Happily Exhausted

 I'm glad I did not tack this hike onto my last post - such a wonderful day deserves its own story. 

I awoke at 5 am to drive north and meet AmyJean for the journey up to the Adirondacks. We were entertained by a beautiful sunrise and noted the lack of snow. It was forecast to be in the 40's today. We met our group at the Adirondack Loj parking lot and were advised that snowshoes were required and $150 fines were being handed out to non-compliers. We complied.

From the parking lot on, the trail was soft wet snow to mostly ice where the cleats on the snow shoes were easily able to provide traction. Walking a narrow trail in snowshoes is a lot harder than just boots, so we got quite a workout in the ungainly footwear. Once the trail got steeper, the ice got harder to navigate, and we were all thinking about how the decent would go...

Carolyn helping Ellen and me up a particularly icy spot. I did the same for people behind.

We made it to the top of Mt. Jo without incident even though a couple of hikers stayed back calling it quits at the bottom of the iced over stairs. Me? I was the first one up - in snow shoes. The views of the high peaks were beautiful. It was quite a sight to see almost all the ones I have climbed in the distance. We ate a snack, then Jim made the call that spikes would be safer for the decent - thank goodness. 

Nafsika and Carolyn arriving at the top right behind me.
A few clouds rolling in as the day progressed.

Snow shoes off; on with the microspikes.  📷: Amyjean
Summit photo #1 - Mt. Jo. Yes, I'm eating my lunch because I spent most of the time up here figuring out how to  attach my snow shoes to my pack. I forgot my bungee.  📷: Brian

I figured out how to attach my snowshoes to my pack and headed down. I only fell into an uncontrolled butt slide once, where my knee got jacked a bit, but I was able to get up and continue on. It was so much easier without wearing the unwieldy snow shoes.

Starting down Mt. Jo.  📷: Amyjean

After a bit of a break, we drove over to Baxter Mtn and started up the second ascent. Many in the group contemplated calling it a day after Mt. Jo, but we all managed to continue on. I put on my much sharper spikes for this hike and I'm so glad I did. As our hike leader mentioned, we all earned ice climbing badges today. 

AmyJean enjoying the view.

The views were just as nice from this mountain, and there were more of them with several false summits. We did turn around just short of the actual summit because it was treed in with no views and we were all about done in for the day.

Our whole crew near the top of Baxter Mountain.  📷: Amyjean

But not so done in that we couldn't stop for dinner at the Paradox Brewing Company. All fourteen of us enjoyed a lovely time at the brew pub. I had a hibiscus ginger hard cider that was so delicious I had two. Luckily I wasn't driving until a couple of hours later and had time to metabolize it. The day's stats were 5.4 miles of hiking, and 1400 ft of elevation. I don't know how much time was spent hiking, but I left the house at 6 am and returned at 7:30 pm - a long day.

My body is so very tired today, and sore from this week's activities, that I'm going to take a few days off to let my muscles and joints recover. It's a good exhaustion though, knowing that I took advantage of the February thaw to enjoy the activities I love, with such lovely people!

Comments

  1. MargaretFebruary 18, 2023 at 1:05 AM

    What an amazing hike! I couldn't have handled the heights or the ice but the views were spectacular. It looks like such a special time.

    ReplyDelete

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