on top of NY

i can't recount the whole experience to you of climbing 2 of the adirondack high peaks because it would take too much of your time. but i do hope to give you a small glimpse into what we experienced this weekend. please click on the pictures to expand them.

our first view of the mountains

we left home saturday and drove the 6 hours to the adirondack loj. the canvas tent we had reserved was a wooden frame structure, with canvas walls and bunk beds. it was great in theory but the beds would turn out to be so uncomfortable that we both privately toyed with the idea of sleeping in the car. and our neighbors turned out not to care about the 10PM no noise policy. also, when we got there we discovered there was no food to be had at the loj, as we had to reserve it by 11 AM. we drove back into lake placid and stopped at the first place we saw - wouldn't you know my best friend's parents were there having dinner? when you run into someone you know, hundreds of miles from home, it doesn't matter how close you are or not in regular life - you are suddenly old chums! i threw my arms around her and we then all had a nice (but too long for our schedule) dinner and fancy drink. i ordered the beef tongue. don't judge me.

we discussed getting to the top of mt. marcy, the highest peak in the state at over 5300 feet, for sunrise and decided to go for it. this would mean waking at 1:30 AM. everyone we spoke to said that marcy was a long day, 8-12 hours. at a little over 14 miles round trip, this was hard for us to wrap our heads around. by 11, neither of us had fallen asleep and i was beginning to get worried. i reset the alarm for 3, deciding we couldn't summit by dawn with only 2 hours of sleep. it was too dangerous. so, at 3 AM we grabbed our stuff and drove to the trailhead. somewhere in the back of my mind i was hoping we would be close to the top by sunrise, and that at the very least we would miss the thunder storms predicted for later in the morning.

we signed in at the HPIC registry tables (so the forestry service knows who is up there and what they are doing, if they didn't come down), but besides that there was no stopping.

we hiked hard with a purpose. in the dark, wearing a headlamp, you only see a 10 foot circle, and while we knew we were going up and the terrain was tough we were moving hard. Time was flying. In the end, I'm glad we couldn't see what we were doing. more on that later...
by 5:45 we could see the first glimpse of the sun as we reached the alpine environment above tree line.

gradually the microwave sized boulders were replaced with car sized boulders and bed rock, and the trees shrunk from towering 100 feet above us, to miniature christmas tree size. we were hiking hard, and sweating.

we couldn't tell if the garmin was right and how much farther the summit actually was, but finally as we rounded a corner and the trees gave way - we saw it. WHAT? we only had 4/10ths of a mile to go and that left to do! it was daunting.

first glimpse of the summit

i was intimidated, but we set ourselves to it like the rest of the hike up - one step at a time, push push push.

i was slightly fearful of how we were going to get down, because the stone highway was quite steep. i was also afraid of a thunderstorm rolling in and making it all wet. it was a looong way to get below treeline again and if we got caught out, we may not make it.

when we reached the top and turned around..... i just can't tell you. it feels like you are on Mars - never seeing terrain or vegetation like that in your life.

in the last 100 yards to the true summit, the temperature must've dropped 20 degrees and the wind must've gusted over 50 mph, because in this picture, i was bracing myself hard.

we spent a few minutes eating and taking pictures, but there were ominous clouds and we were getting cold fast. it turns out it took us 3 hours and 25 minutes to summit. "all day", my ass. they must not get a lot of ultrarunners up there :-) we were very lucky to have been the only ones there. as the highest peak, and with a well marked and generally simple trail, marcy is the most visited mountain and there is always someone else on the summit, we are told.

we started our decent, curious to see all those miles of terrain we only saw by headlamp.

how surprising to find that what we thought was pretty tame, was brutal looking and the way down. i would argue with anyone that down is harder on the legs than up, and by the time we had been descending 3000 feet relentlessly over 3.5 miles i was ready for some more up. the boulders were soul crushing - there was just nowhere good to place your feet, no rhythm to the hike.

i think our experience has us judge trails based on their runability. steepness aside, there was no more than 50 yards at a time where that trail could be run above marcy dam. with shivering quads we turn our eyes up mt. phelps.

at only a mile from the intersection with the trail we were on, we figured it would be a nice side trip as it was still early in the day. turns out it climbs somewhere between 1200-1300 feet in that mile, to a summit of over 4100 feet. since there was less alpine wilderness up there and presumably less wind i was looking forward to getting to the top and enjoying a lunch break and more time to enjoy this mountain. the climb was indescribable. obviously it was steep, but this thing was not a trail. we scrambled around the microwave and car sized boulders again, but this time we had the conundrum of trees everywhere. sometimes you braced your foot on a rock and pushed up, sometimes a tree root. always high knees, always crawling around and trying not to grab something loose. though i cursed them on the way up, the trees would play a vital roles on the way down.
after a 8/10 of a mile, we began to hear low rumbles. very distant thunder. so distant we figured we had a ton of time, or that it would never reach us. the higher we went, the faster we were going but, fast is relative. it took us 50 minutes to do the entire mile, which is unfathomable, but true. also, the higher we got, the louder the thunder was getting, though it was still a way off. we passed people coming down who told us we were close. i was getting scared because the rumbles were getting louder, but i had just gone through some sort of hikers purgatory to get here, and i was going to summit damn it! as jim took video, i raced to the top. i saw the rock cairn, grabbed a look of the scenery and said 'let's go!' jim wanted photos first, but inside i was going nuts.

unfortunately we only have video of the trail up phelps. this is me at the top, tired and scared

the thunder was getting much louder. just as he packed his camera away, it started to sprinkle. he said ' let's run everything that's runnable' and i thought to myself 'nothing was runnable!' at that moment, lightning struck just to the west of me, close by. and i discovered that there was something runnable. i screamed and hauled it as fast as i could. 60 seconds later, lightning struck just behind me at the summit we had been standing on, the flash and subsequent boom were virtually at the same moment, and i screamed and began to pray. the rain started flooding down on us like someone turned on the fire hose. we were still above tree line, making us perfect conductors. there was someone on their way up in front of jim and as he came barreling down on them he yelled 'GO! GO! GO!' and they turned and high tailed it too. they were slower than us, and i was grateful to be in front of them, with my odds of getting struck now slightly lessened. i know that sucks, but it's how i felt. grateful for more targets.
after some painful descent, the lightning started to ease off, though the rain continued in earnest and i had to ditch my glasses. the trail had been turned into a river and very treacherous. the trees and roots everywhere turned out to be a blessing, as i mainly used my arms to get down - hanging on and swinging my body to the next boulder. i can't say enough how hard it was to hike down fast after all we'd already put our thighs through! when we reached the bottom after 40 minutes, i was so grateful that we were alive, but also ready to be done. though the mileage total wasn't impressive, we had a lot of time on our feet and so much elevation and so little sleep- we were spent. we hiked out, signed the trail registers and were on our soaked and muddy way.

the fact that we did 2 summits in 9 hours when that is the recommended 'fast' time for one isn't lost on me. we passed many people on their way up marcy who were dragging and asking us about terrain and distance. one exasperated man, in a wavering falsetto voice asked us 'how much further to the top?' we felt bad, because we knew it was going to be an awful day for him.

i would highly recommend the high peaks to people who are moderately fit and have experience on the trail, but would never tell a sedentary person to just go on up. at the loj they tell us medical problems and emergencies are common - with heart attacks a regular occurrence. when we arrived, and ambulance was waiting at the trailhead, and forest rangers were speaking to hikers about an older couple who reportedly would not be able to make it down before dark. people were scattered around the parking lot, reclining on boulders and the backs of their cars looking lost in their own world and totally exhausted.

our high peaks are a treasure, and i can't wait to go climb some more of them. if you are able you should go stand on top of NY yourself - it is an unforgettable experience, and i was lucky to share it with my husband.