On the trail in the Adirondacks

Day One:
We, being Jeff Day and I, left around 10pm on Sunday Night. About a week ago. We drove straight through MI and then through Canada and then on through NY to get to the Adirondacks. I drove the little Metro to Canada and then Jeff took over and got us through Canadia. Canadia was great. We had no problems entering and slept through just about the whole thing. We stopped for gas and it cost us a fortune. It was like 1.15 per liter! That is like $3.50 a gallon or something. It seemed to go by so fast maybe because we were doing 100 kph!( that's like 60 mph)

Day Two:
Well, we made it through the Backwoods of upper NY state with a little help from Googlemaps and directions from a local NY Postal Worker. We arived at Cloud Splitters Outfitters at around 12 noon. We picked up the bear canisters and then we were on our way about another hour to the Upper Works trailhead. We stopped at a big stone fixture which was a part of the ruins there of the old mining opperations at U.W. We checked that out for a while and then off to hiking. We geared up and started the trek to Duck Hole. (A college group toook off a little before us and we overheard that they were on the trail to Duck Hole)The trail was muddy and what a trail it was. It was not like any trails I have been on. Very rocky and we were under the canopy of trees for the whole hike. It was a little muggy with bugs buzzing in our ears but we were determined to give it our all. The closer that we got the more fatigued we felt. I think the car ride and the plane trip Jeff took really caught up with us that day. By the time we got there we figured we might want to relook at our hiking plan for the trip. (We did eventually pass the college group and the caught up with us when we stopped to purify some water. We did however beat them to D.H.) We cooked some Freeze Dried dinner, which was actually really good and then set up our tent. We hung around for a while until sunset and then I grabbed my towel and took a nice refreshing bath in the cold lake runoff. Invigorating!

Day Three:
We got up, made some breakfast and scrapped the crust from our eyes. The air was awesome. The smeel of pine and fresh water was inspiring. We were feeling pretty good that day. A lot better than the day before. I thin the car ride and the jet lag hd worn off. We decided to try to stay with the itinerary but also play it by ear. We took off and hiked back the way we came tword the trail head. Once we got the oth trailhead turn off we jutted left making our way to Indian Pass. We stopped for lunch by a little lake and found a spot on a nice fallen log. After downing a couple of Cliff bar and Power bars we were off and had no clue what pain was ahead. Holy Cowen! I have never hiked anything like that. This trail was no trail like anyhting I have ever hiked. You really had to pay attention to were those trail markers were. Most of the trail was over and through bolders, cliffs and even some stationary ladders you had to go up. Mind you–all with a pack on! Once at the top there was a cool view of Wall Face mountain. A big cliff of sorts. The way down to Rocky falls was no picknic either. The trail, if you call it that, followed a river bed and was really tough on the knees. The Rocky Falls Lean-to was the holy grail of lean-tos. It was awesome. It was off the main trail and across a river. It overlooked the river and was great. Once there we made another dinner, spagetti I think and rested. We set up our tent and relaxed. We read the bible a little and had a little discussion about the devo that Jeff brought. After dark I took another shower. Man those feel great. We slept.

Day Four:
Got up and took our time. After screwin' around for a while and takin' some photos we packed it up and took off. We did not have very far to go on this day. We were going to hike over to the Adirondack loj (that is how they spell lodge) checked out the loj a little bit and gawked at all the people that didn't smell. After lunch on the lake, powerbars and dried blueberries, we restocked a little bit and called our people. For me I called Kate and it was awesome to hear her voice. She was shocked that I called. Jeff called home and after talking to the ranger for a little bit we took off to find a place to camp. We passed Marcy Dam and kept going to the begining of Avalanche Pass. We found a cool place to camp and set up for a couple of days. After setting up we read the good book for a while by the stream, purified some water and made dinner. Once the sun went down Jeff and I played some cards in he tent and then went to bed.

Day Five:
We got up early and got our day packs together. We crammed our feet back into our stank boots and off we went. We were going to tackle the tallest mountain in the Adirondacks! Turns out it is more like a hill in comparison to the tallest mountains in the US. It is something like 5800 feet. Don't let that fool you, it still was quite the hike. Seemed like straight up at times. There were yellow marks that someone had spray painted on the rocks to make sure you were climbing the right rocks! We got closer to the top and the wind really started whipping. They had warned us of rain but there were only a few clouds in the sky. The view was spectacular. We were the first ones up there until a ranger showed up. About that time we took off back down the trail and passed a few day hikers on the way to the top. After killing our knees once more we sat down at camp. Jeff and I went down to the river and cooled off some. The water was way too cold to go all the way in. After kickin' it there for a while I made my way back up to the tent and snuggled in for a nap. A ranger showed up at one point to let us know that rain was on the way. After thanking him I dosed back off to sleep. Dreaming of a hot bath and steak dinner I awoke to a rain drop on my face. I quickly got the rain fly on the tent as Jeff came up from the river. We did not know what we were in store for. We played cards again in the tent only to hear the pitter-patter turn into a downpour. Water started seeping into the bottom of the tent and we found out that the rainfly was not compleatly waterproof! I borrowed Jeff's rain coat and out I went. I was out there for probably a half an hour digging a trench around the tent to divert the water. To tell you the truth it was kind of fun. down to the river I went to get all the mud off and then back into the somewhat dry tent. I fell asleep quickly. I awoke to a blue sky and just enough time to make dinner and take a walk. We checked out the broken bridge and found an awesome hidden Lean-to. We will definately have to stay there sometime. Finaly-Sleep

Day six:
We decided to try and hike all the way out on this day. Our original plan was to hike most of the way down and then on day seven hike the rest and then drive home. We decided against this because Jeff was a little under the weather and I was all in favor of seeing my awesome family again. So off we went. We hiked Avalanche pass and it was spectacular weather and the views were majestic. Got to see a really cool lake and hiked some trechurous landscapes. Way too cool for the last day. Made me not want to leave. I took a ton of pictures. I felt like I needed to catch up a little, I guess. By this time we were really tired. We ate a lunch of cliff bars again sitting on another dam. It was good to sit down as it was on all parts of the trip. After passing the guys smoking while hiking I had to use the little boys room one last time before getting out of there. After that it seemed like the hike out went forever. There was a lot of mud on the way out. A lot. So much that it over took Jeff at one point! After finally getting to the trailhead we decided to go take a couple of showers in the woods. That felt good. We did not want to stink all the way home! The car ride home was pretty uneventfull. Back through the backwoods of NY and then through Canada with a stop at Niagra so Jeff could say he saw it and then back through MI to our little homw in Holland. We arrived around 2 in the morning and by that time bed felt really good.

Overall:
We had a nawesome time exploring God's creation and bonding again after six years. We are already talking about next summer!

Peace,
~Hosh~