Ain't No Mountain High Enough!

With July 4th festivities out of the way, Megan and I had some time to relax - we decided on our next day off we would climb the second highest peak of the Adirondacks, Algonquin Peak. We left for the mountain around 6:15 in the morning and were joined by Victor, Andrew, and Grace - arrival time was approximately 8:30 am.

The trail started out smooth with a gradual incline, but as we hiked further along the trail it seemed that reaching the peak would not be as easy as we had hoped.

Whenever you go hiking, it's always nice to take pictures so you can always remember where you've been - as you can see, the camera loves me!

Andrew and Victor were pretty much the trail guides for the day - they were the ones who knew how to read the topographical maps, and knew where all the different landmarks would be. The first, and perhaps my favorite landmark we passed was the waterfall - this proved to be very helpful when we needed to refill water bottles!

Once we reached the waterfall, we were about 1/3 the way to the top - maybe even halfway there, I would have to check with the guys. Regardless, just after we passed the waterfall we met up with two female rangers who were stationed along the trails. One of them happened to be from the area near where Andrew grew up, needless to say, we were stopped for a while! At this point we reached a sign which told us we still had 0.9 miles to go - according to the rangers, the steepest part of the trail. In that 0.9 miles, we would climb more than 1,000 in elevation!

This is looking down the trail - yeah, Megan had to climb terrain like that for another 3/4 mile after this picture was taken!

We got to an opening in the trail and had a nice view, so I had Megan take my picture - still not at the top yet!

As we were climbing I noticed Megan was out of breath, probably from all the extra weight of having to carry me; I must say, I didn't think I weighed that much! If you thought Megan was having a tough time from having to carry me, you should have seen Victor! He's training for Denali one day so he opted to do the hike with a whopping 40 pounds on his back ... that's ambition right there!

We made it to the top!

Group photo, can you find me? We all decided we'd to a cool pose ... didn't work out so well I must say.

The original plan for hiking was to do Mount Washington, but the weather wasn't looking good - the guys chose Algonquin because it allowed for us to also hike up Iroquois Peak, which would be Andrew's 28th high peak. In order for us to successfully do this, we had to bust out the map again:

Andrew mapping out our route, and teaching me in the process!

It wasn't a far hike to Iroquois, but it was a little on the difficult side: the trail hadn't been maintained since the 1970's - that's before Megan was born! The trail had trees on both sides and I ripped my hat a bit in the process - perhaps next time Megan does a sewing project at work, I'll have her touch up my hat. After several scratches, and puddle jumps, we finally made it to the top of Iroquois!

The peak wasn't as high, but the view was just as great - perhaps even better than Algonquin Peak!

A photo of the two of us, aren't we a cute couple?!

And of course, a group photo on Iroquois Peak - good job everyone!

Having done two peaks in such a short time, I was tired - I can't imagine how Megan was feeling! We began the long trek back toward the Adirondack Loj which is where we started the hike. Megan kept saying the hike was a lot harder going down than it was going up the mountain, probably because now you actually realized how far and how high you had climbed!

I wanted to prove I did the hike so I had Andrew post me on top of a trailmarker.

After the hike, even though it was a more difficult one, Megan is convinced she wants to climb all 46 high peaks of the Adirondacks. In order to become a "46er" you have to write to a historian describing your hike in detail, who you went with, and they'll even take photos. I say "heck, if Megan can do it, I can do it!" After all, she is the one carrying me! I wonder if there's ever been a park ranger doll that's done all 46 high peaks ... I'll need to find out.

Perhaps one of the most important things to do before heading out on a hike is signing the registry - I wanted to sign us out so no one would get worried and go looking for us!

Round trip the hike ended up being almost 10 miles, definitely a day off well spent! After the hike, and dropping off Andrew's friend Grace, Andrew, Victor, Megan and I stopped off at the Adirondack Brew Pub for dinner (9 pm) on the way home.

Good hike, good dinner, great night's sleep; I can't wait to do it again!