural spring close by.

There aren’t any views on the summit, but I heard the views are great from the tower …I started to climb this tower but turned around probably halfway up. I don’t like it when the tower is near trees; when I can see that I’m on top of them, I get nauseous and the fear of heights kicks in. Because the sun was shining and we were ahead of the mental schedule we set for ourselves, we set at the picnic table and enjoyed a bite to eat before heading back down.

It took us almost a 3.5 hour round trip (including stops) to cover the 7 miles. [7/23]

Hiking in the White Mountains: Mount Tecumseh

June 2, 2016 by zeelemons

Day one in the Whites we were up pretty late – we had just over an hour of a drive to our motel from the trailhead, had to eat, settle in and surprisingly, none of us showered. Ha! True hiker fashion when you’ll be up in a few short hours. I had planned ahead and made the most delicious meal for myself, all I needed was a microwave: a baked potato with steamed broccoli and chickpeas smothered in a local “cheese” sauce that I had picked up at our Farmer’s Market. So good!

I woke up Monday morning feeling pretty good, tired but not sore, and I remember slapping on my glasses and asking, “so what are we hiking today?!” Paula had been up for a while and also wanted to hike, suggesting Mount Tecumseh, as the mileage was short and it’s the shortest of the 48 peaks. Sold!

Jeremy passed on the hike because he was sore, so he drove us to the trailhead and read a book. At the start, there was no snow on the ground, but within 15 minutes, flurries began to fall. The first mile in was fairly easy; barely any incline and felt like an easy walk in the woods. But I knew we only had 1.5 miles left and that it had to get steep to cover ground… and golly, did it get steep. I don’t know if it was because my legs were tired or the snow, but we were slow moving. Oh, and the steeper we got, the heavier the snow fell.

At one point the trail seemed so steep, I’d hike for .10 then take a 10 second break and continue like that until it evened out. Our final push to the summit was fast despite breaking trail in 3-6 inches of snow because the wind was fierce and I think we were both getting chilly. There was no view but we snapped our summit photographs and scrambled down to a section of the trail where the wind wasn’t too bad so that we could add an additional layer.

While changing, we ran into three what-looked-to-be college kids, one of which was in sneakers with bare ankles! I could only imagine her slippery descent (and freezing ankles) and put on my microspikes, thankful that I hadn’t removed them from my pack. Oh! There was a little lookout on the ski trails that we had skipped on the way up (focused on moving forward) but enjoyed on the way down. We were fast moving, packing down a trail for her, and before we knew it, we were on the last mile out. The closer we got to the parking lot, the less snow there was, with barely any in the lot! It was a great little hike and I was thankful that Paula wanted to climb that second day to take advantage of the trip up north.

4.89 miles | 3.5 hours | 16/48

*annnnnd I’m just realizing that all of my photographs have been showing up sideways/upside down on any other computer/device other than my own… don’t know why that is. Sorry about that! I’ll look into it… soon 🙂

Hiking in the White Mountains: Mount Cabot

May 23, 2016 by zeelemons

Last weekend (okay two weekends ago now) I spent some time back up in the White Mountains with Paula and her brother Jeremy. They’re both actively working on their 48 4,000 Footers and I have an ultra to start training for, so I gladly tagged along. We drove up Saturday after work and stayed at his place in NH, and decided to hit the road early Sunday to climb. Our plan: to hike the Wildcats!Well, we showed up, took a short walk down to the Ellis River waterfall and realized we had missed the trail. Whoops! Once we realized what was next we turned around, literally, and headed back to the car. That was surely a first after ten minutes of walking! The river was high, pretty fast, and there wasn’t a safe way to cross. The decision was fairly easy for me, especially after getting back on dry land (I had hopped out onto a rock to show Paula it could be done, and was stuck there for a moment until I talked myself ((out loud)) to jump back onto a wet rock, with wet boots, to dry land). Change of plans: to hike Mount Cabot.

We were planning on hiking this mountain on Monday but decided to trek further north on Sunday because we knew what to expect and could complete it within daylight. Once arrived to the Berlin fish hatchery, we saw a sign that said the gate closed at 4PM… well, shucks. We parked and started a (longer) walk to the trailhead in the rain – 4 miles added on for the day. I took little photographs on the hike in because of the weather: it rained, it snowed/slushed and it even hailed at one point throughout the day. Random sight: there was a pit of moose remains. It smelled and was eery. I tried to take a photograph but I was too far away to see it clearly. Despite the trail being wet, I mean walking up streams and snow once we were high enough in elevation, our pace was pretty quick. And surprisingly I felt strong and moved with ease. I made a comment to Paula on the way out that I felt like I was floating across the terrain – something I rarely feel while hiking (especially on the downs); almost like a runner’s high during a long run. This was surprising because I haven’t been hiking much lately and with everything being wet, I’m usually very cautious and slow. The one obstacle that did slow us down was a water crossing fairly early on the trail. Because it had been raining, the water was a-flowing and there were no rock hops. So, we crawled over a couple of logs – phew! I don’t think any of us wanted to turned around for a second time that day.

Once on the summit, we did get a little view and quickly took our photos/selfies because the wind was strong and we were starting to feel a chill. Luckily, there’s a small cabin just shy of the summit, so we snuck in to add layers and eat a snack or two. We had passed a mother and daughter who camped out the night before and noted they woke up with the snow – I can only imagine how cold it must have been. I still need to practice more winter hiking before staying up above 4,000 feet.

About a mile from the car, the rain stopped and I made sure to grab a couple more photographs – including this pile of moose poop! My first time seeing it in person! Right on the side of the road… and shortly down, we found the tracks. There were a ton of water sources with it being a hatchery and with the sun setting, we were all scanning the edges for a moose with no luck. But I did check out the fish – I scared them and they scared me when I peeked my head in!

Oh, and also to note: it was 7PM when we got to the car and the gate was wide open… yeah, those extra four miles seemed to be for nothing. If you plan to hike this mountain, I’d read or call them to check their policy. It was a fairly easy hike and you could surely shave off a lot of time parking closer to the trailhead.

13.3 miles | just shy of 7 hours | 15/48 for me