Well, this past Saturday I went hiking with Cate, Jess, and Dan up in the High Peaks of the Adirondacks. For those of you who don't know- Cate is married to Ed who is in school with Ryan. Jess and Dan are married, Dan's just finished his first year at Albany Med School and knew Ed and Cate from DC when they lived there. Ed was at his 3rd annual bachelor party camping weekend (I can't believe he passed up hiking for strippers in the woods!), while Ryan stayed in Albany for Brew Fest, which he had been looking forward to since....well...since we moved here. Whew...that was a mouthful.
Dan and Jess with their heavy packs on. They were spending the night with bears and coyotes that night while Cate and I went home later and slept in our comfy beds! They wanted to get used to the packs b/c they are leaving this Thur for a 4 day hiking trip of Nova Scotia where highlights will include sleeping in a lighthouse, sleeping on a farm, milking cows, and spending every waking hour with one another (Good Luck guys!), oh yeah, and I forgot...getting to see the most spectacular scenery along the way! You two are such slackers!
Dan and Jess with their heavy packs on. They were spending the night with bears and coyotes that night while Cate and I went home later and slept in our comfy beds! They wanted to get used to the packs b/c they are leaving this Thur for a 4 day hiking trip of Nova Scotia where highlights will include sleeping in a lighthouse, sleeping on a farm, milking cows, and spending every waking hour with one another (Good Luck guys!), oh yeah, and I forgot...getting to see the most spectacular scenery along the way! You two are such slackers!
This is Cate. Cate worked at a camp in the Adirondacks and loves the outdoors, puppies, romatic dinners, and long walks on the beach. (Just kidding-this site is not a dating service... plus she's already married to a great guy and I hear she hates puppies) Seriously though, Phelps was her 14th High Peak, but she was willing to hang out with us newbies anyway. Thanks Cate!
View from Marcy Dam-2 miles into the hike So, it being our first major hike of the season we decided to attempt Phelps Mountain (elev. 4160 ft) which is one of the easier mountains to get to from Adirondack Loj (a trailhead for tons of other trails in the area), and totals a modest 8.8 miles roundtrip. We hiked in for 3.5 miles with a steady elevation change but nothing too intense, and then had a 1 mile steep ascent up to the summit of Phelps. The effort was definitely worth it, with amazing views of Mt. Marcy (the highest peak in NY) as well as Wright, Basin, Gothics, Saddleback, and Mt. Colden (other high peaks on my list to hike). We hung out on the summit for over an hour enjoying the beautiful view, gorgeous weather, and eating a much deserved lunch consisting of squashed sandwhiches with melted GORP.(Silly me.. I realized the hard way that there is a reason why m&m's are used in GORP instead of chocolate chunks!)
After 7 hours of hiking Cate and I headed home to try some of Ryan's bar-b-que and 3 homemade sauces. While physically exhausted our minds were already drifting to the next chance we could hike! Maybe this weekend???
Gosh, they make the ascent look easy! 
Laughing at that sight never got old! If you can't tell what Jess is doing, she is drinking from Dan's personal hydration system (heeheehee!) Oh Dan, if only we were all lucky enough to have that!
View from summit-Gothics in far left, Basin in bcak center, Saddleback on far right, with Table Top in foreground
1 comment:
this hike was so much fun and the pics are great!! we'll have to swap since it looks like you have a bunch of me and I have a bunch of you =) Can't wait to conquer our next high peak (sans full pack)!
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