We finally made it up to the ADK! I've been sad that my blog has been slightly dry, but because we renovated our kitchen this summer we really haven't had time for much else. We were ambitious and planned four peaks in two short days- but we only made it to the top of one. Lessons in topography, people- steep climbs are tough! Make sure you plan accordingly based on sunset times (if you don't want to hike in the dark which, admittedly, I don't), slope grade and the last time you went to the gym (it was far too long before this trip for us- my legs were shot by the end of the day).
Me in my new jacket and pack!
They're thrilled!
As much as I love them both, I think another lesson learned on this trip was exactly how taxing it is to hike with a dog on a lead. Charlie was pretty good by herself, but Jozie would wander too far or get too excited with other dogs around and couldn't be left alone. I can't blame her for being excited, but it takes a lot out of you making sure to keep her in sight.
Ready to get that mountain!
On the path up we passed the Water bowl. What an interesting piece of nature! We had already started climbing a bit, and part-way up you approach what looks like a pond. Oddly enough, it was surrounded by a lot of dead trees- and there were some logs that helped us over the water (the dogs mainly ignored the bridge, though).
AJ helping Jozie to drink- she was too stubborn to get water for herself
There were some people that came up just to reach this point- as you could see/hear people getting ready to set up camp. There were a few other designated "camping" points that we passed along the way, and after that day it makes complete sense to me why people would stop.
The trek to the top of Giant, as I mentioned, was quite steep. There were a lot of big rocks to scale and a few sections that were difficult to find grip. There were also quite a few switchbacks and we spent the majority of our hike with the same views off one side of the mountain.
For those of you who are interested in doing this hike, you will come to this junction:
Go around it, trust me. I am always the first one to pick the challenge so we went over the bump... but it was literally just that. A giant annoying boulder that you had to climb down on the other side and you didn't even get a view from it. All you did was waste some extra energy that you didn't have to in order to make it to the same spot.
Halfway through the hike I decided I was warm enough to take my sweatpants and under-armor off- but quickly realized that was not the best idea. Even though I was warming up, the temperature really didn't- as we climbed higher you could tell it was colder. We started seeing ice-chips on the ground from the frost, and there were some icicles from the melting water.
At one point, AJ and I decided to run up ahead so that I would make sure to get in the peak of Giant. Everyone else had already conquered that summit except for me so I wanted to spend some time up there. It's so interesting how different the view from each peak is. On top of Algonquin you had 360 degrees of viewing pleasure- on giant you had about 180.
Still worth it, though
I liked this peak because you could see a lot of other ranges and mountain tops from here- some really interesting-looking ones!
Sun setting behind Gothics/Armstrong/WolfJaw area
Guess which one is NippleTop???
Once AJ and I reached the summit, we turned back down to meet his dad and Cara at the junction to Rocky Peak Ridge- and we attempted to make it over to the next one. Unfortunately, we reached a point where the descent was quite steep, and the daylight was running out, and we realized we weren't going to make it... so we turned around to get back to the junction, and then started the descent down.
AJ and I took Jozie down and Dad and Cara followed behind with Charlie. We ended up making a game out of getting Jozie down the mountain which made it a lot easier. I would go down a steep set of rocks while AJ and Jozie waited, then he would let her go and I would call her down to me... then we switched. We leap-frogged it all the way down the mountain and made it out just after sundown.
Although tiring and steep and long, this hike was still rewarding. Aside from making it to my fourth peak, we got to see some amazing natural wonders in this section of the mountains.
Look at some of this amazing moss! It was everywhere- and at the top of the mountain it was red.
AJ and I also really got to bond with Jozie.
Especially AJ.
Also can't forget the figurine we picked up! The sign on ours says "Adirondacks"
