Quinn Crushes Phelps

We were on-trail by 7:30am. It was cool bordering on cold and Quinn was very happy the bugs were nonexistent. The bridge across MacIntyre Brook is getting rougher and listing even more than it had earlier this year. I have a feeling the ADK is going to have to do something about it soon.

As expected, the High Peaks region is fully in brown season and that's fine. As usual, on Van Ho Trail, Sunny stayed on-leash for the entire length of it and then some. Even on a cool, past-peak Sunday, there would be plenty of people on the trail with their dogs today.

Of course, Quinn had to climb half the accessible boulders we came across, which is fine. Here we were passed by the first group with a dog and Sunny really wanted to say hi. He is so excitable to visit with other dogs and I think other dog owners misinterpret his demeanor in these situations. I'll ask if he can say hi and when they say yes, I'll unclip him and he will often bark and wag his tail, dancing around the other dog. The other dog is sometimes quite taken aback at his excited behavior.

We did meet lots of people heading out on our way in, mostly backpackers. There were, actually, several groups hiking in as well.

We arrived at Marcy Dam before 9am. There was a large group of college-age campers who fawned over Sunny something fierce. He got lots of pets.

The morning was starting to warm as the sky opened up with the shining sun hanging in a clear, blue sky. It was promising to be kind of a perfect day for a hike.

We wandered over to the brook. Although I could have crossed without issue, I didn't see a spot that I'd have felt comfortable with Quinn crossing. It wasn't dangerous, but the last thing I wanted was Quinn hiking the rest of the day with sodden feet. As such, we hiked down to the bridge and crossed there instead.

The Phelps Brook was moving, but not dangerously so. Quinn threatened to jump in the water, not for the first time and not for the last time. He likes to hear my reactions to such declarations and I try to either give him the reaction he wants or tell him to go ahead and do it, see if I care. Either way, he's amused by the response.

We were having a nice time, especially as the day warmed. I did have to nudge him into gear a few times which was a bit annoying to him, but we didn't exactly have infinite time, especially considering tomorrow was a school day.

We took a packs-off break at the Phelps junction. The big boulder at the junction was much more impressive than it had been in the winter. We chatted at length with a hiker who'd just summited Tabletop. He said there had been considerable ice on the mountain, so I was glad I'd brought our microspikes.

After a snack, I did my squats and cut Sunny loose. We started climbing at around 10:30.

Several times, Quinn asked me to stop and take a picture of the two of them. This one is my favorite because they're both giving me the stank eye.

On the way up, Quinn entertained himself by singing. There were a small number of spots that did buzz with no-see-ums, but they didn't bother him too badly. He did a great job climbing for the first half mile, making it look easy.

Quinn really likes climbing exposed slabs. This has me concerned about the possibility he'll gravitate towards much more dangerous hobbies in the future.

He had a determined demeanor for the third quarter of the steep mile. Phelps does have a series of shorter, steep climbs over boulders and roots after the slabs and he found this part annoying. I can't blame him. Each one of these is basically identical to the last and you find yourself wondering when you'll finally summit the final one.

We did finally climb over the last big up and I got turned around up there like usual. I know that the trail to the true summit is off to the right somewhere but I always mistake it for another overlook. We got back on the right path and we were soon hiking along the Southern ledge.

We saw no ice today. Throughout the day, we met several people who said they'd had ice on either Marcy or Tabletop. Phelps has the lucky distinction of not being in the shadow of a bigger mountain with a trail that enjoys Southern exposure. This meant we had a bit of mud, but almost no ice to speak of today. There was some crust on some puddles, but nothing really to write home about.

We reached the summit just after noon, about four and a half hours after we'd started our hike. Quinn asked if we could stay on the summit as long as he wanted and I said yes. Tomorrow being a school day be damned; he'd earned as much summit time as he desired.

There were several cool people on the summit to chat with today. We had some conversations and basked in the warm sun. There was barely any wind to speak of. It was honestly a perfect day up there.

We had fun horsing around a bit and calling family members. I did my twenty squats, but I decided to make them jump squats instead. Quinn laughed as he recorded me and Sunny tried to join in the jumps.

Quinn took a rare summit siesta. He was beat. He'd had hockey early Saturday, then late at the tractor pulls, then an early start, then four miles uphill to the summit of a high peak. I didn't blame him.

I'd brought lots of snacks and a lunch of mac 'n cheese in a thermos. He didn't eat much of the lunch and I had to entice him with some oat 'n honey bars with peanut butter squeezed over them in order to make sure he had enough energy to finish the hike.

We left the summit just after 1pm. Quinn was excited to start hiking downhill for a change. However, on the way down, Quinn was a little morose. He said that he didn't like the silence of the mountainside. He said he couldn't wait to hike closer to the brook so it wasn't so quiet. It was really bothering him My mind first went to blame TV for this, but I actually can relate. Sometimes when it's quiet and still, my mind is the loudest.

I decided to break a cardinal rule of hiking and put some music on my phone. This turned his mood around immediately and he enjoyed the rest of the descent greatly. He knew it was important to turn off the music if anyone approached and he even helped keep an eye out.

On the way out, we crossed paths with several people who cheered Quinn on and offered him kudos. The Adirondack hiking community is so cool.

Squirrels yelled at Sunny all day long and he was on high alert for them the entire time. Today, the squirrels dared to approach closer than they ever have. I'm not sure this is wise.

Back on the Van Ho Trail, we met an athletic Corgi who'd just summited Marcy. Sunny and the Corgi had a great interaction and played a little bit while the humans chatted. Dog interactions go so much better when both dogs are off leash and can dance around each other.

Soon after this meet-up, I did put Sunny back on leash. It was time.

We arrived back at Marcy Dam at 3:50, less than three hours after we'd started our descent. The sun wasn't quite low enough for a good sunset photo, but we had to be on our way.

Despite being deep in brown season, the sunlight filtering through the evergreens made for a beautiful hike out. The 2+ miles from Marcy Dam to the trailhead was grueling as usual, however. Quinn led the way and every once in a while we actually broke into a run which was a new one on me. It felt good, though, and I wondered if it was something I could actually maintain in the future. I'm perfectly capable of running a 14ish minute mile on the road and it's definitely something I'm willing to test on the likes of the Van Hovenberg Trail, the Phelps Trail, or the Blueberry trail in the future.

We did have one unfortunate incident along the way. At one point, I tired of Sunny pulling me and I unhooked him for a while to give my back a break. It was at this point when a couple and their two dogs came running up the trail behind us. I smiled and started greeting them, but they were on us before I could get a hold of Sunny and the dogs started yelling at him. Sunny just stood in the trail, stunned and staring at the other dog before I grabbed him and pulled him away. Sunny may have had some words of his own, but I really don't remember. I clipped him back on immediately after that.

Besides his singing, Quinn occupied his mind on the trail with some other activities. In addition to climbing more boulders, he had fun testing the depth of each and every puddle we came across. Also, on the way back, he started collecting hunks of bark. I wasn't sure why he was doing this, but we soon came across a big muddy section. He laid the bark down in the mud as a way for people to cross the mud without sinking in. It worked for me at least. It didn't occur to me to ask him if he'd actually had remembered this muddy section was here. I think so.

We arrived at the trailhead at 5:15pm, marking Quinn's third successful High Peaks summit. The 9miles+/2200'+ hike with 7 hours and 45 minutes of moving time and 9 hours and 45 minutes of total time. I think 1 mile per hour is a great pace for a seven year old in the high peaks. That pace accounts not only for little legs, but having fun and exploring. More than once I had to stop myself from goading him on when he was playing; the point is for him to have fun doing this, not be rushed by his parent. At the end, Quinn said "I crushed that mountain!" and I can't disagree. He did an incredible job.

We drove home and he got a couple hours of tablet time and that's fine. We got home with plenty of time for dinner, shower, and a reasonable bed time. When I put him to bed, he told me he had a great time with me today which warmed my heart. He actually thanked me for taking him which he's never done. I think he was really missing this time together.

I do think I've come up with a way for him to tolerate insects more next year: earbuds. I don't know why I didn't think of it before. I think this might be the key. I'll definitely try it next June when we're hiking mountains and the flies are buzzing.

But that's a long way away. Quinn really wants to do more little mountains this Winter. He also wants to do some more camping this Winter, too. I'll have to think about how to accomplish this safely, but I think we may start with a night or two at Heart Lake with a tent and lean-to for maximum safety. This will allow us to snowshoe a few more little peaks nearby and also visit Lake Placid again. We'll see what the Winter brings, however. It's not like our social calendar is much lighter.