We were going to hike Mount Jo one of two ways: either along with Baker to finish both our 9er and 6er simultaneously, or with Quinn for his first ever snowshoeing summit. With temps exceeding 30F and cooperative weather, I was excited at the prospect of the latter. I made plans with Quinn to hit the mountain on President's Day. Earlier that week, he asked if it was a long hike and I replied, no just two and a half miles. Then he asked if there was a top of the mountain. I said yes and he was genuinely excited. Short and a top of the mountain? Sign him up! When the forecast started calling for...
The forecast was showing that the long freezing spell was going to break this Wednesday, accompanied by clear skies. I chatted with Dan about it and we decided to move around our work schedules to have a go at Table Top Mountain. We figured that the Winter, with 6 to 12 feet of snow on the summit, might be the perfect time to get incredible views of Marcy and the Great Range on a mountain that usually only offers obscured views at best. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. The forecast shifted and the High Peaks region would be hit with snow Tuesday through Wednesday with a lull in the...
I am still not sure that anything much below 15F is okay for Sunny. We've been okay on short walks and short hikes, but not much past that. I didn't want to risk injuring him and having to carry him back to the car or worse. This week's hike day was looking to be absolutely gorgeous with the high temps finally cracking above 20 degrees Fahrenheit, so I planned to knock off another Saranac 6er: St. Regis Fire Tower. I'd planned on a 6:30 AM start time, but the forecast temp for that time was -8F and temps wouldn't crack above zero in Saranac Lake until lunch time and the fabled 20F temps wouldn...
After a bit of back and forth, this Monday eventually shaped up to be an adventure with just Sunny and me. With warmish weather coming to the High Peaks region (20s and 30s Fahrenheit), I decided I may as well head up and do some little hikes. I considered hiking one of the longer trails remaining on my Saranac 6, but instead settled on chipping away at our Lake Placid 9er challenge. The day before the hike, while Wendy watched a nail-biter between the Buffalo Bills and some other team with greenish outfits, I mended a pair of my gloves, mended a hat, and re-treated my boots with Sno-Seal.
After Christmas and New Year's, I think it's a great idea to get out and do something active to clear the brain and drain out some of the yuck from all that eating and general debauchery. First Hikes are a great way to accomplish this.