Another Hike To Break Up The Winter Monotony

Driving north with the first mountain views in sunshine.

 
I had quite a mental struggle to make the effort to go hiking Wednesday. It involved waking at 5 am for a 6:30 am meet up time, then a 2 hour drive to Mt. Van Hovenberg near Lake Placid. As usual, I did not regret the effort. I have never visited this Olympic Training Center before and the little I saw of it was impressive. 

The Nordic Ski tracks and Bobsled runs were busy even in the frigid 20's F when we arrived.

It was nice to gear up in the comfort of the beautiful lodge facility. 

A couple of inches of new snow made the hike very pretty.

One of many frozen features caused by the constant freeze/thaw of this warmish winter.

The hiking crew except for me as I took the picture.


Algonquin on the right, and Mt. Colden on the left. I won't forget the long 14+ mile hike up Colden I did a few years ago. I'm not sure I'll ever do such an ambitious hike again.

 
A chilly stop at the 2nd overlook. We did not bother to summit as it was just a few hundred more feet, but totally treed in with no view. I hike for the views!

After a warm and comfy lunch in the lodge where I bought a cup of roasted red pepper and gouda soup, we set off a few miles down the road to Henry's Woods, for a few more miles. I'm growing used to these double hike days even though it takes some effort to get back out there after eating and getting all toasty warm. It was just a couple of miles in the woods, so not too strenuous, bringing the total distance to 7.2 miles. We all decided that we'd forgo stopping for dinner as a snowstorm was approaching the area with 8 - 12 inches predicted. I dropped off my fellow riders at the park and ride at 5 pm, just as the snow started. A long, but perfectly timed day.

Today, Thursday is slow moving and easy recovery day. I hurt quite a bit after the hike and am surprised that a rest day gets me back to normal. 

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