Smurf Turkeys, Clambouring and Fairy Footprints

First, just a quick note. I had a new camera. It ended up sucking. In fact, there was a recall on the model. This was the small point and shoot. The light meter is defective. Unfortunately, this affected a lot of my pictures and I could tell something was wrong during the trip. But, hopefully you will still enjoy... I did!

-------------------------------
Also, check out Caitlin's Pictures if you would like to see more!
-------------------------------

Well... this marks one of the coolest things I've done in a long time.
Myself and 5 of my friends from NYC met in the Adirondacks (mountains in NY) in the High Peaks region (there are 46 high peaks) for a weekend of backpacking.

Yes, yes... I travel with a backpack, but that's what I call travel-backpacking... this was hiking-backpacking and it was VERY different and amazing!

We got there Thursday night (late) and we camped in a Leanto at Adirondack Loj. I learned how to play a new game called Polish Bridge... absolutely awesome.

We got up the next morning and spent some time at the cars eatin' some breakfast and repacking and rearranging to divide up weight... thanks guys for takin' some on for me!

Then... we headed in... first to Marcy Damn and then "clambered" through Avalanche Pass. Now... this wasn't just hiking! It was climbing over boulders and rocks and it was so awesome. Everyone was very patient with the knee issues... although... it didn't cause too much of a problem... however... I'm certainly not as in shape as the rest of 'em! It was so cool though.

We made it to the campsite near the base of the Algonquin trail and cooked up a storm, put all contents in bear canisters, hid them and bundled our 6 selves into the 4 person tent in order to stay warm. It was so freakin' cold. Beautiful. Fresh Air. Nature. Calm.

The next day we hiked back to the lodge the same way we came... still with packs and still very hard and this time in the pouring rain for the second 1/2! We got back just before dark and secured ourselves a campsite, attempted to light a fire... yeah... ended up being smoke pit cuz the rain was just pissin' on us! So, we played Frisbee in the dark (so cool... thanks to Dan! See Video of Frisbee !) and then we went into the lodge and played our lovely game.

The next morning Dan, Allison and I woke up at 4:45 and were on the trail hikin'... they had to leave at 8:30 so we had to start early. I was, initially, going to climb Wright and Algonquin Peaks, but things didn't quite work out that way! I knew I wouldn't be able to go at the same pace as them so ... i ended up being on the trail alone, in the dark... totally the scariest moment I've ever probably had! Using my headlamp I was able to see Dan & Allison's wet footprints on the stones. Wonderful. Then, a nice man passed me around 7:30... his footsteps were all of a sudden in... YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS... snoooooooooow!!!!! It was so awesome. His fairy footprints were my godsend. I wish I had has the chance to thank him. The more I went up, the more snow there was... in addition to ice and, while climbing giant stones, ice isn't the friendlies thing in the world. It was stunningly beautiful and so wonderful. I went up to about .2 of a mile from the peak I wanted to climb. But it got too dangerous and it wasn't safe seeing as I didn't have snow shoes on... hell... who would have thought it was gonna snow!

So I happily and satisfyingly turned around. It took me forever to get down to the bottom and when I arrived, finally, to my car, my legs were rubber. Just for the record... it was 5.5 miles the first day and the second day and I think about 3.3 the third... but these aren't just trail miles here! Way different. So, I went into Lake Placid and tooled around. I ate a sandwich and 10 minutes late I had hunger pains. So, ate something else and then tried to drive making it only 6 miles to Saranac Lake where I pulled over, climbed in back and crashed for 2 hours... a needed sleep. I made it home only due to my wonderful friends who I chatted with on the phone on the way back!

So, Monday I couldn't move... Today, I'm better... I lost my keys there... ah oh well...
Amazing Amazing Weekend... thanks to everyone! You are the best!

Video of Cliff

no comment!

Shuffle

Video of Frisbee

** There are 8 pages of pictures! Don't miss any :) ***

---

---

---