Whirlwind Weekend...

So, I haven't posted in a while. Been real busy working on the house, more on that in a later post. I did get the opportunity to slip away for some winter hiking in the Adirondacks and Vermont. This was a no rest, no sleep, lots of driving and hiking weekend. I picked up Steve and Lee Friday night at 11:30 pm and we drove up to Adirondack Lodge. We took turns driving and trying to nap. We were on the trail by 7:30am for the long approach to Mt. McNaughton. This is the bastard step child of the ADK 46ers. It is not required, but to purest like Steve, it is. The approach is about 8 miles of rolling terrain, then tip toe around the ponds and your at the base. Now for the bushwhack to the summit. This was tough, we had about a mile to the summit with about 1800' of elevation, pretty steep. there were some spots where I wasn't sure I would make and I let my frustration out, but in the end we hit the summit.

 

 You can almost see Lee. This was the view for most of the ascent.

 

 I was really hurting at the top, and knew the trip back to the car was going to be tough. I was doing OK for the first 4 miles, but then things started to go south fast, and it seemed like the last 4 miles were all up hill. But, we made it back, it was dark,but we made it. I can say I have never been that shattered before, I was not looking forward to hiking again on Sunday.

 

 We Went into Lake Placid for dinner then to our room for some much needed sleep. After a fine breakfast at the Noonmark, we made the drive to Mt. Stratton in Vermont. This was going to be a much easier day. The only negative was the wind, and the snow squaw at the start. The hike was 7 miles round trip with only 1700' of gain. Not very steep compared to the day before. We actually made quick work of it. At the top there was a fire tower, even though the wind was blowing hard we climbed it. Up on the tower you could feel the 65-75mph gusts, I always had 2 hands on the railing.

 

 The descent was pretty easy then it was time for the long drive home. I pulled into my driveway at 9:00pm. We crammed a lot into a very short period of time. I still haven't recovered from it.

 

  Looking forward to New Hampshire in March. I hope to squeeze something in between now and then.

 

Cheers,

Buddy